need help creating dual boot for xp and 2000

[guitarmon]

I recently had XP installed on a new drive (2000 is on another). I'm trying to dual boot. I got all the way to having both options available (by going into Startup and Recovery and adding Windows 2000 onto the notepad). But when I tried to boot 2000, the message "Windows could not start because hal.dll is missing or corrupt". I'm guessing it's either the order of terms I had in notepad (2000, then XP), or the wording (I used a term I found on a Microsoft help site: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 2000" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect).

I even tried a third party boot manager, but it is only finding XP.

Thanks for any help on this!

what you can try is
to boot up with the
win cd, then initiate
the repair/recovery
console.

at the disk prompt
run bootcfg /rebuild.

enter a description
and a menu line
number.

don't put too much
emphasis with getting
the information you enter
exactly right.

then when you reboot
the boot ini will be
rebuilt with all the o.s.'s
on the system and the
boot menu will appear
with the information you
had provided.

when you boot into the
desktop, you can then edit
the boot ini to redefine the
information on it.

It looks like you did not have the drive with Win2K connected when
you installed WinXP on the new drive. You could use the
Bios to determine which drive will boot or with both drives connected
use the Recovery Console to rebuild the bootloader.
For more help with the Recovery Console check below.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058 You will be
primarily interested in the Bootcfg command.

[guitarmon]

I booted with the Win XP disc, and it just booted up normally. Is there something I need to do to get to a disc prompt?

I did a partial reinstall to get to the repair/recovery console, but there were no options to run bootcfg/rebuild. It just listed c:/windows, and f:/winnt as options, and said to press Enter to select which one to edit or remove. Pressing Enter just booted me into Windows XP.

Am I missing something?

Is there a way to get around the administrator password? (The guy who installed XP for me has apparently left the building.) It keeps giving me three attempts, then forces me to restart.

One other question: In the Recovery Console, Windows comes up under drive C, and WINNT under drive F. Which one do I go into?

Boot from the WinXP CD again and it will begin the Setup. Have the Win2k
drive connected

When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts. Select the
repair or recover option by pressing R.

When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If you don't have
one just continue.

When you are at the command Prompt type: Bootcfg /rebuild

Like DB said enter Description Window 2000 and number 2

Are you able to completely get into Windows XP normally or in Safe Mode, but
not Windows 2000? By "notepad", do you mean the Windows NotePad program
being used to display and edit your "boot.ini" file? In NotePad you need to
make sure that the menu item "Format>Word Wrap" does not have a checkmark.
Also the Microsoft help site "term" you used above appears as 2 lines in my
newsreader - that needs to all be on a single line when viewed in NotePad,
(with Word Wrap off.) There should NOT be a parenthesis symbol and period
")." after "/fastdetect". Errors in your boot.ini file can give you a
"hal.dll" error, even though hal.dll is both present and not corrupt. If you
can get completely into Windows, perhaps you can open "boot.ini" in NotePad,
and SelectAll, and Copy, and then Paste a copy into a reply to this message,
so we can see the whole thing.

FYI: What is "hal.dll"? - A Hardware Abstraction Layer is "implemented in
software, between the physical hardware of a computer and the software that
runs on that computer. Its function is to hide differences in hardware from
most of the operating system kernel, so that most of the kernel-mode code
does not need to be changed to run on systems with different hardware. On a
PC, HAL can basically be considered to be the driver for the motherboard and
allows instructions from higher level computer languages to communicate with
lower level components, such as directly with hardware." [from Wikipedia]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_abstraction_layer

("I'm sorry, Dave, I can't do that." --HAL, 2001 Space Odyssey :)

FYI: The "missing or corrupt" hal.dll error displays shortly after the
computer is first started. Windows XP has not yet fully loaded when this
error message appears. (Sometimes you can get past that error on re-boot,
if it is a temporary disk mis-read.) Four possible causes:
1. hal.dll could be missing because it was moved or deleted.
2. hal.dll could be damaged because of a bad disk sector.
3. A missing boot.ini file can cause a hal.dll error.
4. A corrupt boot.ini file can cause a hal.dll error.

Number 4 in your case, if you typed anything after /fastdetect

FYI: "boot.ini" is a "super-hidden file", which means that to view it in
your C:\ folder, besides using menu item "Tools> Folder Options> View (tab)"
to checkmark "Show hidden files and folders", you also need to UN-check
"Hide protected operating system files".
And when you click that, you should immediately get this:
"/!\ You have chosen to display protected operating system files (files
labeled System and Hidden) in Windows Explorer. These files are required to
start and run Windows. Deleting or editing them can make your computer
inoperable. Are you sure you want to display these files? [Yes] No"
(Don't forget to change it back to "Hide" afterwards.)
Once you can see "boot.ini", right-click and choose Properties, and verify
there is a checkmark before "Read Only", if you only want to open and view
it in NotePad; or un-check it (and click OK) if you need to edit it in
NotePad and are "sure" that you can do so safely. (Change it back to Read
Only afterwards.)

When the computer is starting normally, you should see a "select the
operating system to start" message at some point and you need to press your
F8 key for the menu. Use arrow keys to choose, and press Enter. (You appear,
in your next message, to have figured out how to get into Recovery Console.)

You were apparently trying db's (DatabaseBen's) suggestion in this thread,
(and maybe you needed to use your arrow key to select "c:\windows" before
pressing Enter,) and "bootcfg/rebuild" is something you could have entered
as a command line in the console, but I doubt it would work, if you typed it
the same as you did in your message here, because you need a space before
the slash, like this:
bootcfg /rebuild

WARNING: Before using the /rebuild switch, you should first make a backup
copy of boot.ini with the /copy switch:
bootcfg /copy

Just to be sure what drive letters are assigned to what: Is Windows XP on
your "c:" drive, and Windows 2000 on your "f:" drive? and is your CD-disc
drive "d:"? and "e:" is what? Are "c:" and "f:" separate physical drives, or
partitions on the same physical drive? Was Windows 2000 already installed
before Windows XP was installed? (The normal order for multi-boot is to
install older operating systems first.)

Unless you set it up with a password there should NOT be one. Try pressing
ENTER without typing a password.

"Go into" which ever one you can, (arrow key,) and then:
Follow my instruction above concerning: bootcfg /copy
Follow db's instruction concerning: bootcfg /rebuild
follow Rich Barry's instruction to enter: Windows 2000
and number: 2

All of that assuming you have not otherwise fixed it.
Let us know how it all works out.

(P.S. Before following any advice here, get a 2nd opinion! :)