This might help:
I was thinking that learning more about BOOT.INI probably is a
good idea. Thanks for providing the links.
Probably still need to also use a boot manager since the Windows
boot menu does not hide the other partitions. The combination might
be the only known way to keep bootable (non-conflicting) Windows XP
partitions on the same disk. It's inconvenient, but it's no big
deal.
Yes, you need a "better" boot manager:
"The most rudimentary boot loaders--such as linux LILO and the NT loader
(ntldr) used by Windows 2000 and XP--have little or no control over the
partition tables to hide any partitions. They rely on the principle that if
differing OS's cannot understand partitions in foreign file formats, then
the partitions are as good as hidden anyway. This doesn't help, though, if
you install duplicate or multiple OS's that can read each other's file
formats. Better boot managers can hide/unhide primary partitions depending
on which you want visible. The most versatile can also selectively hide
logical volumes in the extended primary partition.
If the only OS's you've installed can't understand each other's file
formats, or if they can and you don't care about it, then the rudimentary
boot loaders should be fine. If you only have a couple OS's and can put them
in primary partitions, then mid-level boot managers (like BootMagic,
included with PartitionMagic) will allow you to hide them from each other.
Since we've put some OS's in logical partitions that must be hidden when
certain other OS's are booted, we need a good boot manager that is also
capable of hiding logical partitions. BootIt-NG and XOSL fall into this
latter category."
If you plan cloning XP partitions, editing BOOT.INI is a must,
unless you use a sophisticated boot manager as Bootit-ng.
Then you have to deal with disk signatures too (Bootit-ng helps
there also):
"The other issue is that NT-family OS's "remember" drive letters by
recording the signatures of the corresponding partitions in the XP registry.
When you clone partition-1 to partition-2, the registry goes with it. But
then when partition-2 tries to boot it will remember that the partition
signature corresponding to partition-1 is where 'C:' was, and it may assign
partition-2 a different drive letter. That's bad. The solution is to make XP
forget the remembered drive letter assignments. The registry tweak to clear
the partition signatures will do that. Make the registry edit on partition-1
before cloning it to partition-2, then XP won't remember any previous drive
letters and will build the registry partition signatures anew the first time
it boots."
