CG, now I am in a bigger trouble. After the suggestion to follow post 129 made by Terry, the last result is that I can't access anymore my VISTA: Iget, at boot, error 14:... (I don't remember the full explanation). I added in HNS an entry for WIN 2000 marking it as XP but if I boot it I get a microsoft error about missing win..\sytem32\hal.dll, if I remember well. Now I am in XP (disk D:\). Is there a procedure to restore my system as before installing HNS, before doing other trials? About that error You are asking for, I saw it in a window like that giving the previous error (I think a debugger) before You corrected the language problem. Please help me!
[Download] Vista Hide 'n Seek BETA
- Thread starter mqudsi
- Start date
Thanks for Your help.
PC eye
Distinguished Member
Another success story I see!
I continually have people asking how to see XP added on a system where Vista is already preinstalled and have to point them at the EasyBCD 1.7.1 tool. The question remaining is how far is the HnS tool along before it will also see a referral page.
So far the tool has proven itself effective even separating and re-entering XP into a dual boot configuration. Besides coming across another type of work around at one point the only references for preserving Vista's restore points in a dual boot with an older version is simply posts come across pointing to one particular thread here now being seen on other forums. http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1692
The post for one referral seen on the thread I started was found at http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=931179
That was seen when trying to locate an article found before testing the HnS tool here on how to preserve Vista restore points. The HnS tool however does work far better and much easier to see put into applcation.
I continually have people asking how to see XP added on a system where Vista is already preinstalled and have to point them at the EasyBCD 1.7.1 tool. The question remaining is how far is the HnS tool along before it will also see a referral page.
So far the tool has proven itself effective even separating and re-entering XP into a dual boot configuration. Besides coming across another type of work around at one point the only references for preserving Vista's restore points in a dual boot with an older version is simply posts come across pointing to one particular thread here now being seen on other forums. http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1692
The post for one referral seen on the thread I started was found at http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=931179
That was seen when trying to locate an article found before testing the HnS tool here on how to preserve Vista restore points. The HnS tool however does work far better and much easier to see put into applcation.
PC eye
Distinguished Member
I came across the thread seen on the another forum there and wondered whether you would want that type or simply refer someone to the original download thread. Apparently someone else is now benefitting from the experience I saw when first using the HnS tool.
Personally I took notes on the excellent work seen so far that has been done with the HnS tool and would like to see word on it passed along to those actually considering a dual boot with the two versions. Before simply posting links to the two threads on other sites however I felt the best thing was to run this by you for any advices you had when going to post any referrals to it.
As you most likely already the APC magazine articles on adding XP onto a Vista system seriously lack a few items in the one or two of those to see working results. The incorporation of EasyBCD as well as Grub4Dos into the HnS tool is the pure genious seen there to see an actual program that works effectively as intended. People simply have to know that it's available and does see results. Keep up the good work!
Personally I took notes on the excellent work seen so far that has been done with the HnS tool and would like to see word on it passed along to those actually considering a dual boot with the two versions. Before simply posting links to the two threads on other sites however I felt the best thing was to run this by you for any advices you had when going to post any referrals to it.
As you most likely already the APC magazine articles on adding XP onto a Vista system seriously lack a few items in the one or two of those to see working results. The incorporation of EasyBCD as well as Grub4Dos into the HnS tool is the pure genious seen there to see an actual program that works effectively as intended. People simply have to know that it's available and does see results. Keep up the good work!
PC eye
Distinguished Member
I hate bumping an old thread but the number of those wanting to dual boot XP along with Vista continues to grow.
The question at this time would be in regards to a possible finished version of the HnS tool that is no longer in beta form. The implementation of the Grub4Dos into HnS was the genuis there since a working dual boot doesn't even require the EasyBCD tool to see the boot options with Vista still set as the default.
The time can be lowered to about 5 seconds still leaving plenty of time to select XP. Once XP is added into the Vista boot options seen there the entries in the EasyBCD are no longer needed since the time of display can be set with the HnS tool's own options.
