Relocating Dual Boot Files to another partition

L

Lamb

Member
I seem to have this trouble:
(1) 1st Partition: Empty "Boot" (where I want to have everything boot from)
(2) 2nd Partition: Windows XP
(3) 3rd Partition: Windows 7
(4) EasyBCD is installed on Windows 7 partition, and has worked well located here with adding additional ISO boot entries.
(5) I want to encrypt all partitions, except the 1st boot partition. Using EasyBCD I made the Boot partition the actual booting partition, and EasyBCD copied boot entries to it. However, when I reboot, all I get is a blank screen with a flashing cursor. I then restore windows XP as the boot partition in order to regain control and be able to access the OS.

Where am I going wrong?
 
How did you make the 1st partition "system" ?
EasyBCD2 > BCD Backup/Repair > Change boot drive ?
 
The 1st partition is set as a system drive; viz.

1st Partition (Boot): system
2nd Partition (XP): system, active, boot
3rd Partition (7): system, boot

When EasyBCD makes the 1st Partition as the boot partition, I verified that indeed it does change it to active as well. By all means, it should work; but not.

1st Partition (Boot): system, active
2nd Partition (XP): system, boot
3rd Partition (7): system, boot

Then I have to revert it back to the original configuration.

Thanks for your reply. Any ideas?
 
I'm referring to the Disk Management flags
They can't all be "system" if you're using the MS bootmgr.
That's the flag that says "here are the boot files which were used to start the system".
Likewise, "boot" means "this is the system you're running", so can't appear on more than one partition (though it will of course move, when you boot another OS)
Can you attach a Disk Management screenshot.
(the sticky thread will say how if you don't know)
 
Here is a current screenshot. Note that this is my current and normal booting method.

If you would like me to take a screenshot after EasyBCD chages the boot partition to 1st partition, let me know. Note that I would only be able to take a screenshot of that only before rebooting the computer.
 

Attachments

  • Clip_2.jpg
    Clip_2.jpg
    328.6 KB · Views: 4
I went ahead and used EasyBCD to make the 1st partition the boot partition. Here is a screenshot. Note that the boot is still under the 3rd partition. I have not rebooted yet.
 

Attachments

  • Clip_3.jpg
    Clip_3.jpg
    323.6 KB · Views: 2
  • Clip_4.jpg
    Clip_4.jpg
    158.6 KB · Views: 3
As far as I know, there shouldn't be a problem with B: being FAT (there is a known bug trying to auto-locate XP on a FAT partition, but that doesn't apply here.)
EasyBCD "change boot drive" copies the boot files, so the originals should still be present, and all that should be necessary to revert is to flip the "active" bit back to XP if you do have a problem.
 
I rebooted after the fact, and here is what I found:

Indeed EasyBCD did make the 1st partition as active, but not bootable. The XP and 7 partitions remained bootable (as they should be). EasyBCD did copy the propper boot files in the 1st partition, but isn't makeing that partition bootable. When I rebooted, I also found (though not knowing if this makes a difference) that the first HDD loading after the fact is the external hard drive, the internal as the second. I unplugged the external and booted again, with no difference. Also, it wouldnt matter if EacyBCD is installed on the 3rd partition does it? Anyway, EasyBCD just isn't making the 1st partition bootable.

Addendum:

Yes, everytime I try to make the 1st partition bootable, I use Acronis Media Builder to change the 1st active partition back to the 2nd XP partition. No worries there. I just cannot figure why EasyBCD isn't making the 1st partition bootable, as it should. I even tried the Bootloader Setup utility and and still nothing. Any more ideas?
 
Last edited:
Back
Top