Vista XP Dual Boot - Understand the basics

[johnyg]

ty guys for this tutorial.
I was experimenting for a long time with this, using either VistaBoot, EasyBCD or boot ini manual file.
What i will do to fix this problem:
Go back to windows xp.
COPY the files of Boot dir to my WinXP partition.
activate the WinXP partition.
and use a BootCD (hirensBootCD,etc) to activate the Win7 partition back if i should remove winxp
(which i guess i could do after service pack 3:brows
Conclusion:
Microsoft is rigged.
WTF they have to make a new bootloader?
ok, win7 has now the option to emulate its system, which would be not available in winxp (i guess).
and why we cant boot (mmh, theres actually a seccond meaning of the word =) win7 from the legacy bootloader??

 

[Terry60]

You can't boot Vista or W7 from XP boot.ini for the same reason that XP destroys Vista and W7 restore points.
XP is older, and not forward compatible. For XP to be able to make either of the above untrue, it would need to be rewritten to recognize and handle the different formats of the boot manager and boot loader (they're separate in Vista/W7, bootmgr and winload - combined in XP, NTLDR) and the system restore points (which now contain shadow copies).
Nobody is going to go back and rewrite an old OS so that it's compatible with its replacement.
What they do do, is write the new OS so that it is backward compatible with the old one.
If you want a good background knowledge of how it all fits together, this is a very good site to look through.
Post back if you ever want advice on getting back to straight XP from a trial dual-boot. Let us know what you intend, and someone will warn you if you're about to bork your system, or confirm that you're good to go.

 

[Coolname007]

The trick for me now is to copy over /boot folder and bootmgr file from Vista's partition to XP and making an entry for XP via EasyBCD before restoring the bootloader.

It would have been easier at this point to copy the XP boot files into Vista's partition, and reset Vista's partition to "active" using Disk Management, then it would be to copy Vista's boot files. Windows wont let you move the BCD file while its opened, so in most cases you'd have to copy the whole /boot folder over, except for the BCD, and then export the BCD into the XP partition's /boot folder.

Once that is done Vista bootloader will find its files on my XP partition and offer me a nice dual boot menu.

No, it wouldn't have in your case since an XP entry had not been added to the Vista bcd yet. Instead, what would have occurred, following your directions, is XP stops booting and Vista starts booting, so the problem is now reversed. If you were going to do it this way, you would still need to add the XP entry, and ensure that the BCD you are modifying is the one on the XP partition, and not the Vista one.
Also, the BCD may not have liked its new environment that well...

Of course the Vista bootloader files are also on the Vista partition but the vista partition is not active hence the vista bootloader doesn't reference them at all.

That's true, but if you had changed active back to the Vista partition, and copied the XP boot files over to Vista's partition, added the XP entry to the BCD with EasyBCD, your dual-boot would have been acquired with less effort (and XP would be C: like you wanted). But, I guess I'm not one to talk, seeing as I had a fun time getting my own multiboot to work with a 3rd party boot manager a while back. :??

Should I remove XP, I will have to make the Vista partition active and then reboot or else I will have a no boot show again.

True. Another good reason to have moved active back to Vista from the beginning, and copied the XP boot files over, instead of doing it the other way...

 

[Terry60]

Not much point in critiquing this now Jake.
Everything in it has been superseded by EasyBCD 2.0 automatic facilities.
I suppose the link to it should be removed from the wiki now. I'll have a look.

 

[Coolname007]

Not much point in critiquing this now Jake.
Everything in it has been superseded by EasyBCD 2.0 automatic facilities.
I suppose the link to it should be removed from the wiki now. I'll have a look.

True enough.
But I happened to be viewing the Users Online list, and I noticed someone viewing this thread, so I went here myself, and read the first post, and decided to correct some of the information so any future readers reading this will know there's an easier way than that provided by the OP.