Missing or corrupt hal.dll after reinstalling XP Pro on dual boot

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sonklong
  • Start date Start date
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Sonklong

Scenario:
PC running XP Pro SP3 (C:) & XP Home SP3(D:) on a partitioned hard drive
without any problems. PC has a second hard drive (E:) for My Documents &
data. All drives are SATA drives.

I've formatted XP Pro (C:) drive to install a fresh copy. I used the same XP
Pro SP2 disk as for the first installation many months ago.

Problem:
After installing XP Pro on C: drive, it did not see the XP Home
installation. I edited the boot.ini file to include XP Home on the second
partition.

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home"
/fastdetect=OptIn

This is the error message displayed when I choose to boot into XP Home.

windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll

I have to add that XP Pro, in all its wisdom, changed drive letters by
itself after its installation. C: and D: were originally XP Pro and XP Home
respectively and E: was the data drive. After XP Pro reinstallation it
assigned the following drive letters without prompting. C: was XP Po; D: was
Data & E: was XP Home.

I subsequently swopped D: & E: around in Disk Management for logical and
logistical reasons.
Maybe this could've had an effect, I don't know. I've tried fixmbr in
Recovery Console but nothing changed, same error message.

I need to get XP Home back without losing any of the two OS's on it. How do
I do it?
 
If xp home is the OS to save,or the other way around,boot to xp cd,recovery,
in recovery,type:DiskPart In DiskPart,delete xp pro partition,leave raw,edit
others as needed,press ESC key when thru.By deleting a partition,the others
move up in letter count (D: to C:)etc.If that works for you,or unplug a hd to
get its letter,once a partition or hd is gone,you can also change a letter in
diskmgmt.msc L.click on a volume,actions,all,change drive letter/path,change
letter....
 
Find the hal.dll file in your XP Pro installation and copy it
to the named folder in your XP installation
peter
 
Scenario:
PC running XP Pro SP3 (C:) & XP Home SP3(D:) on a partitioned hard drive
without any problems. PC has a second hard drive (E:) for My Documents &
data. All drives are SATA drives.

I've formatted XP Pro (C:) drive to install a fresh copy. I used the same XP
Pro SP2 disk as for the first installation many months ago.

Problem:
After installing XP Pro on C: drive, it did not see the XP Home
installation. I edited the boot.ini file to include XP Home on the second
partition.

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home"
/fastdetect=OptIn

This is the error message displayed when I choose to boot into XP Home.

windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll

I have to add that XP Pro, in all its wisdom, changed drive letters by
itself after its installation. C: and D: were originally XP Pro and XP Home
respectively and E: was the data drive. After XP Pro reinstallation it
assigned the following drive letters without prompting. C: was XP Po; D: was
Data & E: was XP Home.

I subsequently swopped D: & E: around in Disk Management for logical and
logistical reasons.
Maybe this could've had an effect, I don't know. I've tried fixmbr in
Recovery Console but nothing changed, same error message.

I need to get XP Home back without losing any of the two OS's on it. How do
I do it?
Click to expand...

Try changing partition(2) to (3).
 
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