EasyBCD does't recognize XP

ok thx for the help so far, i think i solve this problem.

i CAN'T find boot.ini and CAN'T edit it on windows 7 side even i know its path location. i replaced it with the one which EasyBCD generate and done. funny and stupid problem. really.

now i got another problem. i got 1 HDD with 3 partition C D F which is C for w7, D for data and F for xp. after i reboot to xp, mw xp cant read data from D partition as if it got nothing in there. any solution for me?
 
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There is a problem with W7 and XP sharing a data partition which I've seen a couple of times in these boards. There shouldn't be one, my 4 OSs all share a data partition without a problem, but I do remember 2 people having difficulty with XP being unable to correctly identify a data partition created by Vista/7.
The solution is to delete the partition and re-format it from the XP side.
You'll need to copy any data already in there to external storage first, then copy it all back again after you've made it visible to both systems.
Make sure that it's not as simple as just needing a letter to be assigned in Disk Management from XP first.
 
Cannot detect XP issue-Need Help

Hi guys,
Disk 1- Win7(C:\)
Disk 2- WinXP(I:\ in win7)

Yesterday, I successfully utilized EasyBCD for both my Win7 & WinXP. But today, when I powered up my PC, a blue screen showed up. I had no choose but boot in XP. But in XP, I tried to reset my easyBCD, but it told me no XP detect. I restarted, and entered win7(after recovery). No XP can be found in win7, too!

I replaced the bootgrabber.exe. And my winXP file name is windows.
Could you help me to set my boot menu properly. Thanks a lot!

Here is my bootgrabber info:

D:\Software\EasyBCD\bin>BootGrabber.exe /tlist

BootGrabber utility.
Copyright NeoSmart Technologies 2009-2010 <http://neosmart.net/>

Unable to get volume information for \\?\Volume{69a6370f-05b9-11e0-9de7-806e6f6e
6963}\
Unable to get volume information for \\?\Volume{69a6370e-05b9-11e0-9de7-806e6f6e
6963}\
D0,6,3,4,1000204886016,1
P1,C:\,7,62915134464,42016346112,Yes,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1),Yes,NTF
S
P2,,23,41940702720,36731232256,Yes,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2),No,
P0,,15,895346403840,0,Yes,,No,
P3,D:\,7,268448431104,267653017600,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3),No,NTF
S
P0,,5,214762060800,0,No,,No,
P4,E:\,7,214762028544,214661353472,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(4),No,NTF
S
P0,,5,214762060800,0,No,,No,
P5,F:\,7,214762028544,214661353472,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(5),No,NTF
S
P0,,5,197373818880,0,No,,No,
P6,G:\,7,197373786624,196285796352,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(6),No,NTF
S
D1,7,2,6,500107862016,0
P1,I:\,12,68713956864,23233822720,Yes,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1),Yes,FA
T32
P0,,15,431391260160,0,Yes,,No,
P2,J:\,11,21476173824,3613175808,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2),No,FAT32

P0,,5,107372805120,0,No,,No,
P3,K:\,11,107372772864,16617963520,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3),No,FAT
32
P0,,5,107372805120,0,No,,No,
P4,L:\,11,107372772864,56479088640,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4),No,FAT
32
P0,,5,107372805120,0,No,,No,
P5,M:\,7,107372772864,8176680960,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5),No,NTFS
P0,,5,53793331200,0,No,,No,
P6,N:\,7,53793298944,19581145088,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(6),No,NTFS
P0,,5,34003307520,0,No,,No,
P7,O:\,11,34003275264,3349692416,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(7),No,FAT32


D:\Software\EasyBCD\bin>
 
Terry60 said:
Use EasyBCD > Tools > Edit Legacy Entries to locate the correct boot.ini and change Windows back to WinXP.
Click to expand...

Okay, not to jump in here, but I've read most of this thread.

I wasn't able to detect XP until I changed WinXP -> Windows, it detected it. Then I changed it back. Then I did the above, but when I go to save it, it asks me a location... Do I save it on my Windows XP drive :smile:F), just under F? (I googled location of boot.ini).

I tried that, and when I go to restart and choose XP I get some sort of error that it can't boot because of the bootloader path, which is:
\NST\ntldr

I'm not even sure what that is. My Windows 7 path (which works) is system32\winload.exe

Edit: That boot.ini location can't be correct, because when I go tools -> edit legacy -- it loads up a config with the /windows path, and when I open the boot.ini I saved, it has winxp -- so there must be two..
 
