[Download] Vista Hide 'n Seek BETA

[Terry60]

Happy Hide 'n Seeking.

[rickstev]

I successfully installed HnS on my laptop.

I wish to thank all that were involved in providing a solution for protecting Vista's restore points.

My laptop was the test unit for dual booting.

After several reinstalls of Vista due to missing restore points, I researched & found HnS.

Since XP was already installed on a separate partition; my last reinstall of Vista, followed by HnS, took care of the problem.

I now wish to repeat the configuration for my desktop, except that XP isn't installed to a partition yet.

I've looked at many interchanges on the various NeoSmart forums, and articles such as APCMAG, and the links appended to the bottom of Moderator responses.

So far, the information is either pre-HnS or Xp is already installed.

Can I execute HnS with just Vista installed, so that I can install Xp, then, remove & reinstall HnS.

If what I'm looking for has been addressed, please point me to the procedure or discussion.


Thank you.

rickstev

[Terry60]

Hi Rick, welcome to NST.
No you can't "pre-install" HnS.
HnS isn't installed as such, it's actually a GUI which installs a custom version of Grub4Dos, and auto-configures the grub menu.lst.
The important part is the "menu.lst" which contains the descriptions and positions of your OSs and which bits are hidden from which other bits.
Obviously, all the bits have to be in place before you can do that.

Make sure your Vista is in a secure and stable condition
Install XP, run this XP registry hack, check whether XP can access Vista files and folders
Repair the Vista boot
If the hack worked, you don't need HnS (It's provided for people like me, for whom the hack didn't work)
If the hack didn't work, run HnS on Vista
Set a Vista restore point with a unique name
Boot XP
Boot Vista, check that the restore point is still there.

[rickstev]

Thank you Terry for the background info & the procedure.
I hope to be able to wrap this up during the coming week-end.
rickstev

[rickstev]

Thanks for your help Terry60 - Dual Booting XP with Vista already installed is working fine.

[Terry60]

Glad you're OK. Did you need HnS ?

[lawspr]

I am just a weekend computer tinkerer and haven't been able to get around the Vista - XP delete restore points issue even after trying multiple online suggestions. However, this works perfectly for me. Thanks a lot for your efforts!

Question: Is it possible to change the default OS timeout to a lower number? I think it must be set to 30 seconds now.

[Terry60]

It gave you the option to fine tune those settings at the last stage of the UI.exe, but just find the menu.lst file on your "system" partition and you can use notepad to alter the timeout value.
HnS menu.lst looks like this example only less complex.

[GDH]

Hi Terry

Just seen that EasyBCD 2 is now out. Does it now do what hns does?

Gareth

[Coolname007]

Hi Terry

Just seen that EasyBCD 2 is now out. Does it now do what hns does?

Gareth

Correct. It does away with the second XP boot menu in cases of multiple XPs.

[Computer Guru]

Somewhat.

EasyBCD 2 implements the single-level menu with multiple XPs and Vista/7s, but does not hide the XP drive when booting into 7.

[GDH]

Thanks all - So if I still want to protect Windows 7 restore points from Windows XP, I assume I need to still use hns?! I thought could always see the XP drive in Windows 7 - it was the Windows 7/Vista drive I couldn't see in Windows XP as it was hidden to prevent XP overwriting the Windows 7/Vista restore points? So does EasyBCD 2 hide the Windows 7/Vista drive when it boots Windows XP?

[Mike8]

Unless the registry hack works for you. You still need HidenSeek to hide the system restores from each other. CG it would be nice for a W7 boot graphic as an option from the vista one

[Computer Guru]

Hey Mike,

Not sure what you're referring to - do you mean the graphic inside the HnS software, that is overlaid on top of the drive icons?

[Coolname007]

So does EasyBCD 2 hide the Windows 7/Vista drive when it boots Windows XP?

No, for that, you will need to use either the registry hack like Mike8 mentioned, or HnS.
Or some other 3rd party boot manager.