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Thread ID: 52045 2004-12-08 00:42:00 Dual OS - how to enable? fergie (424) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
300699 2004-12-08 00:42:00 Hi.
hey, i just plugged in my Hardrive from my bung PC with Windows XP Pro on it, into this pc (also XP PRO)
I was hoping that upon startup i would be able to chose which OS to boot, but no - wnet straight to the normal one on this PC.
It picks up the HDD and all the data.

Is it posible to do what i'm wanting to do?
If so, what do i have to change?
fergie (424)
300700 2004-12-08 00:44:00 You might have a BIOS option to select which HD to use for booting. Otherwise it will always go for the "master" drive. Graham L (2)
300701 2004-12-08 00:55:00 tap F8 while booting Rob99 (151)
300702 2004-12-08 01:04:00 > tap F8 while booting


or more specifically before the OS starts to boot :)
Megaman (344)
300703 2004-12-08 01:22:00 Unless the PC that you are using now is identical in specs to the one that XP Pro was loaded onto the other disk on, expect big problems including complete lockups when booting from the other drive.

Driver incompatabilities will exist if the chipsets are different. If you are lucky, XP will blue screen and stop the boot, if unlucky it will boot but be very flakey.
godfather (25)
300704 2004-12-08 01:45:00 dont you go into my computer properties and then advanced and then choose boot options and then you can choose to have the boot loader pop up on start up instead of u pressing f8. noone (22)
300705 2004-12-08 03:53:00 hey, i just pressed F8 on boot, but there was only the one option - and thts this installation, but i'll try tht thing with the BIOS fergie (424)
300706 2004-12-08 04:10:00 The F8 thing calls up the bootloader, but that only knows about OSs which have been installed. This is just an added drive which happens to have an OS on it. So there is nothing about it in the BOOT.INI file. Graham L (2)
300707 2004-12-08 04:37:00 oh, ok, so theres nothing u can do about it?
Or there is but it'll require a ton of mucking around wif a heap of risks, and I don't REALLY have to do it anyway...??? :P
fergie (424)
300708 2004-12-08 04:47:00 wats the point of actaully doing this - both hdd have the same os and if you wanted to get any data of the new one since you can see it when you boot of the oringal you can transfer all you want. noone (22)
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