Dual booting on 2 seperate h/d

[BoB01]

I was using WinMe. Then I got WinXP Pro, so i bought a new h/d and installed it on that, while I disconnected the WinMe.. I reconnected and made it a slave just to copy files and personal stuff over, but didn't disconnect it and left it like it is.. Now I want to know if I can make WinXP dual boot between them.. I've been to Microsoft's KB and found how to do it on the different partitions so I thought it shouldn't really be that much different. I had to edit the Boot.ini file in the root of Winxp..

[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
I:\ = "Microsoft Windows"

I put that like it said and I got the option at startup to choose which one, but all it did was reboot, so I change it to:

[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
I:\Windows="Microsoft Windows"

Now it asking for a file "hal.dll" which goes "windows root>\system32\hal.dll" I've found it in Winxp, but not Winme.. I've checked all the cabs.. It's a "Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL" what ever that is. I can't see it if I copy the version from Winxp to Winme it'll work, so I'll just have to play around some more..

[Budster64]

The HAL is one of the reasons NT versions of windows are more stable than 9X, it behaves as a buffer between the hardware and drivers...etc.
9X/ME versions don't use this at all....what I think you have done here is pointed the XP boot.ini to the ME windows folder which doesn't contain the necessary dll's and files.

[Ya_know]

[quote]Originally posted by BoB01:
<strong>

timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
I:\ = "Microsoft Windows"

I put that like it said and I got the option at startup to choose which one, but all it did was reboot, so I change it to:

[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
I:\Windows="Microsoft Windows"
</strong><hr></blockquote>

You say that ME is on a different disk, but your arc path shows the same disk, and same channel. This may be part of your problem. Depending on which controller (IDE I presume) that you are on with the ME disk, you will have to change multi to a (1) if you are on the secondary, and disk to (1) if it is slave on the primary, or the secondary. I found the following from an MS article, it had some information about the rdisk being changed as well. I have always changed the multi and disk, never rdisk, so there may be more that someone else can address…BTW, where did the I: come from?

<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q141/7/02.asp?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=rdisk&rnk=8&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WIN2000" target="_blank">How to Recover Mirroring Windows NT Using IDE Devices</a>

multi(1)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1) if the shadow drive is the master device of the [b]secondary channel
(multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1) may also work)

multi(1)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1) if the Shadow drive is the Slave Device of the Secondary Channel
(Multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(3)partition(1) may also work.)

[Ya_know]

After I posted, I realized that all of my comments pertain to a Dual NT (NT4, 2000, XP) boot.ini, so it won't help with a 9x.

You may want to try reinstalling ME over itself, on the I: (if that is where it is), then use this to bring back the boot manager:

<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q293/4/01.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=rdisk&rnk=29&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=WIN2000" target="_blank">How to Enable Dual Boot After You Install Windows Me on a Windows 2000-based Computer</a>

I've never tried any of this, so I can't confirm or deny its effectiveness.

[BoB01]

Thanks for the info Ya_know.. I re-installed Winxp (repair option) but didn't find any other versions of windows only XP.. After 30 mins, it all ended up the same only I kept geting an error of no paging file.. I tried setting it manually or letting the system doing it, but I gave up in the end and re-installed WinXP with a clean install (still no dual boot option) I was wondering if it's because WinME is on a slave drive instead of a master on a seperate ide channel??.. The I:\ is when I installed WinXP.. I always partition my h/d's into 4 (main, apps, games, personnal - c,d,e,f) then comes the cdrom and cdrw (g,h) and when I put my other drive back in I:\for WinMe (easy really ..lol) I know I can move all the drives around using Disk Managment but for what it is I'm not really bothered.. I might give the multi disk option a go, you never know.. :p :p