Weird problem - Vista and XP partitions

[imported_SLI]

Fresh install on clean, new unformatted HDD.

-Used Partition Magic (8) to create a partition and format it using roughly half the drive.
-Install XP Pro into this partition, everythings cool.

-Boot off Vista DVD (ultimate 64bit) and install into the unpartitioned space.

-install completes, boot menu is created and I can boot into either OS. Great.

....so, whats the problem?

*I CAN SEE EACH OTHERS OS "Drive" LISTED* (as posted above the drive letters get swapped depending on which OS has the "active" C: drive) while booted up into either OS.


WTF?!? I thought in a dual boot enviornment, the *INACTIVE* (OS)_partition is hidden! (and this is clearly what I want)

Did I miss something here, or the method of install wrong? I consulted several FAQ's ect on how to set up a dual boot enviornment and this was the way (XP first then vista into unpartitioned space/or second pre-created partition)

What gives?

 

[mayest]

No, that's how it works. If you want to hide partitions, then you can use a boot manager.

 

[bsobel]

WTF?!? I thought in a dual boot enviornment, the *INACTIVE* (OS)_partition is hidden! (and this is clearly what I want)

Nope, its never been this way with the Vista or the XP boot manager.

Simply delete the drive letter in volume manager for the 'other' OS.

 

[imported_SLI]

Nope, its never been this way with the Vista or the XP boot manager.
Simply delete the drive letter in volume manager for the 'other' OS.

I'ts not just the drive letter showing up, its the partition itself. I can access it just like another drive because it is another drive. Deleting the drive letter does not mean the data there is gone (from visibility) and thats my fear. I want the partition (drive) to be hidden completely when booted into each os. However, boot managers (like boot magic) will not work because vista is GOING to take control of the MBR, period. Thats what I dont understand. Vista did take over the MBR and created a "boot manager" but its still allowing the other partition to be visible, apparently by design. This makes no sense to me ESPECIALLY since its 32bit on the XP side and 64bit on the vista side...

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: SLI

Nope, its never been this way with the Vista or the XP boot manager.
Simply delete the drive letter in volume manager for the 'other' OS.

I'ts not just the drive letter showing up, its the partition itself. I can access it just like another drive because it is another drive. Deleting the drive letter does not mean the data there is gone (from visibility) and thats my fear. I want the partition (drive) to be hidden completely when booted into each os. However, boot managers (like boot magic) will not work because vista is GOING to take control of the MBR, period. Thats what I dont understand. Vista did take over the MBR and created a "boot manager" but its still allowing the other partition to be visible, apparently by design. This makes no sense to me ESPECIALLY since its 32bit on the XP side and 64bit on the vista side...

I want to be able to fly..chances are about equal getting me what I want and you too.

 

[imported_SLI]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
I want to be able to fly..chances are about equal getting me what I want and you too.

Forgive me, but how is that response in any way, helpful?

 

[Navid]

One option:

1- Create 2 primary partitions 1 and 2.
2- Use Gparted (free) and hide partition 2.
3- Install your OS into partition 1. It will become drive C: when you boot to it.
4- Use Gparted to hide 1 and unhide 2.
5- Install your second OS in 2. It will be C: when you boot to it.

To switch OS, use Gparted and switch the hidden partition. The partition you boot to will always be C. The OS can never see or write to the hidden partition.

 

[Nothinman]

Forgive me, but how is that response in any way, helpful?

Because no matter what you do there will always be a way to access the other OS partition as long as it's on a drive that's plugged in while the other OS is active.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Because no matter what you do there will always be a way to access the other OS partition as long as it's on a drive that's plugged in while the other OS is active.

Is there a link/reference you can provide I can read on this?
I would like to learn more, see what kind of code could do something like that (access and modify the other OS), get ideas on the probability of something like that happening. Thanks!

 

[Nothinman]

I don't know what kind of ACLs are in place to control the access but AFAIK any app can use \Device\Harddisk#\Partition# notation to access any device on the system without a drive letter being attached to it.

