Dual boot Vista/Vista and neogrub hide command on single drive. Possible?

Spiritfish

New Member
Hello!

I have spent about two days trying to solve this problem. Time to ask the forum for some help!

My setup is this:

I have one harddrive, 92GB.
I have made 3 partitions.
Partition 0, 40 GB, Vista Home - Game Edition. Include the Master Boot Record.
Partition 1, 25 GB, Vista Home - Work Edition.
Partition 2, 26,5 GB. Media.

Everything works great in dualbooting the systems. No problem. And this is the setup from EasyBCD.

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default {04e65841-683f-11dd-bc3a-0015c51729f4}
displayorder {04e65841-683f-11dd-bc3a-0015c51729f4}
{04e65842-683f-11dd-bc3a-0015c51729f4}
toolsdisplayorder {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout 30
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {04e65841-683f-11dd-bc3a-0015c51729f4}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Vista Home - Game Edition
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {c0542bba-6843-11dd-b972-806e6f6e6963}
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {04e65842-683f-11dd-bc3a-0015c51729f4}
device partition=D:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Vista Home - Work Edition
osdevice partition=D:
systemroot \Windows

My question is this: Can I use NeoGRUB and the hide command to hide Vista Work partition when I run Vista Game. And can I use the hide command to hide Vista Game partition when i run Vista Work?

I think running Game(hd0,0) and hide Work(hd0,1) is no problem. But running Work(hd0,1) and hide Game(hd0,0) will fail beacuse Game include the Master Boot Record. Is there any way around this? I only have one drive and can only use one drive(Laptop).

The reason I want to do this is becuse of security.

If anyone have any good suggestion how to solve this I would be very happy!


Addendum:


Or would this work?
1. I make a configuration in Neogrub that hides (hd0,0). Reboot and run it.
2. Restart the computer. It will fail to start beacuse I dont have any drive with MBR. Beacuse (hd0,0) is hidden.
3. Insert Windows Vista CD and re-install on (hd0,1). That way (hd0,1) will include a MBR.
4. Run EasyBCD in Vista(hd0,1). Make a configuration in NeoGRUB that unhide (hd0,0).
5. That way both (hd0,0) and (hd0,1) will have a MBR. And when I hide one of them I can boot from the other one with the other one hidden.

Would that work? Or is there an easier way to do it without reinstalling Vista? Or is this even possible?
If this would work, would this neogrub config file work?

Code:
# NeoSmart NeoGrub Bootloader Configuration File
#
# This is the NeoGrub configuration file, and should be located at C:\NST\menu.lst
# Please see the EasyBCD Documentation for information on how to create/modify entries:
# [URL]http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD[/URL]
 
default 0 
timeout 10
 
 
title Vista Home - Game Edition
unhide (hd0,0)
hide (hd0,1)
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
makeactive
 
 
title Vista Home - Work Edition
unhide (hd0,1)
hide (hd0,0)
root (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
makeactive
 
Last edited:
Hi SpiritFish, welcome to NeoSmart Technologies.

As you've discovered, hiding the partition that has the bootloader on it isn't a good idea and your system won't boot in that case.

NeoGrub isn't intended to be used for hiding Vista partitions, but, yes, it is possible via the steps you mentioned.

Using NeoGrub to hide anything is no longer officially supported by NeoSmart Technologies; we've developed a replacement application - Vista Hide 'n Seek - that automates the entire procedure. However, it too is used to hide XP partitions and not Vista ones, so it probably won't be of any use for you.

The steps you mention would work; an alternative that doesn't involve reinstalling Vista would be to hide the partition that has the bootloader on it, use a Vista DVD to enter the recovery software and activate the "repair your computer" feature to have Vista reinstall its bootloader - on the only drive that's showing - so that you'll have a bootloader on each drive.
 
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