Dual Boot Windows XP + Leopard (super easy!)

So I’m up late still trying to get this funking ethernet working (see previous post). I was getting tired of booting into the BIOS and selecting which hard drive I wanted to boot from every time I wanted to switch the operating system. Surprisingly to get the option to select which OS I wanted to load was WAY easier than I thought.. huzah!

First off, I have 2 hard drives. One with XP and the other with Leopard. No idea if this works if you’ve installed them both on the same drive (different partition). I’d suggest reading a bit more before you attempt this. Or you can just use Darwin… Ok, so how did I do it? I found part one of the answer in this thread. It told me what I needed to do but I had no idea how to do it?! First I needed to find the chain0 file. I forgot where the hell I found it but to save you the trouble, you can just download in from me. chain0.zip Now that you’ve got that, follow these steps below.

1. Unzip the chain0.zip file to your C:\
(or wherever you have windows installed)

2. Open the Control Panel and click System (or right click “My Computer” from the desktop and go to Properties)

3. Once there, click on the “Advanced” tab.

4. Click the “Settings” button under “Startup and Recovery”.

5a. Now click “Edit” and add this line at the bottom:

C:\chain0="OS X Leopard"

*note: you can name it whatever you want, doesn’t have to be OS X Leopard.

5b. You should end up with something very similar to this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\chain0="OS X Leopard"

6. Save & Exit. You’re done!

Although this worked absolutely perfect for me the first and only attempt.. Don’t blame me if you can no longer boot into anything! There is always a chance something can go wrong when messing with these type of settings so back your shiz up and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Also, in between steps 4 & 5, there is a drop down list that allows you to change the amount of time to display the list of operating systems before it boots the default one. It’s set at 30 seconds by default, a little overkill ya think?