EasyBCD to dual boot existing Win8 & XP HDDs?

M

morbius

Member
Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere. I searched but nothing I found seemed pertinent.

I have "mature" installations of Win8.1 and XPSP3 on separate SATA HDDs that I want to dual boot using EasyBCD. FWIW, both HDDs were installed and configured on this same PC, and I know the XPocalypse is today. I had dual booted these same two HDDs before updating the senior OS to v8.1, selecting the boot OS through the BIOS. As tends to happen, the senior Windoze OS got jealous and trashed the junior. Which is why I want to try the EasyBCD. I'm hoping it will cut down on the fratricide. The EasyBCD installation file is already waiting on the Win8.1 HDD, but not yet installed. For no other reason than it seemed to make sense, I thought the best procedure would be to boot off the senior OS (Win8.1) with both HDDs connected, then install and set up the EasyBCD to dual boot with XP. Except now it won't boot off the Win8 HDD. It hangs at the black boot screen with the blue M$ window in the middle.

The MoBo is a Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L. BIOS is an Award Modular v6.00PG. And before I'd updated it to 8.1, I could boot off the Win8 HDD through the BIOS with the XP HDD connected. I've swapped the SATA cables to either header, and I've swapped the boot order in the BIOS, but nothing changed. Long story short, the reason I'm posting here is to ask for recommendations on the best procedure to follow from here would be. Basically, I see two options. If you have other ideas, I'm all ear... ...I mean eyes.

1) Disconnect the XPSP3 HDD, boot to Win8.1, install EasyBCD, shut down, reconnect XPSP3, then try to boot off Win8.1, or

2) Boot off XPSP3 and install EasyBCD to it, then reboot and see if Win8 will load

Unless I can resolve the problem getting Win8 to boot from the BIOS with the XP HDD connected, I don't see any other options. I do have recent backups on both HDDs, so it would not be a disaster if either (or both) of them were hosed, but, naturally, I'd sooner avoid the hassle. Sorry, I realized too late this should have been posted to the EasyBCD forum.

EDIT:
Sorry, I realized too late this should have been posted to the EasyBCD forum (mods, kinya help a buddy out?)
 
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At the moment, since you've done nothing with EasyBCD, this seems to be correctly located in the Windows forum.
Are you saying that since you updated W8 to 8.1 it has never booted, or that it will only boot with XP disconnected ?
 
Terry60 said:
...Are you saying that since you updated W8 to 8.1 it has never booted, or that it will only boot with XP disconnected ?
Click to expand...
Since updating to Win8.1, Win8.1 will load but only if the XPSP3 HDD is not connected. If the XPSP3 HDD is connected and the Win8.1 HDD is selected from the BIOS, it stalls at the blue window boot screen (before the spinning blue dots appear). Without the XPSP3 HDD connected, Win8.1 boots and runs as per normal. XPSP3 doesn't care either way, it still boots and runs as per normal, whether the Win8.1 HDD is connected or not.

Until I can resolve this problem with Win8 booting with the XP HDD connected, I can see two possible solutions.

First, boot off XP with the Win8 HDD connected, install EasyBCD onto XP, then configure it to control the dual boot with Win8. Or, alternately, boot off Win8 with the XP HDD disconnected, connect the XP HDD after Win8 loads, then install EasyBCD to Win8 and configure it to control the dual boot with XP.

Or might it be possible to configure EasyBCD to also boot XP without having its HDD connected? I'm not usually timid about experimenting with this sort of stuff but I have no experience with EasyBCD, and I don't have a warm fuzzy about monkeying around with the boot sectors of either of these HDDs (or letting EasyBCD do the monkeying) without first bouncing these ideas off someone who does have some expertise with the product. I'm presuming it would be a better practice to let the more recent Windoze OS be in charge of the boot loading, but maybe EasyBCD doesn't care.
 
