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Ive got a hard disk with one copy of Windows XP installed on it. Is there any way i can partition my hard disk drive using Partition Magic and install a seperate copy of Windows XP on in it? If so what are the steps i have to do while partitioning the drive and installing Windows XP ? Thanks :)

1. partition the disk by shrinking your existing installed partition. This will create free raw space.
2. boot the XP cd via the bios. Install will autostart.
3. choose the free space and create a partition. XP will also want to format it. You decide if you want ntfs or fat32
4. continue the install until complete. Reboot.
5. edit the boot.ini so you know which xp boot is which by editing the description.
end of steps

Well create another partition and then go and modify your boot.ini like this
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows xp 1 Professionnel" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows xp2 Professionnel" /fastdetectthen boot with your xp cd now choose to install it on your second partition then when it ask you to reboot you will have a choice (from your boot.ini) choose the second choice to continu the installation
.... bingo

when i create the partition, do i have to set the partition as a primary drive and an active partition?

yes.. dont forget to edit your boot.ini
by going into the command prompt , then typing c:\boot.ini
edit it like i told u before ..

i tried that just now. But after installing the 2nd copy of Windows XP, i get a error message saying something like autocheck not found and the XP doesnt boot up.

Well if you have your second partion and the boot.ini .. set as i told u .. (well just copy it and paste it in yours) then
i suggest u boot with your xp cd format the second partion then re-instal xp .. ps: dont forget when it reboots when installing to choose your second choice in the menu that appears ..

chupzy
here what I just did to make sure...
I ran fdisk and made two partition than formated both,than I install windows xp on c drive than install window xp on d.at the end of both it gave me the option to boot to either.no need to edit boot.ini file.
so what I'm trying to say is if you have xp on c now and you made a partition and it d drive,just boot pc with the windows xp cd and install xp to d,the installment will place the boot strap for you.

i managed to create the partition and install the 2nd copy of Windows XP but when i boot up the computer each time. A consistency scan screen comes up and scans the new partition that i created for consistency. How do i stop this? Or why is this happening?

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