Manually Adding XP to OSS

OSS (build 2,160) does not properly detect some XP installations. In order to boot into these undetected operating systems, they must be manually added to the OSS menu.

Since the procedure for adding the XP OS entry is the same as for adding Vista, the entire procedure will not be repeated in this guide. The only real differences are in the settings for the XP entry. Sample XP entries are shown below.

Please reference the following guide:
Manually Adding Vista or Windows 7 to OSS

Sample XP Entry

When adding the XP entry, you can copy an existing XP entry and modify it or you can use the sample XP Manual entry.

Here is an existing XP entry as added by OSS into the <oses> section of the file:

Here is a Manual XP entry (except for ID values):

<id########## boot_as_ms71="0" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="##########" bootname="bootsect.sys" icon="icon_sys_win" language="english" lba="1" multi="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS" name_template="Windows XP" nthide="0" os_type="ntxp" uninstall_info="1" use_manual_disks_order="0" write_boot="0">
    <partitions>
        <id########## active="1" />
    </partitions>
</id##########>

The following changes have been made:

The OS ID value has not yet been set (##########).
The boot_partition value has not yet been set (##########).
The name_template value has been set to Windows XP. You can use whatever name you want.
The entire multi entry has been identified (see note below).
The write_boot value has been set to 0 (zero).
The Active partition in the <partitions> section has not yet been set (##########).

If you know the correct ...partition(#) value to use, you can edit the multi value to be correct. This value is the same as the one used in the boot.ini file on the XP partition. If you don't know it or if using it causes problems, you can remove this setting from the entry (as shown in the code box below).

<id########## boot_as_ms71="0" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="##########" bootname="bootsect.sys" icon="icon_sys_win" language="english" lba="1" name_template="Windows XP" nthide="0" os_type="ntxp" uninstall_info="1" use_manual_disks_order="0" write_boot="0">
    <partitions>
        <id########## active="1" />
    </partitions>
</id##########>

A text file of the converted sample can be downloaded below:

Download

Sample XP Manual OSS Entry -- Right-click on the link and select Save Target As... from the pop-up menu to save a copy to your computer.

Making the Changes

Please follow the instructions in the Vista guide for adding the XP entry into the BOOTWIZ.OSS file.

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