Interesting.
I'm looking forward to the install guide
sezor

sol_403 wrote:
>
>
>
> Well, I took the plunge and tried it out and everything worked.
> According to my previous link, Vista does require the Disk Signature to
> remain unchanged, and I verified that when you install / restore XOSL,
> it blanks these bytes to zero (XOSL doesn't actually use them for
> anything).
>
> At a high level, from a clean drive you just need to:
>
> 1) Set up partitions
> 2) Install Vista
> 3) record Disk Signature using a disk editor
> 4) Install XOSL, XP, other OS
> 5) restore Disk Signature
>
> I never actually tested whether or not I needed to restore the Disk
> Signature but it was a minor thing to do. Based on what you are saying
> it is unnecessary, but better safe then sorry! Maybe the ghosting
> (something I don't do) makes it unnecessary.
>
> I am writing out an install guide based on what I did for my own
> reference, but I might post it to this group for others.
>
> Cheers.
>
> --- In xosl@yahoogroups.com <mailto:xosl%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "man_o_media" <Box4Stuff@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Well I have to say, I didn't look at the links but I don't know what
> you are talking about with the signature and Vista...
> >
> > I have been using XOSL for years on a few systems and recently
> installed it on a new system which is dual booting Vista and XP.
> > It works just fine.
> > I do vaguely recall that I needed to do a repair in the beginning.
> >
> > My steps:
> > Install an OS onto a clean C drive and set it up roughly how I want.
> > Make an Image. I use Ghost.
> > Delete that install and install the next OS to the clean C drive. Set
> it up roughly how I want and make the image.
> > Clear the drive and create additional partitions for the final
> placement of each OS and restore the images to their respective partitions.
> > Install XOSL.
> >
> > I do find it easiest to create a really small DOS partition where I
> put the XOSL files and some utilities like Ranish partition mgr.
> > I install XOSL from there and can recover or uninstall from there.
> >
> > That said, I have a HP with WinXP and XOSL simply will not operate
> properly on that machine.
> > I presume some sort of Chipset or BIOS conflict but after a zillion
> tries I gave up on that one.
> >
> >
> > I have been using bootable CF cards as replacements for floppy discs
> but not all PCs will boot from a USB device.
> >
> > And now you want to know how?
> > I found a program from HP. It is called HP DriveKey and the actual
> file is HPUSBFW.EXE.
> > You need the DOS files but I don't recall at the moment if they need
> to be on a floppy, a folder or an ISO file.
> >
> >
> >
> > DP
> >
> >
> > --- In xosl@yahoogroups.com <mailto:xosl%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "sol_403" <sol_403@> wrote:
> > >
> > > I like XOSL and I want to use it with Vista. Web searches show that
> others have sucessfully done this, but there is an "issue" with the Disk
> Signature. Here is a great explanation of what Vista does:
> > >
> > > http://www.multibooters.co.uk/mbr.html
> <http://www.multibooters.co.uk/mbr.html>
> > >
> > > In short, Vista overwrites the Disk Signature - which is nothing
> new, all windows do this - but the Vista difference is that it records
> this value and needs it to stay unmodified for it to boot.
> > >
> > > Unfortunately, XOSL, for reasons unknown to me, writes something
> (?) into the Disk Signature, breaking Vista's ability to boot. Here are
> some possible workarounds:
> > >
> > > http://www.multibooters.co.uk/managers.html#xosl
> <http://www.multibooters.co.uk/managers.html#xosl>
> > >
> > > "Vista uses the Disk Signature in the boot process so you can
> either update things so that the new signature is accepted, or
> preferably you can just remove Vista's dependence on the signature so
> that the change has no affect. Details on how to do these things are on
> the cloning page. Another option would be to make a note of the Disk
> Signature and manually re-write it after installing XOSL."
> > >
> > > I hate mucking around in windows, so my preference is towards the
> last option. I don't have a lot of hope, but can anyone answer these
> questions:
> > >
> > > 1) *Why* does XOSL modify the Disk Signature? What does it put there?
> > > 2) What impact, if any, does modifying the XOSL written Disk
> Signature have on XOSL? Will this break XOSL?
> > >
> > > Here is my rough idea of how to do this work around:
> > >
> > > Format and partion drive
> > > Install XOSL
> > > Install Vista (overwrites XOSL Disk Signature)
> > > Restore XOSL (overwrites Vista Disk Signature)
> > > manually overwrite XOSL Disk Signature with the Vista one
> > > pray that this works
> > >
> > > Install XP (overwrites Disk Signature)
> > > Restore XOSL (overwrites XP Disk Signature)
> > > manually overwrite XOSL Disk Signature with the Vista one (and hope
> XP is ok with this??)
> > >
> > > I also have to figure out how to recover XOSL without a floppy
> drive... bootable recovery CD maybe...
> > >
> >
>
>