Adding a windows installation

[DavidoFoo]

My boot.ini file looks like this;

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.2
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.2="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" \noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.1="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" \noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" \noexecute=optin /fastdetect

How do I add my original installing "WINDOWS" to the os list?

 

[catrats]

Probably going to need a bit more information here. Are you trying to dual-boot between two (or four) different versions of Windows? What version is your "original installing "WINDOWS"" supposed to be? What exactly are you trying to do here?

 

[DavidoFoo]

Originally posted by: catrats
Probably going to need a bit more information here. Are you trying to dual-boot between two (or four) different versions of Windows? What version is your "original installing "WINDOWS"" supposed to be? What exactly are you trying to do here?

I had one version of windows, but it didn't boot because the boot files were corrupted(WINDOWS). I then tried to lay a parallel installation, but it froze twice. I tried once more and it completed. The completed one being "WINDOWS.2" the two failed ones being "WINDOWS.0 and WINDOWS.1" I already deleted .0 and .1 The thing is, only WINDOWS.2 is showing up in the OS boot selection and WINDOWS(original installation of windows) isn't.

 

[speed01]

You probably should have just done an overlay install instead of trying to install another copy of the OS. At this point I don't know if an overlay will even fix your problem but you can try it if you want. Boot from the XP cd and let it go through as if you were installing it again. When it asks where to install to, tell it to go to your original windows directory. It will then search for previous installations and when it finds them it will ask what you want to do (ie, new install, repair or change directory). Tell it to repair your original one. If you want to try editing your boot.ini before trying the overlay, delete the entry that has Windows.1 in it and change the Windows.0 to just Windows (delete the .0). Then see if you can choose it at bootup.

Speed

 

[DavidoFoo]

Originally posted by: speed01
You probably should have just done an overlay install instead of trying to install another copy of the OS. At this point I don't know if an overlay will even fix your problem but you can try it if you want. Boot from the XP cd and let it go through as if you were installing it again. When it asks where to install to, tell it to go to your original windows directory. It will then search for previous installations and when it finds them it will ask what you want to do (ie, new install, repair or change directory). Tell it to repair your original one. If you want to try editing your boot.ini before trying the overlay, delete the entry that has Windows.1 in it and change the Windows.0 to just Windows (delete the .0). Then see if you can choose it at bootup.

Speed

I didn't do a repair install(I think the same as overlay) from the start because you need a product key which I don't have.

Yay, editing the boot.ini worked. I was thinking of doing that from the beginning, but I wanted to make sure it was safe to do. THANKS GUYS!!!!!!!

Alright,

 

[speed01]

Glad editing the boot.ini worked for you but I do have one question. If you don't have the key, how were you able to do a parallel install?

Speed