Upgrade All or Part Of Multi-Boot - See Any Problems?

[Ex_Brit]

I'm thinking more of the iReboot/EasyBCD situation really. I'm thinking of upgrading one or both of my XP Pro SP3's to Vista Ultimate (now that I have Technet Plus) and wondered if anyone foresees difficulties ahead with an upgrade vs. a clean install?

The boot sector is on C: which is XP Pro SP3 #1 which is also where EasyBCD is, I then have D: XP Pro SP3 #2 test OS, then I have M: Vista Ultimate SP1 and N: Windows 7 beta.

C: and D: are on disk 0, M: and N: are on disk 1.

I'll probably wait until Vista SP2 final is on the download list.

[JustinW]

Yeah wait for SP2 unless you got an SP1 disc. Pre-SP1 upgrades have failed me everytime. Not in the sense that it couldn't be upgraded to Vista, but everytime I've done it I've found corrupted system files, an overall unstable system, and the inability to upgrade to SP1 even after running the preparation tool thats supposed to fix machines that are having problems.

[Ex_Brit]

They have Vista Ultimate SP1 available right now and Vista Ultimate SP2 RC which indicates that any time now the RTM will be available. So I'll wait.
Thanks for the tip.

I'm wondering if I'll screw up the multi-boot if I update C:. I'll do D: first. I really should hang onto XP on one partition, just for old times sake...LOL.

[JustinW]

I'm not quite ready to let go of XP either. I don't use that much but its nice having an older OS to fall back to when needed.

[Ex_Brit]

The one on C: was in itself an upgrade, from an OEM XP Home (Gold) to XP Pro SP2 and is so hopelessly cluttered I really should clean it off the computer altogether, but it holds the boot sector for all my OS's unfortunately.

[JustinW]

Copy the boot files over to Vistas partition and set that partition as active. Should be fine...

[Ex_Brit]

Hmm, when it gets to doing things like that I usually screw up and end up having to format. I'll wait for Vista SP2 and then start thinking seriously about it.

Addendum:

Copy the boot files over to Vistas partition and set that partition as active. Should be fine...

You mean copy them to (say) M:? If so exactly which files? I've already backed up the EasyBCD files, is that all that's needed, other than installing EasyBCD on a system other than C: XP Pro until I've decided what I"m doing with the XP..

[JustinW]

XP boot files (ntdetect.com, ntldr, boot.ini) if you plan on having XP installed again + bootmgr + boot folder.

[Ex_Brit]

Ah, I see, thanks.

Addendum:

Tried copying bootmgr and the boot folder...some items therein couldn't copy because they were in use. Tried in safe mode and even in Windows 7.

[JustinW]

Remove thier system/read attributes or boot form a Vista DVD to do it with xcopy.

[Ex_Brit]

You mean give myself permission? If so, I would have to change ownership. I'm not "up" in these kind of thingts. I don't want to end up with an unbootable system.

Never used xcopy so not sure about that either.


Addendum:


OK, let's try another approach. If I format C: and D: and install a clean copy of .. whatever. Will I be able to retrieve the boot ability for the systems in M: and N: using , say, EasyBCD?

This might be a good idea anyway as I have so much crapola hanging around on those partitions. Relics of 2003 when I installed the first system on it...and it's all been upgrades ever since.

[Terry60]

If you install W7 and/or Vista to a clean HDD, and it's alone (the other HDD disconnected), then you can always add entries to the newly created BCD to boot the old systems on the other HDD when you reconnect it.
If you Install Vista on the clean HDD with another Vista still connected on the 2nd HDD, the new install should see the old one and add itself to the old Vista's BCD.
W7 I expected to behave the same way, but when I added it to a new partition on my 2nd HDD, it ignored the fact that Vista was already there with a BCD, and just installed itself independently to its own partition without disturbing the existing dual-boot. It needed to be added to Vista's BCD manually to join the multi-boot.
Subsequently I replaced that multi-boot with a manual customization of the HnS menu.lst described in another thread.
Can't remember now whether you're an HnS user Peter ?

[Ex_Brit]

No I don't use HnS - too complicated for me I'm afraid and after all the posts with problems I steered clear. I hide the systems from XP and its restore destroying ways by hiding them using registry entries in XP.

I've always installed all my systems when booted into C:, that way I can control what drive letters they all use and it makes it easier because they all see each other right off, until I start hiding them that is.

My concern is now, if I format C: and install a clean copy, I will no longer have EasyBCD, until I reinstall it of course, but, if the OS sees the other Vista and Win7 then all well and good of course. I guess it's a question of wait and see what happens.

I'm leaning more to clean installation now because I've realised a great many programmes I have in XP aren't Vista compatible, plus it's a great opportunity to clean out the garbage.

[JustinW]

Yeah clean install. You'll thank yourself later...

[Ex_Brit]

Thanks guys.