Booting 2 installations of XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter miskairal
  • Start date Start date
M

miskairal

No I didn't accidentally install XP twice :)

I wanted to install sp2 on my compputer but after reading all the
associated problems decided to do a complete new installation of XP on
my 2nd hard drive so that if I had a problem I could still use my
computer with internet access to solve it. I disconnected my 1st hard
drive so I couldn't stuff up and I made the 2nd hard drive the master (I
did fully intend to use the new installation and delete the old once I
knew it was working).

Well sp2 renders my pc unusable and I have to now sort out why (new
drivers needed I'm presuming). I'm back on the original installation
with this drive re set to master and the 2nd drive connected.

Can I somehow make a boot option to chose which XP I want to boot to as
I don't have this option now b/c of the way I went about it all?

Does a drive have to be set to master to boot from it? Can I just
disconnect the first drive to have the sp2 version of windows boot up or
do I need to keep changing the master/slave setup? Can this boot
sequence be changed in t the BIOS?

Thanks for any help
miskairal
 
The way to get a boot menu is to either partition your drive into two or
more partitions and install an operating system on each partition
(technically you may have one copy of xp installed on one machine otherwise
you are breaking your EULA (end user license agreement). If you are
installing two copies then you need a license for the second copy (in this
instance you would need to buy another retail copy) However, having said all
that the object of your excercise is to test that SP2 runs smoothly before
you actually fully implement it on your system. in which case, so long as
everything goes according to plan you would be deleting the 'original' copy
in favour of the copy with sp2 installed.)
Your problem lies in the fact that you change your drives. Keep your drive
containing xp with SP1 on the master drive and set your second drive as
slave and install xp containing sp2 on the slave drive. After the SP2
version has been installed on the slave drive and you have rebooted you
should get an option menu to either boot to your master drive or slave drive
(drive 0 or drive 1)
To complicate matters, unless you actually rename them to windows 1 and
windows 2 or somthing similar, after you have installed xp with SP2 onto the
slave drive the SP2 version will be the first option on the menu list.
For more information on dual booting check my website:
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Click the Win XP Faq button and take a look at Question 6
 
John said:
The way to get a boot menu is to either partition your drive into two or
more partitions and install an operating system on each partition
(technically you may have one copy of xp installed on one machine otherwise
you are breaking your EULA (end user license agreement). If you are
installing two copies then you need a license for the second copy (in this
instance you would need to buy another retail copy) However, having said all
that the object of your excercise is to test that SP2 runs smoothly before
you actually fully implement it on your system. in which case, so long as
everything goes according to plan you would be deleting the 'original' copy
in favour of the copy with sp2 installed.)
Your problem lies in the fact that you change your drives. Keep your drive
containing xp with SP1 on the master drive and set your second drive as
slave and install xp containing sp2 on the slave drive. After the SP2
version has been installed on the slave drive and you have rebooted you
should get an option menu to either boot to your master drive or slave drive
(drive 0 or drive 1)
To complicate matters, unless you actually rename them to windows 1 and
windows 2 or somthing similar, after you have installed xp with SP2 onto the
slave drive the SP2 version will be the first option on the menu list.
For more information on dual booting check my website:
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Click the Win XP Faq button and take a look at Question 6
Click to expand...

Thankyou for your help!

I gather I have to reinstall to get the dual boot option and cannot
create it now? I've got everything backed up but am always nervous that
there is something I've forgotten to backup so that combined with my
fear of somehow stuffing up and installing over my 1st XP installation
was the reason I did it the way I did. Oh and the fact I didn't want to
end up with a dual boot option when I had no intention of keeping the
sp1 installation.

Now I just want to get to the sp2 installation easily so I can fix it (I
hope I can do that myself although some of those drivers are a bit big
for dialup).

Thanks again
miskairal
 
Downloading via dialup is somewhat easier if you have a download manager. I
use Fresh Download (freeware) (www.freshedevices.com) This allows you to
stop downloads and resume them later. In options set it to replace the
internet explorer download (you'll find the option under the integration
tab)
 
Back
Top