Windows 7 Multi-Boot

[Bigaldoc]

Here's one that may be of interest to someone. It's been a long time, so let me remind that I have a triple-boot system consisting of XP, Vista and Windows 7.

In Joe P's thread about Win 7 SP1 I said that I'm still an XP user and had not even booted Win 7 for some time. Yesterday, in advance of SP1 I decided to boot Win 7 to get it updated with whatever MS has available. I did that successfully with a whole bunch of updates which all downloaded and installed successfully. Of course, in addition my Avast and a few other apps had to be updated since they too were pretty far behind the times.

OK, all is well, except... When I was finished with all of that and re-booted in XP last night, I noted that in Firefox a number of my cookies appear to have been corrupted or obliterated. The Lounge was NOT one of them, but such things as Google Maps, my medication provider (Medco) and a number of other sites, did not know "who I am" and I had to login and re-enter passwords and etc.

I have no idea how that happened and it's certainly not a major problem since all I had to do was login and everything is now back in place. I just wonder how this happened since Win7 is multi-boot, on a different partition with no (known) connection to my XP partition. FWIW...

[PaulB]

...wonder how this happened since Win7 is multi-boot, on a different partition with no (known) connection to my XP partition. FWIW...

I could be way out in left field, Al, but do you not share your Firefox and Thunderbird profiles among your three operating systems?

[viking33]

...wonder how this happened since Win7 is multi-boot, on a different partition with no (known) connection to my XP partition. FWIW...

I could be way out in left field, Al, but do you not share your Firefox and Thunderbird profiles among your three operating systems?

Paul,
Before Al answers this, I'll jump in to add my two cents.
Al and I both had very similar setups, in so far as triple booting XP, Vista and Win 7.
I've since dumped Vista completely, so just dual boot the other two OSs. I have done about the opposite of Al, in that I use Win 7 almost exclusively and just occasionally go into XP.
I do have both Firefox and Thunderbird on both partitions and try to keep them updated. I have never had any interaction between XP and Win 7 but have separate but similar profiles in each.
I don't see how changes in one OS can affect the other, since for all intents and purposes, one doesn't even know the other exists.

[PaulB]

I don't see how changes in one OS can affect the other, since for all intents and purposes, one doesn't even know the other exists.

Which is why I brought up shared profiles. Al may or may not have shared profiles for Firefox. If a change happens to the cookies in a shared profile while using Windows 7, those changes are seen in both Vista and XP... they all use the same profile.

Edited to add: Al, are you still using the single profile for Firefox across all OSes as described here? WARNING: link to the 'other' place!

[DaveA]

These cookies are on the different drives and the ones on the Windows 7 drive may have expired and needed to be updated. I have seen this on dual boot machine that I have not use that OS and the browser to get the cookies updated.
They may also get removed when the drive is accessed from other OS's to a scan.

[Bigaldoc]

... Al, are you still using the single profile for Firefox across all OSes ...

I think you nailed it, in your first post, Paul! I am asking both Fx and TB in Windows 7 to use the profile on my XP (C:) drive. (Win7 is on H:)

The problem probably was caused by the fact that both Fx and TB versions within Win7 are downlevel. There have been a few updates to both since I last booted my Win7. So, I need to get back into Win7 to install the latest versions for both apps. It's been a long time since I used SAFE mode. Can I update those two apps if I go back into Win7 in Safe Mode?

However, the problem got a bit "wider" yesterday! I booted Win7 again due to my curiosity about the thread here concerning "File Notes" (properties Comments). While running Win7 during that episode, I did NOTHING except run Windows Explorer to look at the properties of a TXT and JPG file on the H: drive. Evidently the "cross talk" back to my C: drive still happened and I don't know for sure why.

When I booted back into XP, all my desktop "decorations" (pictures and other graphics) were GONE. In the attached clip, all that was left was the columns of icons on the left. I restored the C: drive from my image of the night before, so I'm back in bid-ness. I guess I really need to update Fx and TB to see if that fixes the problems. None of this is earth shattering since I do nightly images.

[PaulB]

...I noted that in Firefox a number of my cookies appear to have been corrupted or obliterated.

I may have encountered the same problem you describe, or something very similar. Makes me wonder if there isn't some glitch in SP1.

I applied SP1 yesterday to my computer (Win7 HP 64 bit) using the download method with no apparent problems so far. I applied it to my wife's computer (Win7 HP 32 bit) using the Windows Update method this evening. She reported a problem just a little while ago. When I looked into it, I found that all her Firefox cookies had been erased. It's nothing from which she can't recover, but it makes one wonder...


Edited to add: I just reread your initial post. That problem had nothing to do with SP1, did it. If I read it correctly, you were simply doing updates in anticipation of SP1. This just adds to the mystery! Did you eventually apply SP1?