Another (!) Dual Boot question.

jj72uk

Member
Hi guys, first time poster, really hope you can help becasue i have been googling for hours with no avial.

Heres the Situation.

HDD C - Windows Vista
HHD D - Scratch
HHD E - Empty

So i decieded to re install XP as so much of my stuff doesnt work with Vista. Intially I tried to install XP with both drives connected and it didnt like it, once i got past the instally installtion where it needed to restart it wouldnt load into xp, so i decieded to disconnect hdd c and d and i did a clean install to hdd e.

Now whenever i load up my computer it ALWAYS loads up XP, the only way i can load into vista is by pressing esc on startup and going into the manual boot menu. So i downloaded EasyBCD, and loaded up Vista, made the necassary changes and it still laods XP, confused, i went into XP and used EasyBCD to chnage to boot and still it only loaded XP with no boot menu.

Am i doing something really wrong?

All i want it to do is on start up after going through disc checks etc give me an option either to load XP or Vista.

Any help?!
 
In XP or Vista?

Addendum:

Ok, i tried it in Vista and it asks for my boot drive, which is C, then it asks the partition vista is on...thats C to, and then it says boot file already presant, BCD will not be recreating Vista BCD files...hmm

So then i go to Start>Run> C:\boot.ini

Just in case, and nope, nothing....

Am i doing it right?

Addendum:

OK i think I'm getting closer, now when i run my PC it come up with a boot menu... either Vista or XP..if i choose vista its fine.

If i choose XP it bascailly comes up and says winload.exe is missing?!!

Addendum:

I dont know if this helps or means anyting, but my HDD D, my scratch drive for some unknown reason is tagged as 'system' under disk management ...im sure this has something to do with it
 
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OK, that's good news.

NB: EasyBCD works exactly the same no matter what host OS you use it for - that's why it's great for troubleshooting.

That error message means the boot files are already there, so it let you know it won't re-create them. But it went ahead and reset the data and re-installed the bootloader so you could see it the next time you reboot. Perfect.

The winload.exe error: means you added a Windows XP entry as a Vista entry not an XP one. Back in EasyBCD, delete the XP entry. From add/remove add a new entry, but be sure to select "Windows XP" as the type from the drop-down box first.

Then reboot and it should work :smile:

However, you might need to update your boot.ini.
 
ok, i will try that, when i do do it what should i set the disk drive to be, if i boot into vista the hdd where XP is classed as E, while if i load into XP its classed as C, so when in easybcd and i create a new entry what hdd should i point it to?

Addendum:

Ive read the wiki page in regards to drive letters etc, and if i go into easybcd and see my entries i have 2 entries already, and both seem to be pointing to the correct disk....

Addendum:

This is my boot.ini on all hdd at the moment

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Vista" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
 
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It's not the disk I'm worried about - it's the type.
Your XP entry was added as Vista - it won't work that way.

EasyBCD automatically picks the correct drive for an XP entry.
 
OK, so if i load up vista open up easybcd add a new entry and choose windows XP it will automatically set it to drive C where in fact vista is on drive C and XP on E are you saying i am say in easybcd that vista is on C and XP is on C?
 
Thanks for all your help, I feel i am very close to fixng this.

When i start my PC i get a boot menu..great, it gives me 2 choices, Vista or Xp..great.. I select Vista and it loads Vista...great...i select XP and it seems to take me to another(!) boot menu to choose between XP and Vista, if i choose XP here it boots into XP and if i choose Vista it just hangs on a black screen...

Any idea what to do? Am i to edit the boot ini on my XP install so it only has one line for XP and nothing for Vista?

Addendum:

Ok, ive tried the above and that doesnt work, it still brings up a second boot menu with 2 options

either

Windows XP
Windows (defualt)

where XP loads right and windows (defualt) hangs


The boot ini reads

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

maybe i should chnage the defualt rdisk to 2
 
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You need to synchronize the rdisk(x) values between the default entry and the [operating sytems] entry.
 
Try adding a /nogui option after the /fastdetect to get the XP splash screen back.

At any rate, glad it's working now :smile:
 
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