After restoring Window XP image, 'lost' Windows 7

dannyodare

dannyodare

Member
Hi there,

For quite some time, I've had a dual-boot setup - with Windows XP 32-bit as my 'default' O/S (on Drive C) and Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on Drive E.

Anyway, yesterday - after a few problems - I loaded-up a back-up version of XP from an image file using Drive Snapshot v.1.40. No problems, except I could no longer boot-up into 7 (the menu/option disappeared).

Unperturbed, I booted-up from my Windows 7 DVD disk and did a start-up repair/fix. However, I still couldn't boot into 7. Naturally, I fired up Easy BCD (v.2.1.2, non-commercial) and had a look. Oddly, or maybe not oddly, 7 was listed but XP was not. I added XP as an entry - but still the same situation. Then I reset the BCD configuration and manually added XP and 7 to the boot menu. After looking at this, under MBR Configure Options, I selected 'Install the Windows Vista/7' bootloader to the MBR' - but still no luck.

NOTE: tried iReboot, selected Windows 7 (yes, it was listed!), but got the same result - back to XP upon boot up.

Any idea as to what I should do next?:brows:

Thanks,
DANNY
 
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If they're on different HDDs check your BIOS to see which HDD is top of the boot sequence.
You could have repaired the BCD on one HDD but still be booting from the other.
 
In that case check which partition is active (presumably XP) and where the bootmgr module and the \boot folder are located (set folder options like this to be able to see them, they are super-hidden)
If they are not on the XP partition, set the partition that contains them active and boot again.
 
Hi,

Actually, my XP partition is not listed as Active. Instead, the drive that is listed as Active is D - which is on a separate disk and does not contain an O/S (nor has it ever done so). I've no idea where the bootmgr module and \boot folder are located, how do I find out? (Yes, I have no 'hidden' files, folders, systems, file extensions, etc). Also, related, how do I make the XP partition 'active'. When I right-click it under Disk Management, the 'Mark Partition as Active' option is not available (ie, it is greyed-out): ditto for Windows 7 (indeed, there isn't even a grey-out menu option - nothing).

Thanks,
DANNY
 
In Vista/7 Disk Management flags have the following meanings

"boot" = "this is the system you're running"
"system" = "this is where I found the boot files for the currently running system"
"active" (on the first HDD in the BIOS boot sequence) = "this is where I started the search for the boot files"
"active" (on subsequent HDDs in the BIOS boot sequence) ="this is where I will look if I don't find something in the MBR on the first HDD"

Under XP, Disk Management annoyingly implies one flag with another. So if it says "system" it's implying both "active" and "boot" by their absence from any other partition. That's why it doesn't offer the option to set it active. It already is. (Ignore the other HDD. There can only be one active partition per HDD. That, as you can see above, is just where it would look next if it failed to find "active" on the first disk).
If you are viewing super hidden files bootmgr and \boot are plainly visible in the root of the partition that should be marked active i.e x:\boot\BCD (etc) and x:\bootmgr
 
OK,

I have a \boot\BCD folder on the XP partition, but I do not have a \bootmgr - rather, a 'boot.ini' file. Perhaps oddly, on the D partition/drive - where I have no O/S - I have a \boot folder, a 'bootmgr' file and a 'bootini' file. On my Windows 7 partition, however, I have nothing.

Thanks,
DANNY
 
When you repaired W7 it put the boot files on the other HDD.
You can either change the BIOS boot order to boot from that HDD, or disconnect it temporarily and do the repair again.
 
Terry60 said:
When you repaired W7 it put the boot files on the other HDD.
You can either change the BIOS boot order to boot from that HDD, or disconnect it temporarily and do the repair again.
Click to expand...

Hi there.

Tried both these measures but it didn't make any difference - still exactly the same situation. Any more ideas/

Thanks,
DANNY
 
If you changed the BIOS to boot from the other HDD how can the situation be exactly the same ?
XP won't be able to boot if you're not booting from its HDD and if you have no entry in the BCD for it.
Please post a Disk Management screenshot and the EasyBCD "view settings" (detailed) data.
Help in the sticky if needed
 
Terry60 said:
If you changed the BIOS to boot from the other HDD how can the situation be exactly the same ?
Click to expand...

Sorry,
What I meant was that if I boot up from the other HDD (drive D) I cannot boot up into Windows at all - 'system error', 'please insert system disk'. etc. And re-running EasyBCD with that HDD disconnected made no difference either - ie, I still couldn't boot into 7 or access the Dual Boot Menu. In other words, I am left with the same situation - I have a \boot\BCD folder on the XP partition and a 'boot.ini' file, but no 'bootmgr' file; whilst on the 7 partition I have none of these files/folders but the D partition has them all.

By the way, when I had the D hard drive disconnected, I changed the drive letters to a more 'logical' order - C for XP, D for 7 and E for the remaining partition on that HDD. What used to be the D hard drive is now F. Obviously, I edited and ran EasyBCD again after that - but no difference.

Thanks,
DANNY
 
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" ... re-running EasyBCD with that HDD disconnected ... " ?
I said rerun the repair.
What exactly did you do with EasyBCD ?
Disconnect the other HDD and boot the W7 DVD three times and do a "startup repair" each time, then reconnect the other HDD, boot W7 and run EasyBCD to add an XP entry.
"... Obviously, I edited and ran EasyBCD again after ..."
There are no letters in the BCD. EasyBCD translates the UIDS in the BCD into the letters you have on the system that's running it.
If you change those letters, then the changes will be automatically reflected in what EasyBCD displays in its translation. There should be nothing to edit.
 
" ... re-running EasyBCD with that HDD disconnected ... " ?
I said rerun the repair.

Yes, that is what I did! (which is what I meant by "re-running" EasyBCD).

"... Obviously, I edited and ran EasyBCD again after ..."
There are no letters in the BCD. EasyBCD translates the UIDS in the BCD into the letters you have on the system that's running it.

What I meant was that I deleted the old 7 entry (still showed up as being on the E partition), and added a new entry - so that 7 was now listed under the D partition.

DANNY

Addendum:

confusion over! For some reason, when you said 'repair', I thought you meant EasyBCD. I shall disconnect that HDD again and run a Windows 7 repair. Hope it works, as I really don't fancy reinstalling 7 again!

Thanks for the help,
DANNY

Addendum:

No luck. Windows 7 disc couldn't find any O/S, simply said - "Unknown on (unknown) local disk". Therefore, I couldn't do a Repair.

Oh well, I'LL reinstall Windows 7 tomorrow.

Cheers,
DANNY
 
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