Well the problem is basically stated in the suject. I have XP Pro installed on my primary Hard drive (C:) and wanted to install it on my secondary HD (F:) Mind you, I'm not using a boot disk for this, I simply ran setup through windows. After it restarts, it goes through a few screens and whatnot just as it should, but then when it does the "configuring disk setup" it only recognizes the C: drive. That is the only option that is given to perform the installation. Why would this be? Is it because the XP setup doesn't detect hard drives that are set as slaves or something? I'm pretty sure its set as a slave, its the second one from the primary IDE.

Best case would be to move the slave drive to the Seconday IDE channel. Why do you want to install two instances? Why not use VM? You also can't install Windows from within Windows. You'll have to boot to the install CD and install to the Second drive if you want two true installations of the OS. "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown

I don't think you will be able to install a second copy of windows with the Dell software. You probably need to purchase a Microsoft XP install CD. But unless you have some very special need, it isn't very practical to have two XP OSs.

Is F: set as Active Partition? There is nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you.

You might want to see if you have the jumpers on the back of the hard drive are set to slave. Once they are set correctly the post will prompt you that is sees the changes.

dumbob just so you know setting f: as active won't make a differnce unless the bios also lists that drive as the primary boot device. Also, by doing so and then installing, you create two standalone installs not a multiboot.