PDA

View Full Version : What partition did I boot from?

mrmomaz
05-15-2006, 05:43 PM
win xp/pro sp1. I have multiple HDDs and more than one partition that is bootable. I used SBMINT as my boot manager, but I could not tell all the boot partitions apart and now I'm wondering if there is a way to tell which partition I booted from? (three versions of win xp/pro ).
mjc
05-15-2006, 09:32 PM
I'm not sure if that particular boot manager will show the volume names that the OS can give a partition, but if it can boot into Windows, go into Disk Manager and rename the volume you are currently in to something like XP-1.

I use XOSL and it will show the names...that is how I ended up figuring out which was which on my three equal sized storage partitions.
jlreich
05-15-2006, 09:37 PM
Also it may help to boot to one and set the wallpaper to something different so you know which is which when you rename it.
mrmomaz
05-16-2006, 10:22 AM
Good Idea to change the wallpaper .. as soon as I determine what is what :) :)
mrmomaz
05-23-2006, 10:39 AM
Follow up comment: I used mjc's idea to use diskmgmt.msc to see what drive letter/label I had as my boot partition. I then added a .txt file to each desktop whose file name described where I had booted from. Thanks for the ideas. :) (for instance "original xp ver with all drivers.txt")
Paul Komski
05-23-2006, 01:22 PM
if there is a way to tell which partition I booted from? (three versions of win xp/pro)
XP's Disk Mangement will show the partition BOOTED FROM denoted as System. If the partition BOOTED TO is different from the System partition it will be denoted as Boot.

You can also enter into MyComputer's Address Bar, the environment variables:
%windir% to give you the current windows folder and which will be on the boot partition.
or
%systemdrive% which will indicate the system partition that the system was booted from.
Paul Komski
05-23-2006, 01:26 PM
if there is a way to tell which partition I booted from? (three versions of win xp/pro)
XP's Disk Mangement will show the partition BOOTED FROM denoted as System. If the partition BOOTED TO is different from the System partition it will be denoted as Boot.

You can also enter into MyComputer's Address Bar, the environment variables:
%windir% to give you the current windows folder and which will be on the boot partition.
or
%systemdrive% which will indicate the system partition that the system was booted from.