Another XP/Vista dual boot issue

[scott]

Hello and thank you in advance for your help.

I installed Vista after XP on a new partition on the same hard drive. I found Easy BCD by accident after looking for a way around the deletion of Vista restore points (more on that later).

All was smooth for 2 months when I realized I had spelled Microsoft-Mocrosoft (Freudian?) and went to correct in Add/remove entries. Now XP doesn't boot, I get the typical error message: \ntldr status 0xc000000f

Here are my settings:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device                  unknown
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default                 {2e4659d6-27e8-11dc-8855-f9ff9b76583a}
displayorder            {2e4659d6-27e8-11dc-8855-f9ff9b76583a}
                        {2e4659d7-27e8-11dc-8855-f9ff9b76583a}
toolsdisplayorder       {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout                 5

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {2e4659d6-27e8-11dc-8855-f9ff9b76583a}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate (recovered) 
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier              {2e4659d7-27e8-11dc-8855-f9ff9b76583a}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \ntldr
description             Microsoft Windows XP MCE

I'll leave it at this for now, ultimately I'd like to dual boot with my Vista restore points left alone. Yes, I'm reading your primer on that.

thanks again,

Scott

(pics included)

 

[mqudsi]

Hi Scott,

Your problem is the "device unknown" bit.
Download and install the latest EasyBCD 1.61 beta (see the stickied thread in this forum)
EasyBCD | Diagnostics | Reset BCD Settings

This will fix your device unknown message. You will have a single entry in the Vista bootloader (Vista itself). Add the XP entry again, and all should be well.

 

[scott]

Dear Guru,

I have this attached error message when I tried to reset & rescue

edit-I have this error too on startup
Scott

 

[mqudsi]

Yes, so what is the problem?
Select the boot device and press OK.

 

[scott]

When i start the program 2 errors appear, see above pics

When I attempt to reset, I get "EasyBCD has encountered a problem........C:\boot\BCD"

After I have clicked to send the error report, I then click reset and rescue but my XP partition is still there in 'Add/Remove'

Scott

 

[mqudsi]

Those error messages appear because your BCD isn't correctly identifying the boot drive. This is usually caused by incorrect installation of another operating system after installing Vista, or changing the partition with a partition manager.


The "cannot convert error" should be gone now. That was a problem with the update server.

If it gives you the "EasyBCD has encountered a problem" error, that means your boot device probably isn't C:\
Your boot device is the drive with the BOOT folder. Whatever letter that is (from within Vista), tell that to EasyBCD and it'll do the rest.

 

[scott]

Guru, I followed all instructions but still could not get the dual boot to work in XP. Then I loaded the XP disk and did a repair, booted but now the Vista partition isn't seen. I have tried to repair with Vista but it just loads XP. Argh. Here are the appropos files copied from Easy BCD in XP: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="" multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="help" 1 multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Media Center Edition" /FASTDETECT /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN -------------- Windows Boot Manager -------------------- identifier {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795} device unknown description Windows Boot Manager locale en-US inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e} default {e8709fb6-fa5f-11db-be4d-e219ece5282e} displayorder {e8709fb6-fa5f-11db-be4d-e219ece5282e} toolsdisplayorder {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d} timeout 5 Windows Boot Loader ------------------- identifier {e8709fb6-fa5f-11db-be4d-e219ece5282e} device partition=E: path \Windows\system32\winload.exe description Windows Vista locale en-US inherit {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7} osdevice partition=E: systemroot \Windows resumeobject {e8709fb7-fa5f-11db-be4d-e219ece5282e} nx OptOut ----------------- I have a sinking feeling I've made matters worse and am hoping you can help me restore. Woe is me. Scott

 

[scott]

Sorry Guru,

I now have Vista booting but no dual boot screen at startup. I apologize for the confusion but I'm trying to do this.

Scott

 

[mqudsi]

Scott, please use code boxes (like I did to your initial post) to format any things you copy and paste - I can't read a thing you posted in the post above!

OK, if Vista loads, but you see no dual-boot screen it probably means you do not have an XP entry listed in EasyBCD. Create one.

If you do have an entry, then most likely your timeout is set to 0. Go to the second screen in EasyBCD and change the timeout to something higher.

 

[scott]

Sorry Guru,

I now have Vista booting but no dual boot screen at startup. I apologize for the confusion but I'm trying to do this.

Scott

OK, I can not get the boot screen menu to show on startup.
I've done something terribly wrong, and have no idea how to fix it.

Here are 2 pics from EasyBCD:

Scott

 

[mqudsi]

You still haven't reset your BCD settings, as far as I can see. Plus, you don't have an XP entry in EasyBCD... Add/Remove -> Windows XP

 

[scott]

Guru,

While it may look differently, I assure you I have reset and added XP no less than 3 times. On every reboot, not only does the boot menu not appear, when I open EasyBCD the XP boot I have added disappears.

Vista boots perfectly . Is there a file I can manually change?

Scott

 

[mqudsi]

No, that's the whole reason we made EasyBCD

Try doing Manage Bootloader | Reinstall Vista Bootloader then resetting BCD data and adding the XP entry?

 

[scott]

Of course

You read my mind. I have my system back to where the problem started, phew. From now on I will wait patiently for your word.

The bad news is that the only way I can navigate between partitions is this-from Vista I have to 'uninstall the Vista Bootloader' to get XP to start, from XP I have to reinstall the 'Vista Bootloader' to get Vista to start. In either case if I choose the 'wrong OS from the boot menu, I get the initial error I reported.

I'm in Vista now, and EasyBCD sees my XP partition, it just won't boot it.

Scott

 

[mqudsi]

What does the "detailed mode" say? Still "unknown device?"

 

[scott]

What does the "detailed mode" say? Still "unknown device?"

Yes sir.
(I see both drives are labeled C:\, just me trying all variations of drive combinations trying to get this to work)

 

[mqudsi]

OK, time to hit the CLI.

EasyBCD | Useful Utilities | Power Console

bcdedit /set {CODE} device boot
bcdedit /set {CODE} osdevice boot
exit

Replace {CODE} with the "Identifier" listed for the XP entry in detailed mode.

 

[scott]

Thank you Guru, that did the trick. I am now able to boot in XP
I appreciate all your help

Scott

(the second line of code didn't take but seemingly didn't matter)

 

[mqudsi]

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was the first or second line that you needed, so I gave you both.

Glad to hear it did the trick though!

 

[scott]

In my first post I mentioned that I found this thread and Easy BCD by accident. I was looking for a way to prohibit XP from deleting my Vista restore points.

I have read your blog primer on the subject and am curious what the feedback has been. There have been so many complaints about this new 'feature', have you been inundated with requests for help?

Scott