# editing a boot.ini, hard disk question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-boot-ini-hard-disk-question/369456 "2006-08-20T17:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-boot-ini-hard-disk-question/369456/1 "2006-08-20T17:40:44Z")
as i work twoard my goal of dual booting my pc i have windows 2k installed on my primary ide master disk primary partition and xp installed on my secondary ide slave disk (only partition) how do i edit my boot.ini file to point to the xp installation? ie what should be in the line “multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /fastdetect” i cant seem to find a site explaining the meaning of all the options and i know its not something i really want to screw up. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-boot-ini-hard-disk-question/369456/2 "2006-08-20T18:10:34Z")
Hmm, check [here.](http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000492.htm) It seems to list all the parts and how they’re used. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-boot-ini-hard-disk-question/369456/3 "2006-08-20T20:21:43Z")
When you installed XP, it should have done this automatically. You didn’t install XP when it was the only disk and then make it the secondary disk, did you? Bad juju, man. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-boot-ini-hard-disk-question/369456/4 "2006-08-21T04:11:28Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] …Bad juju, man. [/QUOTE] Nah, there’s no real magic here. It just takes a little messing around to get it right. I know people hate to mess with things that affect the boot process, but if you’ve got yourself a boot floppy or a few minutes to learn repair mode of an install CD, it’s pretty hard to screw yourself as long as you stay away from partitioning or formatting. I wouldn’t send my mother on such a mission, but if you’ve got to the point where you even know what a boot.ini is and what it does, the odds are you’re competent enough to mess with it. ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-boot-ini-hard-disk-question/369456/5 "2006-08-21T05:21:42Z")
bad juju? well i DID set it up that way… i was advised to in a diffrent thread… now its just the matter of getting it so its selectable on my boot screen… i cant seem to find the proper boot.ini settings ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-a-boot-ini-hard-disk-question/369456/6 "2006-08-21T05:38:56Z")
Re-install XP. It will make your life a LOT easier. Windows isn’t happy having its drive letter changed around. There’s a bunch of registry settings you’ll need to change and configuration files for programs and all sorts of stuff, and none of it is documented. Easier just to re-install.