Dual boot W7/XP

G

godot

Member
Hey people, I would be really grateful if you could help me with a problem I have.

I am currently running W7 as my primary OS and have recently installed XP as well, on a separate partition. After the installation of XP I was unable to boot to W7, the computer booted directly to XP. So I did a recovery using the W7 disc, but now my computer boots directly to W7 instead, without showing any boot meny or boot alternatives. I looked around and heard about BCD, but as I am a complete n00b and fiddling around with the OS is sensitive stuff I feel like I could use some help.

So, how do I go about creating a boot meny at startup so I can choose witch OS to boot? I tried adding another boot entry, but when I choose XP and click add I get this message saying that BCD could not locade NTDLR on my HD.

Thanks in advance
 
Hey Jake, thank you for the tip. I did as you said, BCD auto configured everything and as expected I now get a boot menu on startup! :grinning:

But, alas, nothing is ever that simple. :shame: When i choose to boot XP it tells me that some files are missing or whatever (it just won't boot) and recommends booting with the XP installation disc and doing a repair install. I just wanted to double check with you, because I don't want to mess my OS up. Should I do a repair? Will that solve my problem? W7 runs just fine, tough.

Thank you!
 
Okay, so I've made a rough translation of the error message from swedish:

"An error ocurred when trying to start Windows. This could be due to a change in soft- or hardware that has been done recently. To correct the problem do the following:"

Then it guides me trough the steps of making a repair using the XP-disc. At the bottom it says:

"File:\NTDLR

Status: 0xc000000f

Information: Reading the post was unsuccessful because it is missing/damaged."

Hope you can make some sense of this. :??

Thanks
 
Ok, that error message is fairly common.
For some reason, the EasyBCD auto-configure apparently failed to create a copy of NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM in the root of the "system" partition.

Can you post the contents of your boot.ini file, so I see if it at least auto-configured the boot.ini?

You'll need to be showing hidden files and folders, and have unhidden protected system files in the Folder Options of the Control Panel, first, in order to see those files.
 
Is XP on a different HDD ?
Did you let it become 1st in the boot sequence ?
Is it now flagged as "system" in disk management ?
 
Jake:

The boot.ini file on the W7 systempartition reads:

[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP on E:\" /fastdetect

The XP partition doesn't have one, but maybe that's normal since i boot to W7?

Terry60,

XP lies on another physical HDD than W7, although the partition that the W7 installation creates when installing W7 (with systemfiles like boot.ini) lies on the same physical drive that XP is installed on. I don't know why this is, the W7 chose that partition automaticly. Tough this partition is hidden.

Did I let which become 1st in the boot sequence? The XP drive?

The XP partition is not flagget as "system" in disk management. Wierd?
 
godot said:
Jake:

The boot.ini file on the W7 systempartition reads:

[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP on E:\" /fastdetect

The XP partition doesn't have one, but maybe that's normal since i boot to W7?
Click to expand...
If you're booting from W7's HDD in the boot sequence, and XP is on another HDD, then the rdisk() values in boot.ini shouldn't be 0. That means the first disk. Change them both to rdisk(1). It seems like EasyBCD auto-configured, but got the rdisk() value wrong probably because of the hidden W7 "system" partition on XP's HDD.
Terry60,

XP lies on another physical HDD than W7, although the partition that the W7 installation creates when installing W7 (with systemfiles like boot.ini) lies on the same physical drive that XP is installed on. I don't know why this is, the W7 chose that partition automaticly. Tough this partition is hidden.

Did I let which become 1st in the boot sequence? The XP drive?

The XP partition is not flagget as "system" in disk management. Wierd?
Click to expand...
Leave W7 first in the boot sequence, and follow my advice above, and you'll probably be able to boot XP. However, make sure that a copy of NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM exists in W7's partition as well.

Addendum:

Could you post a screenshot of Disk Management?
Its important to know which HDD you're actually booting from, whether its W7's or XP's.

EDIT: Nevermind. You're obviously booting from XP's HDD if W7 installed its boot files to the XP HDD. So scratch that. Then definitely be sure to copy over NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM (along with the boot.ini that's in W7's partition) into the hidden partition on the XP HDD. Then the boot should work. Oh, and forget the modify-boot.ini part. That's not necessary since you're booting from XP's HDD.
 
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Sorry, I got kind of confused here. :smile:

You mean that I should just copy the NTDLR, NTDETECT.COM and boot.ini from the hidden W7 system partition to the XP root directory? That's it?
 
No, that's not what I was saying at all.
I was saying to move them to (not from) the hidden W7 system partition.
Are you saying they're already there?
 
