Invalid boot.ini file, booting from c:\windows

K

Kalero

Member
Hi all,

last afternoon I installed a new hard disk and a FreeBSD on it. Then I was trying to make a dual boot with EasyBCD between Windows XP and FreeBSD, each one on each hard disk. When I first ran EasyBCD, I saw that the first screen (the screen showing the BCD entries) was empty and disabled (in grey colour), so I added two entries, one for Windows and one for FreeBSD, and I tried to boot into FreeBSD. Due to some configuration issues that I'm trying to solve, I did a reset of the BCD configuration in order to back to the original configuration and to have only the Windows XP boot. My surprise was that at the boot process, the computer displayed a "Invalid boot.ini file, booting from c:\windows" and then booted into Windows correctly. I've been reading many pages that say I should execute bootrec /rebuild, fixboot or fixmbr commands from the Windows revovery console and I did all that, but the message is displayed yet. I looked at the boot.ini file inside C:\ and it's ok, I also checked if it is read only (and it is) and applied attributes 's', 'r' and 'h', but I still see the message. I don't have any problem to boot into Windows, but I don't like to have that message I didn't have it before when I boot into Windows. Any idea about what's happening and what should I do? Thanks.
 
See the reply here
XP pro -> Kubuntu boot dance = infighting
regarding use of EasyBCD.
Check the syntax of C:\boot.ini very carefully if it's saying it's invalid.
You will get away with a bad boot.ini if XP just happens to be the first partition on the boot disk, because XP contains an internal hard-coded boot.ini which will boot the system when it's configured in that legacy DOS - WME configuration.
 
Thanks for your reply, Terry60. My C:\boot.ini is this one:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

I think it is correct... And yes, I only have one partition in the Windows XP hard drive. Also I have BIOS in SATA legacy mode.
 
Can't see anything wrong with that, which would suggest it's not the one being bounced.
In EasyBCD > Tools > legacy entries, it should show you the boot.ini in use.
Does it look the same ?
 
Yes, it matches exactly.

I don't know if it's an important fact, but I've noticed that since I reset the BCD configuration, the first screen ("View Settings") is not anymore in grey colour and it says there are a total of 0 entries, default: not set, waiting time: 10 seconds, EasyBCD's boot disk C:\ (translated from my language).
 
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You don't have a BCD unless you have Vista/7/8/10, so not surprising EasyBCD shows nothing.
 
Yes, I know it, I just noticed that, first, the list was in grey colour, like disabled, but now it's in white colour. It seems like it has been... enabled?
 
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