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In normal use EasyBCD isn't touching the MBR or PBR. It's confined to making user requested changes (or additions/deletions) to the contents of the BCD. It's not a boot manager, just a tool for easier management of the BCD contents than using the MS command line alternative, BCDedit.
It does also have more power-user options in its advanced sections which can reinstall the Vista/7/8 boot manager (or remove it) and repair or recreate a BCD from scratch, but they are not options for the user inexperienced with MS boot files to be experimenting with.
Like regedit, EasyBCD will do exactly what you ask it to, even if what you request will end up breaking your system. Unlike regedit's blanket warning "editing your registry can make your system unusable" or words to that effect, EasyBCD does actually warn you in specific situations where your actions will make the system unbootable unless you also do something additional.
Unfortunately that has not prevented several users from doing exactly what they were warned of, and subsequently complaining "EasyBCD broke my system...... I didn't think the warning was serious!!!"
EasyBCD sets up an XP entry automatically (when you request it) by locating XP and creating copies of the necessary XP files in the required place and creating a chain to the XP location.
It can't obviously do that if there's no XP to locate.
Try booting W8.1 (with XP disconnected if that's the only way) and then in W8 power options, turn off "fast boot" in the "what the power button does" section of the hidden options.
Then shut down and boot again with the XP HDD connected and see if that makes a difference.
(W8 doesn't shut down when you tell it to, and doesn't boot when you think you're starting up again with that "fast boot" set. It secretly hibernates and silently resumes, pretending to do a boot without actually doing one at all. That doesn't sit well in a dual-boot scenario and can actually cause either system to enter self-repair routines because of the confused state they finds themselves in.)
 
As you suggested, I turned off the Fast Boot option in W8.1, shut it down, reconnected the XPSP3 HDD, then booted, selecting the W8.1 HDD from BIOS. It terminated at an "Inaccessible Boot Device" BSOD. I also tried booting W8.1 into Safe Mode with the XP HDD connected. Same BSOD.

I should mention that the BIOS in this particular PC has never been especially cooperative, particularly with booting from USB devices. My best guess is that some new driver or basic service that was added in the update to 8.1 puts the BIOS's knickers in a twist.

What's the potential downside if I boot to XP (with the W8 HDD connected), install EasyBCD to XP, then leave XP's HDD first in the BIOS's boot order? Will EasyBCD (running on XP) offer me the option to dual-boot with W8? Do I risk catastrophic damage? To one OS or to both?


Terry60 said:
...It secretly hibernates and silently resumes, pretending to do a boot without actually doing one at all. That doesn't sit well in a dual-boot scenario and can actually cause either system to enter self-repair routines because of the confused state they finds themselves in.)
Click to expand...
That sounds precisely like what happened when the old W8 install trashed the XP I was dual-booting it with.
 
W8 boot files might not be where you think they are.
Boot W8 without XP and post a Disk Management screenshot.
 
Done.

25i1bpf.jpg


Looking for the 'System Reserved' partition? Except for shrinking, this image is unedited, so it just isn't there. I even booted off a Linux thumb drive and examined that HDD with the Gnome partition editor. If there is a hidden partition, it's so hidden Linux can't find it.
 
That seems completely unequivocal. W8 is definitely booting from the C disk.
The only thing I can think which explains the symptoms, is the order of detection of the HDDs during the PnP section of the POST.
It seems (hanging at the blue screen) that W8 has already seen the XP HDD first and allocated it C, then given itself D (probably) at which point when it tries to load its own drivers, it finds them registered at C\... wherever and stalls when unable to locate them.
Two suggestions.
a) hot plug XP with W8 already running, then in Disk Management assign the XP partition a different letter, (it doesn't matter what W8 calls it, it won't change the way it regards itself). You can always change it back again to whatever you want it to be called from W8, the important thing is that W8 has an explicit registry entry for it and doesn't allow it to be dynamically assigned at boot.
or
b) switch the SATA channels to which the two HDDs are connected, so that W8 is detected first.

Regardless of which way you choose, it's a good idea to make explicit letter assignations for all of your partitions/devices in Disk Management, so that you always know what you are putting where, and don't get confused by the fact that identities change randomly.

Another point to bear in mind.
XP cannot be allowed to "see" Vista/7/8 if you have any thoughts of keeping System Restore points. Vista/7/8 (stupidly) use exactly the same name for the SR folders as XP, but a completely different format and philosophy. V/7/8 know that XP's folders are "old style" and leave them alone, but XP sees V/7/8's and "fixes" the "corruption" it detects by reformatting them back to proper XP.
You need to hack the XP registry once your dual-boot is up and running
System Restore Points - Stop XP Dual Boot Delete
then boot W8, set a restore point (with a name you'll recognize), boot XP, boot W8 and check that the restore point is still there.
Don't do any customization/software installations etc. until you've verified that system restore is working from both sides.
 
I already have tried each HDD alternately on each SATA header, and each HDD alternately set to first in the boot order.

When I hot plug the XP HDD, it never shows up in W8's Disk Management applet, even if I command a disk rescan. But it does force W8 into a Startup Repair the next time it boots.

I think we've both spent enough time on this one. Thanks for the help, Terry60.
 
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