Dual boot with two drives problems

fredpb

Member
I have two sata drives. I disconnected the other drive when installing each operating system, so I assumed I have a dual boot system...NOT.

I cannot run the Vista DVD for some reason.

XP boots up all the time, and I can't get at vista. The vista drive shows up ok, but won't boot.

My bios won't let me select individual drives for boot.

How can I dual boot?

The programs I have tried work on Vista, not XP.

How can I setup dual boot via XP?
Help!
 
Hi Fred,

Care to clarify your current problem a bit more? How exactly does your system not shut down?
 
That is a totally separate issue. Itsounds as if it is stalling while saving your profile.

Search Results

There are a bunch of results for these things from Microsoft.
 
**********************88
The www.johntp.com link suggestion worked! Thanks!
After using Vista a few months I have a high level of frustration. XP is great!
And it's nice to get REAL suggestions that WORK!!!!!!
 
Good to have acknowledgement that EasyBCD was not the source of the problem.

I'm glad you got it fixed, Fred!
 
Are you saying fred that your Vista DVD won't boot ?
Is it a normal MS DVD or a disk provided with a pre-installed Vista by your OEM ?
You can download a bootable Vista recovery disk from this site
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Recovering+the+Vista+Bootloader+from+the+DVD
Burn a copy of the ISO download, boot it, select the repair Vista bootloader option and you should end up with a Vista provided boot menu which will see XP and give you an option to boot it too.

Sounds like your BIOS is directing you to the XP NTLDR which knows nothing about Vista.

You didn't say in what way installing EasyBCD on your XP system and adding the Vista entry didn't work.
If EasyBCD wouldn't execute, it's probably due to not having NET 2.0 framework installed - It's a vital prerequisite, you'll find it as an option in the custom section of windows update.

If you've got NET 2.0 but you still don't know what to do having checked through the wiki, let us know exactly what problem you're having and someone will try to help you fix it.
That's the whole point of this site really, getting dual boots working, and we've helped heaps of people to get there. (I know - I was one last November !)
 
So adding a Vista entry didnt work. Have you tried to use the VIsta DVD or the REcovery CD in the Wiki to recover Vista??
 
Vista DVD does not work. Have not tried the wiki disk.... but will.

But most of the fixes assume both OS's on the same hard drive. Mine are on separate hard drives. I have the original Vista disk, and the new XP disk. Both SATA. I have tried switching drive data cables but then the system won't boot. I will try the easybcd again, as Now the system will shutdown fast.

Addendum:

Vista recovery says it's fixed, but it still boots xp only.

I suspect the two drive scenario or my Abit motherboard are causing problem?
 
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Have you tried booting the DVD and fixing the startup twice. It took two tries on my system (and several other people who've been here).
Loads of people here have successfully booted two systems on either one or two HDDs. It shouldn't make a difference as to whether you can get it working or not.
 
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Problem solved.

I copied the Vista windows/boot folder into XP. Then copied the Vista Bootmanager into the root directory of XP drive. Voila!
 
This means that your drive order was out of sync - you could probably have accomplished the same by switching the order around in the BIOS.
 
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