Dual-boot Newbie - can't access wiki

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kennethsross

Member
Just tried to read the dual-boot wiki, but get a blank page when I click on specific page. (Vista after XP) http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Installing+XP+Before+Vista

Maybe someone can help me here:

Scenario.

I'm building a new PC to use for general office / image processing, but also some music production, including a controller which will not work in vista.

I'm therefore building a three disc system; 250GB XP Pro 32bit / 500GB Vista HP 64 bit / 750GB storage. All disks are SATA.

System is built and running. So far, only one hard disc is installed. On this I have installed XP Pro 32 bit, updated all the service packs, so it is now at SP3.

I'm now ready to install the 500GB drive and put Vista on it.

This is where I need help:

1. I don't need Easy BCD in this scenario - correct?

2. Do I need Hide 'n' Seek?

3. Any issues I need to be aware of?

Really appreciate anyone taking the time to help me here.

TIA
 
Hi Kenneth, welcome to NST.
That page is blank for everyone, sorry.
There is another link further down the same page to the very good APC guides however.
The reason I assume Guru never got round to completing that page is because it's the least necessary of explanation.
Essentially, Vista will do everything for you. It replaces the XP bootloader with its own, puts an entry for the XP system into its bootloader and presents you with an automatic dual boot menu.
1) You don't need EasyBCD. Download yourself a copy anyway because you will want it to tidy up the clumsy "previous version of Windows" description in your boot menu. EasyBCD is a GUI for the BCDedit program which is stuck in a 1980's timewarp. It doesn't become part of the system or do anything unless you use it. It's like having "notepad" on the system. Just a useful tool in the box.
2) there is a MS registry zap you can apply to your XP system, which is supposed to prevent it seeing Vista. It works for some and not for others. None of us have ever pinned down exactly why or why not.
Give it a try. If when you boot XP Vista is not visible, you don't need HnS.
If you can see Vista, download HnS, run UI.exe from the unpacked folder and it will do the job for you.
It creates a boot menu with appropriate hide/unhide commands, and assumes command by renaming the Vista bootloader and placing itself as a substitute. When you select Vista or XP from its menu, it chains to their bootloaders to do the actual loading of the OS. (at this stage when you select Vista, it will chain to the Vista bootmgr which has its own dual boot menu created in the previous step. This is obviously now redundant, and if you were to select XP at this second menu stage, it would not benefit from the hide commands issued from the HnS menu. Now is the time to use EasyBCD to set timeout(0) on this second menu, so that it goes directly into Vista without appearing as a second choice.)
3) Don't allow any OS which is not internally labelled as C:\... to see another OS which it thinks is called C:\.. (there's no problem with Windows, but badly written 3rd party app installers will put some stuff on C:\ when you install it on x:\, creating conflict and unpredictable behaviour when running the software (Adobe Flash and Reader are 2 examples))
 
"Hi Kenneth, welcome to NST."

  • Thanks Terry, for such a prompt and helpful response. Can I push your patience to the limit with another couple of comments / questions, before I do the deed?
"That page is blank for everyone, sorry.
There is another link further down the same page to the very good APC guides however."

  • Thanks for that link. They are super step-by-step instructions, but they don't seem to address my scenario of seperate discs (or am I just not seeing it?)
"1) You don't need EasyBCD. Download yourself a copy anyway because you will want it to tidy up the clumsy "previous version of Windows" description in your boot menu. EasyBCD is a GUI for the BCDedit program which is stuck in a 1980's timewarp. It doesn't become part of the system or do anything unless you use it. It's like having "notepad" on the system. Just a useful tool in the box. "
  • Do I run this in XP or in Vista?
"2) there is a MS registry zap you can apply to your XP system, which is supposed to prevent it seeing Vista. It works for some and not for others. None of us have ever pinned down exactly why or why not.


Give it a try. If when you boot XP Vista is not visible, you don't need HnS."
  • When you say that Vista may be "not visible" or "visible", where would I expect to not see it / see it in XP? As part of the boot sequence, or in 'My Computer'?

"If you can see Vista, download HnS, run UI.exe from the unpacked folder and it will do the job for you."
  • Do I run HnS in XP or Vista?
"It creates a boot menu with appropriate hide/unhide commands, and assumes command by renaming the Vista bootloader and placing itself as a substitute. When you select Vista or XP from its menu, it chains to their bootloaders to do the actual loading of the OS. (at this stage when you select Vista, it will chain to the Vista bootmgr which has its own dual boot menu created in the previous step. This is obviously now redundant, and if you were to select XP at this second menu stage, it would not benefit from the hide commands issued from the HnS menu. Now is the time to use EasyBCD to set timeout(0) on this second menu, so that it goes directly into Vista without appearing as a second choice.)"
  • Again, is EasyBCD installed on and run from Vista or XP?
"3) Don't allow any OS which is not internally labelled as C:\... to see another OS which it thinks is called C:\.. (there's no problem with Windows, but badly written 3rd party app installers will put some stuff on C:\ when you install it on x:\, creating conflict and unpredictable behaviour when running the software (Adobe Flash and Reader are 2 examples))"

  • XP is on Drive C. I assume when I add the next hard drive, (on to which I will install Vista) it will take the letter 'D', pushing my two optical drives further down the alphabet. Now I know when installing software, you will usually get the choice of where to install files. How can I make sure that what you warn of doesn't happen (since I will certainly need Flash and Acrobat Reader on the Vista system)
Again, thanks for all the help so far, and I hope you can clarify these questions.

Best regards

Kenneth Ross
 
If you are using seperate disk just amend it to your specific needs. Dont worry about partitions and install where you want. These guides are generic not specific for every situation cause each situation is unique. If we tried to cover every possible situation a person would encounter when trying to multi boot we could have just a whole website with guides on how to do it. There is just that many different combinations.

The guide is just a basic thing on how to get it done. You will have to make the amendments to it to make it fit your needs. No go will be specific to your needs cause they are different from mine and everyone elses. :wink:

2. Always try to run EasyBCD in Vista. It works in XP jsut fine with .NET 2.0 but Vista controls the BCD so run it in Vista so not to confuse yourself.

3. You would not see Vista's drive under My Computer in XP. That is what is meant by not visable.

4. HnS is run in Vista only.

5. As i said in 2. Vista.

6. Not necessarily. If installing from the DVD Vista can take the drive letter C:\ as well and XP will be recognized as D:\ in Vista. But it will not be affected. In XP it will still be C:\ just Vista will see it as D:\. This is normal.
 
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