Some trivial basics and a double boot issue

B

berillio

Member
Hello, thanks for reading.
Lets keep it simple and start with some basics (even trivial)
a) in a dual boot system, do I need to install EasyBCD on both OSs?
b) if not, how to access/ configure EasyBCD from the (say) second OS (the one without EasyBCD)?
c) if I need it on all OSs, how do I avoid clashes between each copy of EasyBCD? Does the install of the 2nd copy searched for the first one and it is aware of it?
d) what if NeoGrub is used and partitions are Hidden?

a line break for other questions...

e) do I REALLY need the ESP partition? what is its use?
f) should EasyBCD show a "Choose OS menu", or is it possible to evoke one by a Function key (say) ?
g) Any preference between AHCI / IDE / Compatible mode?
h) XP requires IDE for installation. Can/Need I to revert back to install Win7 or run a F9 Restore on ASUS hardware?
i) is there an EASY and UP-to-date guide to double booting with HideNSeek or NeoGrub (the only one i have seen was some 40 pages long and was started with much older versions of EasyBCD)?

In my case (there is some background on Cannot get in the BIOS after installing EasyBCD 2.1.2 - ASUS eeePC 1011PX although not strictly related), I have a ASUS eee pc 1011PX, 4 partitions when new:
a) Win7 Primary NTFS 100Gb
b) Android/Recovery Primary FAT32 15Gb
c) Data Primary NTFS 200Gb
d) ESP Primary ESP 16Mb

Last month the HDD failed (I just had the time to do a quick copy of the FOUR partitions, with 3 months of stuff; the copy of the OS partition was done from Windows PE, so it is a FULL copy (but did not make a ghost image :frowning: silly me).
The manufactrurer put a new HD and returned the netbook, which was re-partitioned (as the failed one) as follow:

a) Win7 Primary 0 NTFS 50Gb
b) Android/Recovery Primary 1 FAT32 15Gb
c) Boot 2 Logical/extended 4 NTFS 50Gb
d) Data Logical/extended 5 NTFS 200Gb
d) ESP Primary 3 ESP 16Mb

I disabled AHCI in the BIOS to install XP, which I then Ghosted and copied to its partition (#5). Once double boot to the two identical XP is dealt with, I could reinstall Win7 Starter (using F9/ recovery). I Installed EasyBCD, used Type 1 to reinstall the Boot manager (I think that I tried Type 1 first and then Type 2, actually), then add the new entry for the 2nd XP on partition 5 (this partition was "hidden" when I installed EasyBCD).

The problem I have now is that the netbook is booting to the 2nd XP (partition 5) even though the 1st one (partition 1) was the default. I cannot open EasyBCD (not installed), I do not know if there is a way to edit the bcd file.
I checked the Boot.ini files, which are correct (I mean they point to partition 1 and 5 respectively); the active partition IS the first one (partition 0), I tried to hide partition 4 with the 2nd XP, but I get a windows error "looking for autocheck" which is not found, then a reboot - stuck in a loop

As you can see, I have few problems....... thanks for your time, Berillio
 
a.) No
b.) you wouldnt be able to. You would have to install it to the OS that is working so that you can add the entry for the 2nd OS. There is no way to install it to the other OS that isnt working. Plus if both OS's are working, it negates the need for EasyBCD.
c.) Voided by answer to #1.
d.) So what if NeoGRUB is used and partitions are hidden? You can still dual boot. If you can get into 1 OS that EasyBCD is capable of being installed to, then you can dual boot. I dont get this question at all as there is no real question.
e.) You dont need anything but the partitions used to install the OS's on and a functional MBR. I dont have any ESP partitions.
f.) EasyBCD is just a way to work with the BCD that is used with Windows Vista, windows 7 and Windows 8. It will show only a boot menu with options to select the OS to boot to. It doesnt do anything more than that. It is completely limited to what can be done by the BCD itself created by Microsoft.
g.) That depends on the OS being installed and has nothing to do at all with EasyBCD, read answer to last question.
h.) XP doesnt require IDE, it just doesnt have drivers for SATA. But you can install them using the F6 option during the install process. So you can use ACHI with XP, you just need 1 extra step. The option to restore depends completely on you. If you get rid of the recovery partition, then no you cant restore. The Asus Recovery partition is not something that we are responsible for. As stated, we only give users a way to work with the BCD, nothing more, nothing less.

The issue with the BIOS, is not related to EasyBCD. I hope you do realize this. The BIOS starts up before the BCD menu and anything that EasyBCD has an effect on. So the issues you present are something that would come around from Asus and their BIOS. It isnt until after the POST and the system starts booting that anything you have done within EasyBCD can have an effect on the system. Also as stated, it is only a graphical way to work with the BCD. So it could easily be the install of Android on your system, an OS that is not fully operational with PC's and is only ported and a Beta that could have caused this issue more so than our software.

As you state in your final paragraph, XP uses the boot.ini files, it does not use the BCD as that was created after XP. You will have to install EasyBCD in order to get the boot working properly from within XP.
 
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