Your problem arises because you are trying to multiboot two partitions using
the (same) boot.ini file on the (one) active partition. This is not a good
approach, as it leaves you with the second OS running from a non-active
partition. This gives rise to drive-letter issues, which is almost certainly
why some programs won't start.

Instead, install the bootloader from Ranish Partition Manager. This will
allow you to switch ACTIVE partition at bootup, hence the boot drive will
always be C: -and thus will always work properly.

You still need to modify the boot.ini file in partition 2 to reflect the
true partition-number of its bootloader. This way, each boot.ini needs only
ONE partition-entry though.


--------------------------
"This is a wonderful computer. It''s 20yrs old and absolutely reliable.
And, in all that time it''s only had four mobos, six processors, two cases,
seven OS''s ...."


"Dennis Wilson" wrote:

> I used Partition Magic to clone the partition containing my new Windows
> XP installation. Both are on the same hard drive, and they're the only
> two partitions on it. Basically, this just gives me a backup of my
> system which I can use to copy back over the original if the original
> (the one on Partion 1) gets corrupted. I keep Partition 2 marked
> "hidden" and therefore inacessible most of the time, though I will
> occasionally use BootMagic to boot into Partition 2 to copy a deleted
> file or something.
>
> This backup method worked perfectly for me for all the years I've used
> it. Until now. I recently built a new computer, and as usual I
> installed Windows and then all my apps and then cloned the entire
> "install" onto a new partition.
>
> But after the cloning, many of my apps needed to have their
> configurations redone, and those that require "activation" need to be
> RE-activated. It's as if my apps can't find the registry. Yet the
> drive letter assignments all seem right, and I believe the boot.ini
> files are written correctly as well. The one on partition 1 reads:
>
> [boot loader]
> timeout=0
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
> [operating systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windo ws XP 1"
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windo ws XP 2"
>
> The one on Partition 2 is the same, except the [boot loader] line reads:
>
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
>
> The problem was the same on both partitions, and the result was the same
> when I wiped the drive and reinstalled everything from scratch.
>
> Needless to say, I can't figure out the reason for this behavior. The
> only difference between this machine and all the other PCs I've built is
> that this is the first one that has SATA hard drives instead of IDE; the
> only IDE device on this system is an HP DVD+/-R recorder. Can anyone
> suggest what I might have overlooked, or what I can do to get my apps
> able to read their config info again?
>
> Thanks.
>

That is not really how it works, at all. There are no requirements at
all that Windows be run on an active partition, Windows will be happy
booting on a logical drive inside an extended partition if it has to, a
clone can do so and still retain its C: drive letter designation, the
primary active partition will simply be assigned another drive letter.
Drive letters assigned by the operating system (Mount Manager) are
stored in the registry at the MountedDevices key and are persistently
reassigned when Windows is booted. During the early stages of the boot
process there are no drive letters, the letters are only assigned after
the registry is read.

John

Anteaus wrote:

> Your problem arises because you are trying to multiboot two partitions using
> the (same) boot.ini file on the (one) active partition. This is not a good
> approach, as it leaves you with the second OS running from a non-active
> partition. This gives rise to drive-letter issues, which is almost certainly
> why some programs won't start.
>
> Instead, install the bootloader from Ranish Partition Manager. This will
> allow you to switch ACTIVE partition at bootup, hence the boot drive will
> always be C: -and thus will always work properly.
>
> You still need to modify the boot.ini file in partition 2 to reflect the
> true partition-number of its bootloader. This way, each boot.ini needs only
> ONE partition-entry though.
>
>
> --------------------------
> "This is a wonderful computer. It''s 20yrs old and absolutely reliable.
> And, in all that time it''s only had four mobos, six processors, two cases,
> seven OS''s ...."
>
>
> "Dennis Wilson" wrote:
>
>
>>I used Partition Magic to clone the partition containing my new Windows
>>XP installation. Both are on the same hard drive, and they're the only
>>two partitions on it. Basically, this just gives me a backup of my
>>system which I can use to copy back over the original if the original
>>(the one on Partion 1) gets corrupted. I keep Partition 2 marked
>>"hidden" and therefore inacessible most of the time, though I will
>>occasionally use BootMagic to boot into Partition 2 to copy a deleted
>>file or something.
>>
>>This backup method worked perfectly for me for all the years I've used
>>it. Until now. I recently built a new computer, and as usual I
>>installed Windows and then all my apps and then cloned the entire
>>"install" onto a new partition.
>>
>>But after the cloning, many of my apps needed to have their
>>configurations redone, and those that require "activation" need to be
>>RE-activated. It's as if my apps can't find the registry. Yet the
>>drive letter assignments all seem right, and I believe the boot.ini
>>files are written correctly as well. The one on partition 1 reads:
>>
>> [boot loader]
>> timeout=0
>> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
>> [operating systems]
>> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windo ws XP 1"
>> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windo ws XP 2"
>>
>>The one on Partition 2 is the same, except the [boot loader] line reads:
>>
>> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
>>
>>The problem was the same on both partitions, and the result was the same
>>when I wiped the drive and reinstalled everything from scratch.
>>
>>Needless to say, I can't figure out the reason for this behavior. The
>>only difference between this machine and all the other PCs I've built is
>>that this is the first one that has SATA hard drives instead of IDE; the
>>only IDE device on this system is an HP DVD+/-R recorder. Can anyone
>>suggest what I might have overlooked, or what I can do to get my apps
>>able to read their config info again?
>>
>>Thanks.
>>

