Format problem-Win7, XP Home, XP Pro

D

donnybb

Member
I have one drive with the following systems:
C: Win 7
D: XP Home
E: XP Pro

I had it working well. That is, when I boot, I got to choose Win7 or "XP Menu". If I chose XP Menu, I got a secondary menu that let me choose either Home or Pro.

Then I needed to reformat XP Home and now I cannot get the multi-boot to work. In fact, I could not get the XP Home to finish installing the OS.

My first question, then, is how to format D: and install the OS? When I tried, it went well until the first reboot.
 
If you've reinstalled XP after W7, it will have regressed the boot back to NTLDR instead of bootmgr. (Point 4 in the sticky thread)
You'll need to repair the W7 boot, then use EasyBCD 2.0 to add an XP entry and it will auto-configure your two XP systems for you.
 
I can't even finish the XP Home install. When it gets to the first reboot, the computer just boots up Win7 and I can't get back to the XP Home to finish the install.
 
Run EasyBCD in Windows 7, and on the "manage bootloader" page uninstall the vista bootloader. At this point, you will not be able to boot into 7 at all

Boot from the XP CD and install. After installing XP, install .NET 2.0 on XP, and use EasyBCD to add an XP entry as well as reinstall the Vista bootloader.
 
Installs can fail if you don't have CD before HDD in your BIOS boot sequence. (If you booted from CD using an extended boot menu)
At the 1st reboot, the system will go directly to the HDD "active" partition instead of continuing with the CD installation.
 
I would say the best and easiest way to get your Windows 7 back is to insert that disc and boot of it and choose to repair your installation. Then make sure you have both options on boot-up. If not, use BCD (or more easily EasyBCD) to edit the bootloader configs to include the old Windows XP boot loader menu as well. That is the easiest ways to go about it, in that order.
BCD editor FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/lrqthz
BCD editor command line options: http://tinyurl.com/5n2ff2
EasyBCD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EasyBCD
 
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