tweaking OS-select screen?

D

Dario D.

Gawd
Joined
Dec 8, 2004
Messages
582
Hi all. I'm going to dual-boot Vista and XP if possible, but first want to remove "Windows Recovery Console" from my choices of OS' to boot to. (after I install Vista, I want it to only list XP and Vista as my OS choices)

Looking at my boot.ini, can someone tell me what changes I need to make exactly? I used to know this, but got thrown by the structure of the last 2 lines.

Thanks. :)

Code: 
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /usepmtimer
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

Oh, and one more thing. Is there any way to add my Ubuntu install (which is on another hard drive) to the bootup options there? The partition is the ext3 file-system, or something like that (my partition/boot managers won't even read it... says the drive is just bad). I have to boot to it by forcing my BIOS to choose my second HD as the primary bootup drive.
 
Your default is already set to your normal windows XP boot so remove the
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
line and the recovery console won't show up as a boot option.

I don't think you can add your Linux install to the boot.ini with a simple edit. Linux installs its own boot loader to manage a dual boot with another OS.
 
Worked well, thanks. :)

According to Google searches, there's some trickery involved in adding Ubuntu to the boot.ini. You need to tinker with some things in Ubuntu, then copy some files into your Windows partition. I think I'm just going to dual-boot XP/Vista at the moment, then reinstall and add Ubuntu afterward, once that's working. I won't actually be using Ubuntu for work - I'm just studying it.
 
I believe Vista is going to install it's own boot loader and its equivalent of a boot.ini. I've seen a few posts asking how to remove it's boot loader after someone goes back to running just XP. I've dual booted but not with Vista. Haven't run Vista at all yet.
 
I see. Now I'm just gonna have to figure out how to add Vista to my XP boot ini (Vista will be on a secondary HD... not the one that is set in the Bios as the boot drive)
 
If you install Vista to the second drive it will put its boot files on the first drive and setup the dual boot with XP. Thats the way if should work. As long as you leave the XP drive connected so Vista can see it. I've dual booted 2K with XP and thats the way things worked out. XP was on D: and 2K on C:. XP modified the boot files on C: and setup the boot.ini for me. I dual booted 98se (C) and 2K (D) and 2K put the NTLDR and boot.ini on C:, I didn't have to edit anything. The key thing with dual booting MS operating systems is oldest OS first. 9X, NT, 2K ,XP, Vista, etc.
 
Fortunately, it didn't affect my boot settings, because of the way I did it.

The way I did it was: I already had a Vista install backed up as an HD image (using Acronis True Image) so I just restored it onto my secondary drive. Thus, since it was a direct transfer, it didn't change any of my XP boot settings, etc. The Vista installer would have to do that.

Last year, I installed Vista, but it was such a mess that I set it aside as an HD image thinking I'll just restore it once the first Vista Service Pack comes out. So, now it's out, and I'm hoping Vista will be cleaned up enough to be able to actually USE it now. (assuming it will detect my hardware and accept its drivers, graphics programs, and let my favorite games run. Have to test that still.)
 
You say fortunately like thats good. I'm not so sure. I don't think you can just edit XPs boot.ini and get vista to boot. Plus if Vista's drive path is different from the original install a lot of program paths and links will be broken. What I mean is if it was originally installed to C:\ and now its D:\ it won't work. You may have to use a third party boot manager to get things to work. Let me know if you get it to work.
 
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