Multiple Boot

Hello i have a small issue i hope you can help

Ok... i have two hard drives in my mums computer. One is the default hard drive that i got with the computer and the other has the hard drive from my computer.

The problem is if it set one as master and one as slave the master boots up. So if i switch the jumper the other one obviously boots up.

Is there any way i can set the hard drives up so that i get asked what hard drive i would like to boot into.

Would this involve me putting my hard drives on cable select???

Info:

Both drives have windows xp.
Not the same version. One is OEM i got with this computer i am using (my mums; ) and the other is a retail copy i bought when i built my computer.

Thanks in advance

UKARMYCADET

 

Hi UKARMYCADET. I assume you'll be running your two drives on one cable like:

[MB]=============[M]

where
[MB] is motherboard
drive jumper as slave
[M] drive jumper as master

So far so good. Boot the machine and then edit boot.ini

1. Start=>Run: CMD ( start command console)
2. In the console window type:
attrib -r -s -h c:\boot.ini
3. Then type:
notepad c:\boot.ini
4.
Boot.ini won't necessarily look exactly like this, but it should be similar:

I want you to add this line to the end:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Home Edition 2" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

rdisk(0) is your boot drive and rdisk(1) is your second drive.
Boot.ini should now look something like

The bold text is for clarification only.

Now save boot.ini, and close notepad. If you wanted to, you could replace the boot.ini on your D: drive with this file as well. It's a similar procedure:

Start=>Run: CMD
type:
attrib -r -h -s d:\boot.ini
copy c:\boot.ini d:\boot.ini

and restart your computer.
When you reboot, you'll see an option screen asking which OS to boot. Enjoy
.

 

Yes that is how it is set up. I will try it later and tell you the results.

Thank you my friend.

UKARMYCADET

 

prometheos i would like to thank you greatfully. I have spent a long time serching the net and you gave me a anser in no time.

I thank you again my friend.

Yours UKARMYCADET

p.s Is there any more hady things you could teach me. Eg, any more boot.ini things etc. Thanks again

 

Glad to help, UKARMYCADET. There appears to be a comprehensive list of boot.ini options on the Microsoft support site. Try this out:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/information/bootini.mspx
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833721
.

 

Ohh thank you mate i have added that to my favourites.


see you around

UKARMYCADET

 

When I get some time, I'm going to study that list a bit more. Some of the settings caught my eye.
.