When the ubuntu installer took over seeing Grub as the default on the Vista primary apparently it cloned itself onto the XP drive as well. Once the Vista boot information was repaired and XP was again added into the Grub4Dos a boot change to the XP drive saw Grub there loading ubuntu as the default while still seeing the option for the Vista boot loader where the VIsta/XP dual boot still works. That still saw the HnS tool at work even while booting from the second drive. That was an interesting site to see.
The question at this time would be in regards to a possible finished version of the HnS tool that is no longer in beta form. The implementation of the Grub4Dos into HnS was the genuis there since a working dual boot doesn't even require the EasyBCD tool to see the boot options with Vista still set as the default.
The time can be lowered to about 5 seconds still leaving plenty of time to select XP. Once XP is added into the Vista boot options seen there the entries in the EasyBCD are no longer needed since the time of display can be set with the HnS tool's own options.
When the ubuntu installer took over seeing Grub as the default on the Vista primary apparently it cloned itself onto the XP drive as well. Once the Vista boot information was repaired and XP was again added into the Grub4Dos a boot change to the XP drive saw Grub there loading ubuntu as the default while still seeing the option for the Vista boot loader where the VIsta/XP dual boot still works. That still saw the HnS tool at work even while booting from the second drive. That was an interesting site to see.
At this point, HnS is almost ready for release.
However, there are some "fringe" cases for whom HnS does not correctly determine the correct Boot.ini settings - I can't fix HnS until these people explain exactly what's not working for them.
You do raise a good point about the beta forum. I guess it would be possible to release HnS Beta 2 as a full release on neosmart.net, along with all the documentation and liknage and see how it fares from there. That would certainly convince more people to do the testing so we can get further along?
However, there are some "fringe" cases for whom HnS does not correctly determine the correct Boot.ini settings - I can't fix HnS until these people explain exactly what's not working for them.
You do raise a good point about the beta forum. I guess it would be possible to release HnS Beta 2 as a full release on neosmart.net, along with all the documentation and liknage and see how it fares from there. That would certainly convince more people to do the testing so we can get further along?
PC eye
Distinguished Member
I run across several on different forums wanting to see XP added along with the preinsall of Vista on some new laptop or desktop model where the opportunity for more to try working with HnS would be the main idea there. The information about it still being in beta not a finished final product would obviously be one thing that would have to be explained at first.
The one thing I have been able to mention so far is how a dual boot with XP does see the Vista restore points lost without a beta tool currently being worked with. With a larger number of people being able to try the HnS tool out under various circumstances the feed back for success and failure rate would be one additional way to see what else could be needed or changed to see a working end result.
For providing a specific download page with the information that it is still in beta form more people could be referred directly to the HnS tool to give a try on their own systems. The more users the more feedback in that sense as the new user automatically becomes a tester to some extent with the results found. It becomes more of a two way street there seeing more exposure and increased users along with more the feedback coming in from any problems that do come up.
So far the HnS and Grub4Dos are working here trouble free with Vista still the default while EasyBCD entries are not even needed since the option is already there in G4D with the option for how many seconds to be displayed. The 1.7.2 provides the more user friendly gui there however over the command prompty type of boot options screen seen with G4D. But more are becoming Linux dual and triple booters with XP and Vista where Bash commands and the console are now more familiar items to a Windows gui not dos generation too.
When restoring the Vista boot loader after first seeing ubuntu on I found the boot.ini was somehow missing off of the Vista primary probably lost when the ubuntu installer first saw Grub go on. The boot.ini file not found prompted me to recopy the original over from the XP drive and edit to see the rdisk0 changed to rdisk1 pointing at the XP drive since that's a second physical drive. XP loaded like a charm following the simply correction made. Often it's something like that preventing XP from loading.
The one thing I have been able to mention so far is how a dual boot with XP does see the Vista restore points lost without a beta tool currently being worked with. With a larger number of people being able to try the HnS tool out under various circumstances the feed back for success and failure rate would be one additional way to see what else could be needed or changed to see a working end result.
For providing a specific download page with the information that it is still in beta form more people could be referred directly to the HnS tool to give a try on their own systems. The more users the more feedback in that sense as the new user automatically becomes a tester to some extent with the results found. It becomes more of a two way street there seeing more exposure and increased users along with more the feedback coming in from any problems that do come up.