"Anteaus" wrote:
> Your problem arises because you are trying to multiboot two partitions
> using the (same) boot.ini file on the (one) active partition. This is not a
> good approach, as it leaves you with the second OS running from a
> non-active partition.


This is the standard dual-boot scenario as set up by any Windows
installer.


> This gives rise to drive-letter issues, which is almost certainly
> why some programs won't start.


The only drive letter issues in such a scenario is that one OS
will call its partition "C:" when it's running, and the other OS
will call its partition "D:".when it's running. What's the problem?


> Instead, install the bootloader from Ranish Partition Manager. This will
> allow you to switch ACTIVE partition at bootup, hence the boot drive
> will always be C: -and thus will always work properly.


The boot drive (the partition containing the OS) can be any
partition in the system - on any hard drive, and it can be a
Primary partition or a Logical Drive, i.e. a logical partition
within and Extended partition. What you may mean is the
"system partition" - the partition that contains the boot files,
boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com. But it is the OS which
contains the name of its own partition and nothing else.
So saying "the boot drive will always be C:" makes no sense.


> You still need to modify the boot.ini file in partition 2 to reflect
> the true partition-number of its bootloader. This way, each
> boot.ini needs only ONE partition-entry though.


The "partition()" parameter in the boot.ini file refers to the
partition that contains the OS, not the boot loader - which
is called "ntldr" and which resides on the System partition.

>
> "Dennis Wilson" wrote:
>
>> I used Partition Magic to clone the partition containing my new Windows
>> XP installation. Both are on the same hard drive, and they're the only
>> two partitions on it. Basically, this just gives me a backup of my
>> system which I can use to copy back over the original if the original
>> (the one on Partion 1) gets corrupted. I keep Partition 2 marked
>> "hidden" and therefore inacessible most of the time, though I will
>> occasionally use BootMagic to boot into Partition 2 to copy a deleted
>> file or something.
>>
>> This backup method worked perfectly for me for all the years I've used
>> it. Until now. I recently built a new computer, and as usual I
>> installed Windows and then all my apps and then cloned the entire
>> "install" onto a new partition.
>>
>> But after the cloning, many of my apps needed to have their
>> configurations redone, and those that require "activation" need to be
>> RE-activated. It's as if my apps can't find the registry. Yet the
>> drive letter assignments all seem right, and I believe the boot.ini
>> files are written correctly as well. The one on partition 1 reads:
>>
>> [boot loader]
>> timeout=0
>> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
>> [operating systems]
>> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windo ws XP 1"
>> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windo ws XP 2"
>>
>> The one on Partition 2 is the same, except the [boot loader] line reads:
>>
>> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
>>
>> The problem was the same on both partitions, and the result was the same
>> when I wiped the drive and reinstalled everything from scratch.
>>
>> Needless to say, I can't figure out the reason for this behavior. The
>> only difference between this machine and all the other PCs I've built is
>> that this is the first one that has SATA hard drives instead of IDE; the
>> only IDE device on this system is an HP DVD+/-R recorder. Can anyone
>> suggest what I might have overlooked, or what I can do to get my apps
>> able to read their config info again?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>