I'll try again > too many confused questions ???

R

rimskyx

Distinguished Member
ok hello ,
when I first boot up I get a list of just xp systems and none will boot > I get a long message about missing drives or summat > cannot remember exactly .
THEN if I keep rebooting the system I get to the what I assume is the vista bootloader as vista and xp64 is listed there and it will boot into both of those . However if I add the other xp pro system to the bcd list it appears on the aforementioned vista bootloader? but it will only boot into the other xp64 on that drive >????

any suggestions anyone ???

regards rimskyx
 
Rimsky, From what I remember (not being a multiple XP user myself), if you're booting Vista and several XPs, the Vista bootloader is in charge and will appear first, then when it hands control to XP's NTLDR, that will have its own boot menu to choose between the multiple instances of XP.
From what you describe, you appear to be going into the XP bootloader directly. This will always happen if you install XP after Vista because XP is not forward compatible with the Vista bootloader and overwrites it.
Read the wiki about installing XP after Vista
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Installing+XP+After+Vista
and follow the instructions about repairing the Vista bootloader to put Vista back in charge.
If you want a single level boot to go directly to Vista or multiple XPs, you could use HnS
http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1341
which is primarily to hide Vista from XP (protecting its restore points) but has the spin-off benefit of making the boot process into a single level by surplanting both Vista and XP bootloaders and handing control down as requested.
 
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