Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (
More info?)
(It took me a while to figure out what "b/c" and "np" meant.
Such severe abbreviations are unnecessary these days.)
You're not telling us enough to understand your system.
Can the 2nd OS (WinXP Pro) boot up with the 1st HD removed,
or do you load the WinXP Pro using the boot.ini menu and ntldr
loader in the C: partition on the 1st HD? If the former is possible,
the MBR is there and functioning.
What are the contents of the boot.ini files in both partitions?
Are both the C: and D: partitions marked "active" on their respective
HDs?
Does the D: partition contain ntldr, boot.ini, and ntdetect.com files
just below the root of the file structure?
*TimDaniels*
"Czechmart" wrote:
> Thanks for your posts. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I DO have a working
> multiboot now, w/OS on different physical drives. XP Pro on D:
> boots fine, np. But XP HE (first loaded on C) now always jumps
> back into setup, as I had started to reinstall it before installing XP Pro,
> hoping to fix the lost CD ROM drive problem. Now it cannot complete
> reinstallation, as it can't see the files on the CD ROM (thanks to Roxio)
> and you have to cancel it, causing a fatal error and rebooting, etc.
>
> So, my question is how to either repair the XP HE reinstallation so I can
> get back into the C: OS to uninstall it, or can I simply erase the volume,
> though my understanding is it cannot be erased b/c it still has the HE
> system files and MBR on it.
>
> Is that correct? Now that I have XP Pro installed, I don't wan't to keep
> the multiboot setup, I only set it up that way b/c I thought I might be able
> to repair, transfer files and then uninstall the old HE system on C: Since
> I have been unable to successfully reboot C: to Windows HE, I have
> since copied important files/programs from C: to D: and I would rather
> have the availbale disk space on C
>
> "Timothy Daniels" wrote:
>
>> In view of the following Microsoft documents, why would the new
>> WinXP Pro OS not be installed with ntldr, boot.ini, and ntdetect.com?
>> How to create a multiple-boot system in Windows XP:
>>
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=306559&product=winxp
>> Multi-booting with Windows XP:
>>
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/multiboot.mspx
>>
>> I'd sure like to know if the orig. poster found those files to actually
>> be absent in the WinXP Pro installation on the other drive. BTW,
>> I haven't seen any requirement that the 2nd OS has to be on another
>> physical HD - only another logical drive, i.e. a different partition.
>>
>> *TimDaniels*
>>
>>
>> "Rich Barry" wrote:
>> > If you installed XP pro with the C: drive connected then you have a dual
>> > boot situation. You have to copy the ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini files
>> > over to D: You may have to from WinExplorer select Tools>Folder
>> > Options>View>click on Show hidden files and folders and uncheck
>> > hide unprotected operating system files. Then using the Recovery Console
>> > at the command prompt type bootcfg /rebuild For more info check
>> > out this kb article.
>> >
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058
>> >
>> > You can format the C: from WinXPPro.
>> >
>> > "Czechmart" wrote:
>> >> Hi thanks for taking the time -
>> >>
>> >> When Roxio knocked out my XP Home Edition and before I knew
>> >> about the filter delete fix in the registry, I started to do a reinstall to try
>> >> and fix it. Unfortunately, the installation can't complete b/c setup
>> >> cannot read either CD drive. Every time I reboot the system, a
>> >> window pops up asking for the i386 folder, but it can't see the drives.
>> >> I have tried fising the boot from the recovery console, etc and even
>> >> copied the i386 folder to a flat on the C: drive, and it found them but
>> >> then started asking for other files too - will I need to copy the whole
>> >> CD to the C drive to finish the installation?
>> >>
>> >> In the meantime, I installed XP Professional OEM on my second
>> >> hard drive (D) and I have transferred the data I really want to save
>> >> to D. If I now wanted to simply wipe clean the C drive, how can I do
>> >> that when C: can't be formatted as it has system files on it, and I
>> >> cannot access it (Safe mode, etc) as it still keeps booting to the
>> >> hungup setup?
>>
>>