The boot configuration data store could not be opened

M

Martin S.

Member
I have read a number of posts with this title, but they don't quite fit my case. I have already had huge problems creating my multiboot (resulting in a non-booting PC, now thankfully fixed!) so I don't want to do anything I am not sure of...

I have Win7 installed. For some reason, when I reinstalled it (as I had to yesterday), no 100MB system partition was created, so everything is in one partition. It ran fine and I installed all the necessary drivers..

Then I installed Windows XP to a separate hard drive, and set that up to with drivers so it boots fine.

Next, I ran EasyBCD, but I get the error message about boot configuration data store. Clearly EasyBCD cannot find the Win7 bootloader...

How do I proceed please? I do not just want to go ahead and press the 'Write MBR' button until I know it's safe!

Many thanks,

Martin
 
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Well, I fixed the "boot configuration could not be opened" issue, but I can't get the dual boot to operate. I can only boot into Windows XP.
I checked that the boot.ini reflects the correct drive setup, as shown in Disk Management.

I have done this: EasyBCD > Bootloader Setup > MBR configuration options > "Install the Vista/7 bootloader ..." > Write MBR.. and rebooted. I get a cmd error window flash up during reboot, so fast I cannot read it (something about "Invalid boot.ini fix" (???), and the PC boots into XP, ignoring the boot.ini file (which looks like this):

[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP\" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(3)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows 7\" /fastdetect

(Years ago, my active drives, with the OS(s) were somehow set to disks 2 & 3, instead of 0 & 1, and I have never been able to fix that. It hasn't produced any problems in the past, as far as I can tell).

In Disk Management my C drive (XP) is marked as Healthy (System) and the D drive (Win7) as Healthy (Active). Both are primary partitions of course.

I am at a loss now as to how to get the PC to see the Win7 installation at boot and get the dual boot menu (and so be able to get into the Win7 installation!) ... Can anyone kindly advise?

Thanks!
My System Specs
 
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When you had finished Installing XP, you should have switched the BIOS HDD boot sequence back to boot from the W7 disk.
Do that now.
Then from the booted W7 add an XP entry to the W7 BCD, letting EasyBCD auto-configure.

What you did was stayed on XP (which boots using NTLDR) which explains why EasyBCD was unable to find a BCD on the boot drive.
XP cannot be used to boot Vista/7/8/10, so the W7 entry in your boot.ini is meaningless.
You have unnecessarily changed the XP bootloader to W7, but it won't do any harm.
 
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