Dual booting on 2 seperate h/d

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="Micro soft 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="Micro soft 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..

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.

[quote]Originally posted by BoB01:
<strong>
[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="Micro soft 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="Micro soft 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_SR CH&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 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.)

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_S RCH&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.

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