Computer Hope
Microsoft => Microsoft Windows => Windows XP => Topic started by: PSonic on January 28, 2005, 06:46:36 AM
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I have WinXP Home installed on a 160gig SATA drive. I added a second 160 gig IDE drive in order to install Windows Media Center Edition 2005. Both installs work just fine, but there's a catch...
In the past when I had set up a multiboot environment with Win98 and XP, I got the option of picking which OS to load at the boot screen.
With my current setup, I do not get the option to choose at all. The only way I can access the second drive (or switch back to the first) is through the BIOS. It works just fine, but is a little more cumbersome than just choosing it from a boot menu.
Even more unusual, when I am in XP, that drive (SATA) shows up as C:, my DVD burner is D:, and the second drive (IDE) shows up as E:.
When I start from the MCE 2005 HD, that drive shows up as C: and the original SATA drive shows up as D:.
I've looked at the boot.ini files on both drives and they are exactly the same, other than the naming of each individual OS.
The second HD (IDE) is hooked up as a slave with my DVD burner acting as the master.
In my BIOS, the SATA drive appears as the secondary IDE master and the IDE drive is primary IDE slave.
How do I set this up so that I can access the multiboot screen right from startup? Additionally, is there any way to have consisten drive letters within each OS?
Thanks in advance for any assistance.