Problems getting Windows xp to boot (Primary OS is Windows 7)

Hi,

I'm trying to multiboot on an HP G56 upgraded to 8GB RAM - 256GB SSD with EasyBCD 2.1.2

Partitions:
  • System: System, Active, Primary partition
  • Drive C: Boot, Crash dump, Logical partition, Extended partition, Windows 7
  • Drive X: Logical partition, Extended partition, Windows xp .... has C:\WINDOWS
  • Drive T: Logical partition, Extended partition, reserved for Windows 8 RTM

It crashes and never gets to the Windows xp logo....something about 0xc000000f.




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


Default: Microsoft Windows 7
Timeout: 5 seconds
EasyBCD Boot Device: C:\


Entry #1
Name: Microsoft Windows 7
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe


Entry #2
Name: Microsoft Windows XP
BCD ID: {4aa7e24a-feee-11e1-9973-60eb692f4ccd}
Drive: X:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\ntldr
 
Last edited:
Looks like you changed what EasyBCD set up.
Go back and delete the XP entry and then add it again.
Let EasyBCD auto-configure and don't change what it does.
The BCD should not point to X for XP.
The BCD points to the "system" partition where a copy of boot.ini will point to X.
This is all done for you by EasyBCD.
 
Hi Terry,

I did as you suggested and encountered a different problem....Safe Mode/Safe Mode with Command Prompt/Go to last known Restore point.....

The auto-configure for Windows xp is pointing to Drive C.

If I use the Windows xp Repair disk, will this keep me from booting into Windows 7? Just guessing on what to do next.
 
Can you provide a little more detail of your problem.
Any fixing you try to do with the XP CD will clobber the Vista/7 boot and require startup repair from a Vista/7 DVD, so give us some extra detail before you start doing that.
e.g. Did you install XP or have you just imaged it from somewhere else ?
 
Terry,

I did not install Windows xp on the notebook, but restored it to my notebook from my desktop it originally was on. It was a backup - not an image copy.

Any more info I need to provide?
 
That would explain why it won't boot then.
An OS install process tailors itself to the hardware it's on, both in the selection of appropriate drivers for the hardware, and in the registry's map of how it's all connected. At the basic level, if the original location was an old PC with IDE disks then there will be no SATA drivers for the modern disk it most probably now finds itself on, and it will not even be able to start loading itself.
If you have a retail CD for XP, best thing to do is install XP afresh in its new location. If it's heavily customized and you don't want to lose all your installed apps etc, then at least a "repair install" (upgrade in-place) will be necessary to fix all the driver problems, and if the XP CD is very old (pre SP1) it won't even contain SATA drivers. You would need to obtain the SPs up to the level of XP as it now is, and slipstream them into your retail CD.
If XP came pre-installed on your old PC, it will have an OEM serial number which irrevocably ties it to the hardware with which it was supplied, and even if you found an XP CD and did a repair install, MS would not allow you to activate XP on your notebook because the EULA precludes movement to new hardware.
 
My old desktop (purchased around 2005) is running Windows xp SP3.

Old enough the hard drive tech has changed, but both my computer use DDR2 RAM.

Maybe I don't have to purchase another copy of Windows xp.
 
If you're still using the 2005 PC with XP on it, then you cannot use a copy of it on another PC.
The Windows EULA (any OS, any type) precludes using a single licence on more than one PC.
If it were a retail copy installed by you on a homebuilt PC, you could install it on a second PC but that would immediately invalidate the first copy and WGA would prevent you from continuing to use it from the moment that you validate it on the new hardware.
If you bought the PC in 2005 with XP already installed by the OEM, then you can't even move it to another PC, even if that's now your only copy. The OEM licence doesn't belong to you, it belongs to the original hardware.
 
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