 

[bsobel]

but its still allowing the other partition to be visible, apparently by design. This makes no sense to me ESPECIALLY since its 32bit on the XP side and 64bit on the vista side...

Again, it's the same as in XP.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I don't know what kind of ACLs are in place to control the access but AFAIK any app can use \Device\Harddisk#\Partition# notation to access any device on the system without a drive letter being attached to it.

When Gparted (Text) hides a partition, what does exactly happen?
Can a program from Windows still access such a partition.
I know that hiding a partition is more than just removing its drive letter.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Navid

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I don't know what kind of ACLs are in place to control the access but AFAIK any app can use \Device\Harddisk#\Partition# notation to access any device on the system without a drive letter being attached to it.

When Gparted (Text) hides a partition, what does exactly happen?
Can a program from Windows still access such a partition.
I know that hiding a partition is more than just removing its drive letter.

Boot managers simply change the parition type into one that keeps it from mounting in the guest OS. I can definately still access the portion of the disk (at least raw) and in some cases can actually mount the volume.

 

[Nothinman]

When Gparted (Text) hides a partition, what does exactly happen?

I believe it just sets the upper bits to 1. So for NTFS the partition type should be 0x07 so when the partition's hidden it gets set to 0x17. Everything else is still exactly the same and anything that looks at what's in the partition instead of the type will still see an NTFS filesystem with all of the data just as it should be.

 

[imported_SLI]

So what your basically saying is I cant make it dual bootable without the opposite partition being visible (and even accessible) Wonderful.

This makes me lean towards chucking XP alltogether except I NEED access to DIVX and Quicktime, neither of which work on Vista (especially 64) Though DIVX site says "they are working on it" How badly do you think apple wants to get Vista support out there? I thought not.

 

[Nothinman]

So what your basically saying is I cant make it dual bootable without the opposite partition being visible (and even accessible) Wonderful.

Not with 100% certainty, no.

This makes me lean towards chucking XP alltogether except I NEED access to DIVX and Quicktime, neither of which work on Vista (especially 64) Though DIVX site says "they are working on it" How badly do you think apple wants to get Vista support out there? I thought not.

I could be mistaken but I seem to remember playing DivX and Xvid files just fine on Vista32, but I don't have that installation any more so I can't verify it.

 

[pcgeek11]

Originally posted by: SLI
This makes me lean towards chucking XP alltogether except I NEED access to DIVX and Quicktime, neither of which work on Vista (especially 64) Though DIVX site says "they are working on it" How badly do you think apple wants to get Vista support out there? I thought not.

I play Divx in Vista with no issues. WinDVD.

pcgeek11

 

[imported_SLI]

Originally posted by: pcgeek11

Originally posted by: SLI
This makes me lean towards chucking XP alltogether except I NEED access to DIVX and Quicktime, neither of which work on Vista (especially 64) Though DIVX site says "they are working on it" How badly do you think apple wants to get Vista support out there? I thought not.

I play Divx in Vista with no issues. WinDVD.

pcgeek11

Vista 64? (I have ultimate) Do you have to put it in compatability mode or something. I have a test install up now on (what will be) the new machine so I can try it myself before I Tear up the old XP rig.

 

[imported_importpsycho]

i'm sorry, why do you not want to see other drive?

 

[imported_SLI]

Originally posted by: importpsycho
i'm sorry, why do you not want to see other drive?

Many reasons. The main being I dont want the software to "see each other" otherwise problems can ensue (path issues, espectially at install). And its confusing. I have some duplicate things running 64 and 32 bit versions (some of my plugins dont work yet in 64/vista, hense the reason to have XP32 still available)

So to make things simple and avoid any confusion, i simply dont want the inactive partition to be visible when booted in the other.

I have literally JUST test run the latest DIVX and Quicktime and they appear to basically work (players anyways, encoding is a whole different issue) so might just install Vista64 on the new PC after all.