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There's a boot.ini on XP, which XP creates when you install it. That can't be used by Vista/7 bootmgr to locate XP (how can it know where to locate the file which contains the information about its own location ??).
When you dual boot XP and Vista/7, MS design logic assumes Vista/7 comes after XP (It is newer after all) and that therefore Vista/7 will install its boot files on the XP ("system") partition, and that all it has to do to find XPs boot files is look on the same drive as its own.
If you install XP after Vista/7, the assumption is not correct, so Vista can't find XP. In that situation the user is responsible for creating copies of all the XP boot files on the Vista/7 "system" drive OR he can use EasyBCD 2 which will do it all for him/her. The copy of NTLDR is placed in the NST folder by EasyBCD.

http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Windows+XP
 
Thanks for the reply Terry, I understand why I had to alter the WinXP folder now.

I still don't understand what I do next.. A step by step process would be nice.

This is what I did so far:
1- Changed WinXP -> Windows
2- Added XP entry in BCD
3- Changed Windows back to WinXP

I know I have to go to tools -> legacy and edit the boot.ini, but like I said, when I try to save it, it asks for a location... I don't know where to put it.
 
It goes back where it came from, on the partition with the "system" flag in Disk Management
 
Well, I have a new problem. I'm not sure what I did last night, but when I booted up today, I received only 1 boot option: Windows XP. And just like before, it was crashing when I tried to boot with it. So I had to pop in the Windows XP disk and I over wrote the current XP partition and reinstalled XP on it.

When I boot up now, I get two Windows XP options, even though I added a Windows 7 option via EasyBCD (did this on XP).

So basically I'm stuck on XP, and I can't get Windows 7 to show up on the boot options....

There are a total of 2 entries listed in the bootloader.

Default: Microsoft Windows 7
Timeout: 30 seconds
Boot Drive: C:\

Entry #1
Name: Microsoft Windows XP
BCD ID: {d00a9467-0cb7-11e0-ae03-003067590a4f}
Drive: D:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\easyldr1

Entry #2
Name: Microsoft Windows 7
BCD ID: {default}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Click to expand...

I'm seeing two Windows XP options when I boot, however.
 
Sounds like you're booting from the wrong disk. In the BIOS, change your boot HD to the Windows 7 hard drive.
 
Computer Guru said:
Sounds like you're booting from the wrong disk. In the BIOS, change your boot HD to the Windows 7 hard drive.
Click to expand...

I'm only using one HDD. Two partitions (C and F).

I'm actually back to Windows 7 now, and I get the error when I choose XP from the boot menu. Same NST error about not having some type of files...
 
Computer Guru said:
Try deleting the XP entry and re-adding it with the latest beta build here: EasyBCD 2.1 Beta Builds - The NeoSmart Forums

Make sure the "auto detect drive" checkbox is checked.
Click to expand...

Tried this. Says it was unable to find an entry. Do I need to change the WinXP folder to Windows like I had to previously?

Edit: I changed it to Windows, and it found the entry. However, in the "View Settings" window, my XP entry is listed as Drive C, just like my existing Windows 7 entry. XP is actually on my F drive -- so the auto-detect got it wrong...

Edit2: Even when I try to manually detect the drive and set it to drive F, it still appears as drive C on the "View Settings" tab.
 
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It didn't get it wrong.
The BCD does not point to the XP partition. It points to the location of the copies of the XP boot files on the "system" partition.
They point to the XP partition.
That's why auto-configure exists. To stop users setting the wrong information in the BCD.
 
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So if it doesn't get it wrong, I don't understand why it doesn't work and why I can't be helped with a few simple steps.

All I'm asking for is Steps 1 through X to get this to work..
 
Are you using "save as" ?
If so, don't.
Just click "save" and it puts it back where it found it.
 
Maybe it's read-only and that's why it he sees the dialog?

I've put a new entry in the EasyBCD issue tracker: automatically remove read-only setting on boot.ini before opening it in notepad when doing Tools | Edit Legacy Entries
 
I've just been hitting save, and it was acting like it was save as -- I guess thats Read Only.

Guru, are you referring to that new release you linked me to before? I haven't used that to edit legacy yet. Will it just save if I use it? (I'm not home, but I will try tomorrow).
 
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