So far the HnS and Grub4Dos are working here trouble free with Vista still the default while EasyBCD entries are not even needed since the option is already there in G4D with the option for how many seconds to be displayed. The 1.7.2 provides the more user friendly gui there however over the command prompty type of boot options screen seen with G4D. But more are becoming Linux dual and triple booters with XP and Vista where Bash commands and the console are now more familiar items to a Windows gui not dos generation too.
When restoring the Vista boot loader after first seeing ubuntu on I found the boot.ini was somehow missing off of the Vista primary probably lost when the ubuntu installer first saw Grub go on. The boot.ini file not found prompted me to recopy the original over from the XP drive and edit to see the rdisk0 changed to rdisk1 pointing at the XP drive since that's a second physical drive. XP loaded like a charm following the simply correction made. Often it's something like that preventing XP from loading.
I'm trying to download the latest build using the "latest build" link in the first post. However when I click on it I keep getting the login screen. After I re-enter my login I just get the login screen again.
Is the attached file on the bottom of the first post the latest build?
Is there any way of telling which build I have downloaded?
PC eye
Distinguished Member
When I click on it the run or save to disk popup comes up immediately. In fact if I click on the quote here with the link seen as "Latest Build" the download is readily available to download on the spot. You may want to check the security setting on your browser and the tools>options>security tab in Windows Mail for the "not saving or opening any attachment that could be a potential virus" setting there since you shouldn't be seeing any problem downloading with the working link otherwise.
The problem with being asked to login repeatedly when trying to download has been described before in other threads.
I can't quite remember the solution, I think it's ticking the "remember this login" box, but a search through the forums with an appropriate argument should find something.
I can't quite remember the solution, I think it's ticking the "remember this login" box, but a search through the forums with an appropriate argument should find something.
PC eye
Distinguished Member
Sometines the securoty settings for the browser used may be up too high and not allow user names and passwords to be retained. The "you are changing from secure mode" prompt will often ne seen when settings are up high or a 3rd party program like a firewall interferes.
The setting for not saving or opening files attached to messages in both Outlook Express for XP and Windows Mail in Vista also plays a direct effect on downloading anything with IE there. One idea would be to right click on the link to select the "open in new window" option to see if that will work along with placing a check mark in the box or two to remember user name, password, and even remember on this machine options.
The setting for not saving or opening files attached to messages in both Outlook Express for XP and Windows Mail in Vista also plays a direct effect on downloading anything with IE there. One idea would be to right click on the link to select the "open in new window" option to see if that will work along with placing a check mark in the box or two to remember user name, password, and even remember on this machine options.
Thanks to all, I believe I have the current version. However I can not seem to get it to work. I have a working dual boot config. When I try to hide Vista using HNS I cant boot into XP (SP3). If I select Vista from the menu Vista boots fine. If I select XP from the menu the system reboots, no error messages. I even tried entering the commands using the command line option to see if I'm missing an error message. Again no errors the system reboots after the BOOT command.
After I remove HnS I can get everything working again using Easy BCD
Vista and XP are both installed on the same drive. Vista in the boot partition 1 (drive c) and XP in partition 2 (drive e).
My menu list is:
# NeoSmart Technologies' Vista Hide 'n Seek Beta
# DO NOT MODIFY!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
timeout 30
default 0
title Microsoft Windows Vista
unhide (hd2,0)
find --set-root /BOOTMGR.HNS
makeactive
chainloader /BOOTMGR.HNS
boot
title Windows XP [XP (E:\)]
hide (hd2,0)
map (hd0) (hd2)
map (hd2) (hd0)
set root (hd2,4)
makeactive
chainloader /ntldr
boot
# All your boot are belong to NeoSmart!
My boot.ini is
[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="Vista Hide 'n Seek: Windows XP" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
I also attached (hopefully) a snapshot of my system drives. Disks 0 and 1 are EIDE, disks 2 and 3 and the DVD are SATA (ACHI disabled in BIOS).
