Dual Boot Windows 2000/XP problem

[oz42]

The Opposite Problem 2000/XP Booting

Dennis, this may or may not help...

I had exactly the same problem as you (I think it is because XP writes over the 2k disk controller drivers, and therefore 2k cant even see the hard drives)

Jerry from www.jsifaq.com helped me out, following up a post on their site (Tip #4366). Try this:-

Boot into XP and copy the disk controller driver (hpt3xx.sys in my case) from the XP:\Windows\system32\drivers directory to the root of the 2k drive (I assume like me you can "see" the 2k drive in XP) and rename it ntbootdd.sys. If this works (unfortunately it didn't for me) 2k should automatically use this driver for disk control and it should see all the drives.

If you still get the "winnt\system32\config\system" error. 2k still can't see the drives at all, so try this:-

[this should work directly from the working XP OS but is probably safer from the recovery console so...) boot into the XP or 2k CD, choose "r" for repair, then "c" for the recovery console. Change to the winnt\system32\config directory and rename the "system" file to another name e.g. system.old (there is already a system.alt file there, this is the file used when choosing "last known good" in boot options) then copy the file "system" from the winnt\repair\ directory (or if you have a newer one in winnt\repair\regback use this) into the winnt\system32\config\ directory.

*** WARNING *** this will remove ALL your device drivers and any services you have loaded since this file was created (in my case over a year!!!) so you will have to reinstall all the device drivers, however it does give you a chance to make sure they're all up to date! (boot into XP and download them all to the 2k temp directory first, is my advice)

This second method will work but it will mean a lot of rebuilding and reinstalling, however this is a small price to pay for getting your system back up a running.

oz.

NB. All the usual caveats about killing your system etc. etc.

[lorarend]

I'm running into the same problem as you all. The only problem I have is I have only the upgrade XP Home Version. How can I boot this and do a repair.
I can't even get it to reinstall.
Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Very frustrated.

[Bopper]

you can still boot to the Upgrade CD to run the repair as you would with a full version. the only diff is if you do a Reload of the OS it will ask you for a qualified MS product to verify you have purchased from them before...

[lorarend]

I'll give a try.
Thanks Alot for the info.
Lora

[Shanforest]

I have a new Advent pc with XP home ed preinstalled (which I hate but I have to have it available so I can advise all the poor souls who suffer from it).
I want to install 2000 as well. Created partitions with Partition Expert; these check out under xp's partition bit as OK.

Problem One is that when I put the 2000 cd in to install it I get a windows dialogue saying that setup on this cd is disabled. The cd is the one Ive used to install before so it must be xp overwriting.

I have seen plenty of advice around saying the older edition needs to go first.

Problem Two asked Advent how I reinstall xp if I wipe, install 2000, then reinstall xp, as all I have are 4 cd's labelled setup so I don't know where xp is on them. The handbook just briefly mentions a recovery procedure.

Helpline says that if I use the recovery procedure to (re)install xp it will wipe out any partiotions Ive made + 2000 and just redo the original setup with xp only. This is because the xp bundled is not a full version.

Any comments other than shared disgust?
Can I create a partition in bios maybe for my preferred 2000 op, that the xp recovery procedure can't touch?

[macelind]

I would try xfdisk. It was a life saver for me when I was having problems. You could use it to hide your XP partition and activate the partition you want to put 2000 on. Then it should be an easy install.

http://www.pctip.ch/downloads/dl/18683.asp

[ChrisK2972]

Originally posted by mpc
Traditionally the older OS should be installed first. There are ways to get around that without having any problems.....

is this one of the ways?

Originally posted by Tazman
To make things easier on you, you may want to just disconnect the c drive that has XP installed on it and connect the d drive as the primary drive, install Win 2K to it and then set the "old" c drive with XP on it as the slave d drive. I personally haven't tried it that way (can't remember at the moment).

The boot loader should see the new OS (XP) and add it to it, if not you may have to edit the boot loader.

If this is not a good or the best work around, could you please enlighten me. I am about to load WK2 Pro and do not want to have same trouble. Thanks!

ChrisK

[Shanforest]

Chris you may not have been answering me ... I wasn't sure whether to start a new thread as I was aware I was introducing a different problem.

The problem I have with XP (grrryuck) and loading 2000 is that I have only one drive so your dickeying with master/slave isn't on. I'd prefer not to have to install another drive unless I have to.

This is a kind of "cheat" to fix dual boot probs, but how about using a third-party boot loader?

The best I've used is boot magic (comes with partition magic), but there are a number of free ones that work fairly well. The best free one I've used is XOSL.

These generally work by detecting the boot files in the root partition of the OS, and loading them from there. So the need to have the NT bootloader updated and correct in the MBR is avoided - these do it for you!

Hope this helps someone.

Cheers
Mick

[Shanforest]

Mick

I bought Partition Expert (similar to P Magic)
XP has its own partition widget
Ive also been told I can handle this in dos OR the bios

So far all Ive managed is to make partitions with P Exp, which check out as there in the XP widget. I made one new partition the right sort to take an OS.

But then if I put the 2000 cd in xp disables its setup.
Even if I manage to get 2000 going by wiping xp, the pc manuf says my xp cd's are "recovery" not "install" so will overwrite everything and return the pc to its original state with only xp.

I think I'll give up and just dump xp and install 2000 instead, because I cant understand the advice I'm getting.