Late builds of EasyBCD 2.0 should be able to handle unlettered W7 boot partitions, though it seems that some configurations still cause it confusion.
A workaround is generally to give the "system" partition a letter in disk management, delete the XP entry, add it again and let the auto-configure find everything.
You might prefer (it's more logical and rational) to use the EasyBCD 2.0 diagnostics / change boot drive option. Point the new location of the boot files to the W7 partition, change the BIOS to boot from the W7 HDD, boot W7, and add an XP entry to the newly relocated W7 boot files. The auto-configure should do everything for you.
 
here's how i fixed it

i had the same problem -- i just copied ntldr from a working xp machine to the partition where xp was installed.

then under the boot settings, i added an entry for xp, and assigned it the drive letter of the partition is was installed to (in my case 'g:')

rebooted, you should have a boot menu by the way, selected xp, VIOLA ! now both w7 and xp boot no prob.
 
godot said:
Okay, so I've made a rough translation of the error message from swedish:

"An error ocurred when trying to start Windows. This could be due to a change in soft- or hardware that has been done recently. To correct the problem do the following:"

Then it guides me trough the steps of making a repair using the XP-disc. At the bottom it says:

"File:\NTDLR

Status: 0xc000000f

Information: Reading the post was unsuccessful because it is missing/damaged."
Click to expand...

I get exactly the same problem, except it says File:\Boot\BCD
I installed XP long time ago and Windows 7 now. When I was installing "7", I disconnected the old HDD so the XP system was not visible.
Later I have had both HDDs connected, but there was a problem - I had to use BIOS to change HDD boot priority to boot "7" or "XP".

I used EasyBCD in XP and now I can only boot Windows 7. XP fails with the above message.


For now, all I want is to undo the changes EasyBCD made, so that I can boot XP.
Later, I would perhaps think of a way to choose the system each time the computer starts [I don't remember the exact name of this screen, so I described it].

Please help me or at least point in the right direction.
BIG thanks in advance!!!
 
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Hi huran.
Put W7 first in the boot sequence. Boot W7.
Add an XP entry to the W7 BCD with 2.0 Beta of EasybCD, letting it autoconfigure.

And you should have a dual-boot, and be able to select and boot either system in the boot menu.

Btw, when you said you used EasyBCD in XP, which feature did you use?
 
Coolname007 said:
Put W7 first in the boot sequence. Boot W7.
Add an XP entry to the W7 BCD with 2.0 Beta of EasybCD, letting it autoconfigure.
Click to expand...

I did what you said and something (not actual changes) on my own, so here's what I did:

0. Tools-> Auto configure Boot.ini does NOT do anything. (Is that what you meant?)
1. I clicked "Add/Remove Entries"
2. I have choosen Windows->Type-> NT/2k/XP/2k3
3. Name (XP) is popping up automatically (Why? Does it recognise my XP or just default?)
4. Drive C:\ (Automatically determined)
---!!!---
5. Now I am afraid to proceed further, because in Windows 7 C: is the partition with Win7 only, F: holds my old XP.
(In XP of course C: is the system partition - the letters are diferrent for each system.)

Coolname007 said:
Btw, when you said you used EasyBCD in XP, which feature did you use?
Click to expand...
Something like 1-5 and Manage Bootloader->Write MBR.

BTW. Thanks for the reply.

Addendum:

MY PROBLEM IS SOLVED!
:grinning:

The solutiion is as simple as that:
1. Add/Remove Entries -> Windows -> Type -> NT/2k/XP/2k3 -> Add Entry
2. Change Settings -> Entry-Based -> choose XP from the list, change drive (and name?) -> Save Settings

Addendum:

BIG THANKS FOR POINTING ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
(If you don't change the drive letter, you have a dual boot screen, but obviously it might be working only with one system).
 
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First,

a big Thanks to the developers and this great and informative newsgroup!

I also had big problems with a dual boot Windows 7 64bit and XP Prof on 2 hard drives.

godot said:
"An error ocurred when trying to start Windows. This could be due to a change in soft- or hardware that has been done recently. To correct the problem do the following:"

Then it guides me trough the steps of making a repair using the XP-disc. At the bottom it says:

"File:\NTDLR

Status: 0xc000000f
Click to expand...

had this error too and solved it by

1) manually corrected the boot.ini to use rdisc(1) insetead of (0)
2) copied the 2 nt* files from C.\Windows\ServicepackFile\i386
(Hint: Windows 7 has great file search)

ntldr should have size 245KB, last change 13.4.2008
ntdetect.com should have size 46.4KB , last change 3.8.2004

For better compatibility
a) I disabled the Windows7 drive in Windows XP in the registry
b) In Windows XP I activated the advanced Security management (Explorer Options) to see the owner and permissions of the files.

So, all appears to work now. Thanks again!
 
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