is it possible to make an XP recovery partition with Easy BCD?

ok recently upgraded my pc to Win 7, from XP, and now for compatibility reasons, i need a dual boot with XP, unfortunately, my disk is scratched to pieces, but luckily i have an ISO, unfortunately, my DVD burner is on the blink, and iv got to wait a month for a new one,

now i know it is possible to make a Vista/Win 7 recovery partition using EasyBCD's Win PE settings, was wondering, is it possible to do the same thing with XP?

presumably its just a case of getting the Win 7 BCD to see the XP partition as bootable like it does with the Win 7 one?

any help would be greatly appreciated,
 
fresh install of win7 on an empty drive will install a hidden recovery partition that can be used to boot (PE) to the "System Recovery Options". Screenshot at:
http://techpp.com/2009/10/20/download-windows-7-recovery-disc/

But if you install win7 on a non-empty drive, it usually will not create the hidden partition, and you might need to boot a cd/dvd or usb to get to recovery menus. But, I think there are (at least) two ways, using EasyBCD, to boot to recovery environment from the hard-drive alone, without creating any extra partitions.

(A.) "EasyBCD's Win PE settings" mentioned in original post. Not sure there can be any easy step-by-step how-to for creating a WinPE.WIM image file, from a brief google.

(B.) Use "EasyBCD's External Devices" to boot an ISO file RepairWin7-32bit.iso for example, in the following easy steps. (These are for EasyBCD Version 2.0.0.76 beta on windows 7-32-bit enterprise, but should work for vista or other win7 I think...)

B1. Obtain a copy of the iso file for your system (w7/vista, 32/65) such as a download from here:
http://techpp.com/2009/10/20/download-windows-7-recovery-disc/

Alternatively, create a real cd/dvd and then convert that to an iso file: Control-Panel -> Backup-and-Restore -> Create a system repair disc (Mac-os-x and linux include ability to create an iso file from an actual cd.) Let us say "RepairWin7-32.iso" is filename.

B2. Put the iso file in C:\NST folder. If you have no x:\NST, it will be created if you run EasyBCD -> "Add/Remove Entries" -> NeoGrub (This is ok, even if you never want to use NeoGrub). Note: if windows explorer shows the file in green, that means it's encrpyted, and you will need to decrpyt it by Right-click, Properties, Advanced, un-check "Encrypted...").

B3. EasyBCD -> External Devices -> Boot from "External" Media (even though it will not really be "External", as we'll be using the ISO file on hard-drive).


Under the "ISO Boot" tab...

Display Name: RepairWin7-32bit

ISO Image: C:\NST\RepairW7-32.iso

Did not thoroughly test, but it appears to work for me. Where-ever you put your iso, I would recommend you keep filenames and path short and without spaces: I chose \NST because that is where EasyBCD puts it's own pwhe42.iso file for the EasyBCD's PLoP bios extender". If your iso does not boot, install PLoP under "Boot from 'External' Media, and if that works, then it proves you can at least boot from the pwhe42.iso file.
 
Vanilla, thanks for your reply, but i think you misunderstood my question,

I have already got Win7 done on a recovery partition, using Win PE (and yes your right, it is VERY hard to find a guide.... although i am happy to post one if anyone is interested)

I was wondering if it is possible to do something similar with Windows XP i tried the "boot from ISO you mentioned, and i get a list of Hrd drive partitions then it hangs, (unless of course i need to actually make the WIndows XP partition first, rather than doing it from the installer which is what i was planning to do, ill try that when i get home....)

as i said its no big issue, i was just hoping not to have to wait a month for my new DVD burner to arrive before i could put XP on as a dual boot,

you mentioned Neogrub in your reply, would Neogrub be able to boot from an XP ISO?

edit: jsut reread your post, are you saying follow the steps you outlined above but for the XP ISO?

the boot doesnt necessarily have to be from ISO, but the installation files must be on the HDD
 
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