[Download] Vista Hide 'n Seek BETA

I figured you might have done that and later downloaded a copy for evaluation while keeping the current one as a backup. I'll get to 45 soon enough to see how the changes work across two drives.

Currently I boot into ubuntu by simply choosing the second sata from the list in the boot menu. Once there ubuntu is the default OS seeing the Vista loader as an option. When first seeing using the installer for 8.04 that saw Grub installed on both sata simultaneously. Obviously I had to repair the Vista side of things to see the earlier build remain as default there.

If the 45 build works out well do you think that would be good for a referal page? That would allow more new people a chance at trying it out as well as getting more feedback on things including any problems on different systems. Anyone referred there would also be advised to review the tutorial for the basics at getting things running.
 
I think build 46 is going to be the one with a "referral page."

I need to fix the bug that makes some people wait a minute or so before the menu appears.
 
45 saw the menu appear right away following the "smart" notation made about unplugging any usb or firewire external drives before proceeding. That would an item for the referal page as well also mentioning about eSata drives needing to be left plugged in if not unplugged for the minute or so needed to create the entries.

Upon simply selecting the start over option and deleting the shortcut for the other build I named the new one Build 45 rather than Hide'n'Seek to specify the build in use at any given time. With 1.71 still on I simply closed the IE window for 1,72 and proceeded to see XP added right into the Grub4Dos screen.

45 does one new thing however namely running a floppy search as that drive was busy for the first time being disabled in the bios. That wasn't seen on previous builds as a note. The Vista drive was effectively "invisible" as expected as XP loaded up like nothing was even changed.
 
Other then that the new build is doing well by itself. Now this is with a matched pair of sata drives and not an ide/sata mix. With the floppy item solved you should have a good build seen in 46.
 
I just downloaded the latest build and now this build does not work .
At boot I get stuck at the
GRLDR
cmain () ...

it just stays there.

last week I had downloaded a build, I cannot find that , but it seem to boot fine , but I had to monkey around with the menu.lst file to get that one to work. it worked great.


this one worked after tinkering
# NeoSmart Technologies' Vista Hide 'n Seek Beta
# DO NOT MODIFY!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
timeout 5
default 1
title Microsoft Windows Vista
hide (hd0,4)
#unhide (hd0,2)
unhide (hd0,1)
find --set-root /BOOTMGR.HNS
makeactive
chainloader /BOOTMGR.HNS
boot
title Windows XP [XP Pro (D:\)]
unhide (hd0,4)
hide (hd0,1)
#set root (hd0,2)
#makeactive
chainloader (hd0,4)/ntldr
boot
# All your boot are belong to NeoSmart!

I had to redo my system , and I cannot find the old build.
 
I first save any download to a specific folder followed by unpacking the contents into another for that particular build. Likewise I have to revert back to the one that has been in use up until now since I ran into a boot configuration issue and an error code seen here.

\Boot\BCD

0xc0000098

The Windows Boot Configuration Data File does not contain a valid OS entry ???

When choosing XP from the Grub4Dos screen XP loaded right up without a problem. Once the startup repair tool on the VIsta dvd was used the subsequent boot revealed that 45 was still intact?!

The problem was seen after the first sucessful boot up in both versions to suddenly see that come up. The error code should reveal where the problem is as well as the floppy search problem being looked at. Here the method of simply seeing XP added into the first boot screen with HnS usually set seeing Vista as the only one present and to 0% display time was a simple formula for seeing the option to boot XP on that screen with a 3 second display while that could be 5 seconds if preferred.
 
Good news for Vista while daataa... atatata... tataa continued floppy search for XP. When the drive mapping information is first displayed upon choosing XP you then hear a lengthy floppy search. For Vista however Windows loads right up without a peep.

I think at the present time the only reason XP is still on at this time is for testing the various builds. After repeat attempts the software for the MS optical 5 button trackball type mouse continues to be set to a two button standard. XP apparently is getting lonely :?? from sitting ide for the most part.
 
PC eye: Please replace BOOTMGR with the BOOTMGR attached to this post, and try again.
(Make sure HnS is installed first, of course).
 

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  • BOOTMGR.zip
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I just extracted and overwrote the first and will update you here on the results. It sounds like something minor with XP anyways.
 
Thanks, I appreciate that.

It's not minor actually - I think it's what causes the long wait on some people's systems.
 
Great work! CG I'm in XP right now after a "nice and quiet" startup! That seems to be the winning ticket so far. I'll try a few reboots and see it how it goes as a further test.
 
That's great news - thanks for testing it out and for the confirmation!

OK, Build 47 uploaded.

PC Eye, you don't need to upgrade - it's simply build 46 + the bootmgr patch.
 
I rebooted several times like a dozen or more into XP and several for Vista to no longer see any sign of the floppy search problem. It's certainly a go at this end while having having the patch already included in 47 would still be the idea here since XP itself will probably need it's own repair to correct a problem with that stubborn MS Intellipoint software problem.

While trying to get XP to recognise the correct model mouse having uninstalled then reinstalled the mouse software that provided a good opportunity to see how things would continue with the patch. Each action requires a system restart anyways. Inbetween removing and reinstallation a few times I used that time to boot into Vista and then back into XP repeatedly to find it reliable and 47 sees that built right into it.

Through all that the Grub4Dos screen has remained the method for choosing between XP and Vista(default). The 47 build looks good for a referal page by the looks of things.
 
I tested Build 47 on my mixed EIDE SATA system. Everything worked fine. I also added the following entry to the HnS menu.lst to call the Ubuntu Grub menu:

title Ubuntu Linux 8.04
find --unhide /Vista.C.HnS
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /boot/grub/menu.lst
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

I added the first two lines myself. The second two were cut and pasted from the EasyBCD menu.lst
 
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I have a question about manually editing the menu.lst file. Unlike you can easily edit the boot.ini in XP by simply double clicking on it to see NotePad open it right up is there a 3rd party editor you can use for this file type?

I know you can use the E command right at startup. But the idea would be editing the file while booted in either XP or Vista for any changes. When trying to open it up here I get the "search the web for appropiate program" popup.
 
You can open menu.lst in notepad. You can open it by double-clicking if you associate notepad with *.lst files.
 
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