Hopefully someone can help me. I would really like to hide my Vista partition from XP.
Thanks
After I remove HnS I can get everything working again using Easy BCD
Vista and XP are both installed on the same drive. Vista in the boot partition 1 (drive c) and XP in partition 2 (drive e).
My menu list is:
# NeoSmart Technologies' Vista Hide 'n Seek Beta
# DO NOT MODIFY!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
timeout 30
default 0
title Microsoft Windows Vista
unhide (hd2,0)
find --set-root /BOOTMGR.HNS
makeactive
chainloader /BOOTMGR.HNS
boot
title Windows XP [XP (E:\)]
hide (hd2,0)
map (hd0) (hd2)
map (hd2) (hd0)
set root (hd2,4)
makeactive
chainloader /ntldr
boot
# All your boot are belong to NeoSmart!
My boot.ini is
[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="Vista Hide 'n Seek: Windows XP" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
I also attached (hopefully) a snapshot of my system drives. Disks 0 and 1 are EIDE, disks 2 and 3 and the DVD are SATA (ACHI disabled in BIOS).
Hopefully someone can help me. I would really like to hide my Vista partition from XP.
Thanks
Attachments
Last edited:
PC eye
Distinguished Member
Did you copy the necessary boot files for XP onto the Vista primary? For one the boot.ini files itself may need to be edited seeing "rdisk(0)partition(1) as part of the line of text rather then the default "rdisk(0)partition(0)". The ntldr, IO,sys, MSDos.sys, and NTDETECT.com files all have to be present there in order for a working add in of XP into the HnS tool.
On the dual boot here the two versions are actually on two seaparate drives while XP was added in with ease simply making sure those files were present and the copy of the boot.ini file saw the correct entry seen there. I actually use the Grub4Dos as the boot options menu and don't use the EasyBCD tool with Vista still set as the default OS. The HnS options allow the time to be set at like 5 seconds or 0 when adding the second set of entries with the 1.7.2 release.
On the dual boot here the two versions are actually on two seaparate drives while XP was added in with ease simply making sure those files were present and the copy of the boot.ini file saw the correct entry seen there. I actually use the Grub4Dos as the boot options menu and don't use the EasyBCD tool with Vista still set as the default OS. The HnS options allow the time to be set at like 5 seconds or 0 when adding the second set of entries with the 1.7.2 release.
ntldr, IO,sys, MSDos.sys, and NTDETECT.com are all present on the Vista boot drive. I also tried changing the partition number in boot.ini. No go.
I have a question about how HnS determines the drive and partition numbers. According to disk manager my VIsta boot is on drive 2 partition 1. XP is on drive 2 partition 2. However the boot.ini created by HnS references multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5). I don't have a partition 5 on any of my drives.
Also in the menu.lst created by HnS, the Set Root command references (HD2,4). Again I dont have a partition 4 on any of my drives.
Should boot.ini and menu.lst both reference the Vista Boot drive which is disk 2 partition 1?
To confuse the issue even more here is the working Boot.ini that I use with EasyBCD. It references Disk 0 partition 2 which also doesn't exist. I tried this boot.ini HnS but it didn't work.
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
I have a question about how HnS determines the drive and partition numbers. According to disk manager my VIsta boot is on drive 2 partition 1. XP is on drive 2 partition 2. However the boot.ini created by HnS references multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5). I don't have a partition 5 on any of my drives.
Also in the menu.lst created by HnS, the Set Root command references (HD2,4). Again I dont have a partition 4 on any of my drives.
Should boot.ini and menu.lst both reference the Vista Boot drive which is disk 2 partition 1?
To confuse the issue even more here is the working Boot.ini that I use with EasyBCD. It references Disk 0 partition 2 which also doesn't exist. I tried this boot.ini HnS but it didn't work.
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
I'm not sure you've got the latest build there. I seem to remember the map commands a few builds back, then them disappearing (unless that's just specific to my system). Is there a log file created in your HnS folder ?
If not you've got an old build. If there is one, can you post the contents.
If not you've got an old build. If there is one, can you post the contents.