Not a Linux question, dual boot with master and slave?

I installed a new hard drive with Windows XP pro, adding to my previous hard drive. Is there a way to set it so I don’t have to open up my computer every time I want to access my old XP boot? Forgive me if this has been answered before, all I could find were references to Linux and XP dual boot.

I have installed a new hard drive in my computer, because my old WindowsXP installation continually leaked memory through explorer.exe, even after a reinstall. I have to set the new drive to Master and the old drive to slave. As far as I can tell, there’s no way to make my system boot to a slave. I have a two year old Dell desktop, btw.

There are some applications still need to access on the old XP system, but opening the system and rearranging cables or jumper pins is a real headache.

In your new (master) XP Pro install, edit the following file in notepad:

C:\boot.ini

And change it to look something like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“WindowsNew” /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“WindowsOld”

This will allow you to select either your new XP install or old XP install on bootup.

HTH,

-SweepK

Thanks for the advice but there’s no “boot.ini” file on my new C: drive anywhere, I checked all subdirectories. Too bad, that would have been easy.

Hmm… should be there, it’s a system file though so you probably cannot see it.

You can edit it one of two ways:

  1. From the explorer window, go to Tools->Folder Options, then click on the “view” tab. In the “Advanced Settings” window, scroll down to the entry labeled “Hide protected operating system files”, and un-select that entry. Hit apply, and you should be able to see the boot.ini file.

  2. Open up a dos command line, and “cd” back to the “c” root directory. From there you can issue a “notepad boot.ini” to edit.

SweepK

oops… it’s also hidden as well :rolleyes:, so in the explorer view options window select “Show hidden files and folders” in addition to unchecking “hide protected operating system files”.

Actually, it’s even easier to use the feature in the control panel to edit it (instructions here.)