Adding second XP to existing triple boot

[Whiskers]

I have a sweet triple boot working well...Vista 32, XP and Linux Mint all on first SATA drive (of two). Thank's Neosmart.

I imaged a second XP to another partition on the same drive and have looked into it from Linux and Vista...can see boot folder, ntdetect, ntloader and boot.ini files in the root of that partition (N.

But no way can I make EasyBCD lead me to that installation..I always end up back at the older XP (E even when at the boot loader I select the secand XP entry.

Must be missing something simple??

[Computer Guru]

Hi Whiskers, welcome to NeoSmart Technologies!

You're right - it's something simple that you're missing
Details: Windows XP - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

Basically, XP can't be loaded unless you create an entry in boot.ini for that partition.
Edit C:\boot.ini and add an entry for your newly-restored partition and you should be good to go.

[Whiskers]

Thanks Guru.
I have triedediting boot ini on the Vista C drive where EasyBCD is installed. It looks like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect


I have tried different numbers in "partition ( )" with same result. I will play around on this tack a bit more and see what I can do.

[Computer Guru]

5?
Anything > 4 is an extended partition..... and XP can't boot from extended/logical partitions.

[Whiskers]

Oh.

Guess I'll try it on a primary partition on disk 2.

Thanks for your help.

[Computer Guru]

No problem.

Disk 2 would be rdisk(1) in boot.ini
(assuming it's also a SATA that is)

[Whiskers]

Just found this post whilst searching. Maybe I could get a second XP going on a logical partition if I can be sure the right files are on its root, and the correct partition number in the boot.ini file on C: ?

If I can't make this work after a reasonable amount of effort, I will try the primary partition on drive 2 method. I seem to remember on an older machine I had an xp installation working on a logical partition using XOSL...before Vista days.

Computer Guru (Online)
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Actually, versions of Windows XP post-SP2 can be installed to logical partitions, but you might have some problems getting it there.

But, for instance, you can change a primary partition to logical and still get the XP on it to boot if you update boot.ini as well.

The only requirement is that all the bootloader files be on a Primary, Active NTFS or FAT32 partition.

As you can see in this KB article, the ARC naming path supports logical partitions.

The problem is that Windows setup doesn't support the creation of logical partitions - so you'd have to format/partition your drive first with a tool that does (Acronis Disk Director, GParted) then install XP to the logical partition.

You may have to manually set up boot.ini to point to the correct location as well, though.

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[Computer Guru]

I believe it's a very hardware-dependent process. It'll probably also have to be Windows XP SP2 you're trying to boot into..

I don't have any advice to give on the topic of booting XP from a logical partition, though.

What I would advise is for you to put XP on a primary, and move Linux to an extended:
Primary: Vista, XP, XP, Extended Partitition
Logical: Linux, Swap

[Whiskers]

Thanks Guru.

I have tried long enough other things, and putting Linux on a logical partition will be quick and easy enough. Seems Microsoft thinks we all live in a Microsoft Universe and if we don't want to do things their way, well, don't do them at all.

[Computer Guru]

If it's any consolation, Vista can boot from logical partitions through EasyBCD.