"Add New Enty" function failing

Hi,

I am trying to set up my computer to dual-boot Windows 7 and XP following the instructions given here:

Installing XP After Vista - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki .

I've made it to the part where I installed EasyBCD 2.0.2 in Windows XP and restored the Windows 7 bootloader. However, when I tried to use the "Add New Entry" function, it threw an error - something about the registry being full/unable to write to the registry. So I googled that error message and somehow found some advice saying to perform the "Reset BCD configuration" action, which I did.

Now when I try to add a new entry, I get a slightly different error mesage - "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service". This happens when I try to add XP or Vista/7 entries. Making matters extremely worse, my Settings list 0 entries in the bootloader. I'm about to press the panic button because of this - EasyBCD is warning me not to exit the application because I have 0 entries, but every time I try to add a new entry it gives that error message. Can anyone please save the day and help me out? Thanks!

Ouch!

To be perfectly honest, I've been getting automated error reports with that text (insufficient system resources...), but I'm not sure what to do about it.

It's not actually a problem with EasyBCD - rather it's a problem with Microsoft's own bcdedit. If you tried to create a new entry with bcdedit.exe from the command line, that's the error that it will return.

Honestly, my best advice would be to bite the bullet and accept that it's not going to get fixed from within Windows - sounds like something was previously damaged in a major way. What you should do is..

Do you have a 7 setup CD with you? If not, download a copy of this repair CD from here: Download Windows 7 System Recovery Discs The NeoSmart Files and burn it to a CD.

That done, reboot. Your PC probably won't be able to boot. No problem.

Boot from the CD you just made or the Windows setup disc, and follow the instructions at Recovering the Vista Bootloader from the DVD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki to repair your BCD from outside of Windows. This way, any problems in your setup that prevented bcdedit.exe from working will be avoided.

Thank you very much for the help, I am following the Vista Bootloader recovery steps right now.

Any idea on how/what might have been damaged? The computer in question is a 1 day old Dell machine; pretty much the only thing I have done with it is imaged the C drive and then started following that dual-boot guide.

Addendum:

Update:

After following the Vista/7 Bootloader recovery insructions (using the Windows 7 recovery ISO previously linked) I was able to get back into Windows 7. From there, I downloaded EasyBCD, ran it, and was able to add the Windows XP boot entry without any problems. Mission accomplished. Thanks again for the help!

Hi Luke, good to see you back in the land of the living.

Great that it worked - I honestly don't know how or why that error would happen..... but knowing OEMs like Dell and others and how much junk they pre-install and "customize" to "improve" the end-user experience, anything is possible.

Registered to pass this little piece of advice:
The error is due to .NET2.0. Just upgrade to 4.0 and it goes away.

Our software doesn't use version 4.0 of .NET - I'll bet it's because .NET 2.0 SP2 isn't installed.

Thanks for that info, jbikker.