W7p (64) XPp (32) Dual Booting

washappy

Member
Hi all, thanks for looking.
I have two problems but only one is important. I have a single Drive with two partitions of XPpro 32bit and W7pro 64bit. both are working fine. for some reason overnight my mouse and keyboard only work when I eventually boot into windows, I have tried other devices no luck. This means I cannot swap between XP and W7 so it just defaults into XP after 30secs. I have tried to run BCDEDIT from XP but no go returns "this is not a 32bit prog" So my question is will easybcd run in windows so my mouse and keyboard works ? and which version do I get ?
Thank You, please be gentle !!!! I am a little technical but not a lot. I did build this pc 2 years ago, but never had a problem till now. I guess the mouse thing is bios, which I cannot get to and I dont want to remove the battery yet as I cant remember what bios settings I used, and may screw everything. I just want to get back into W7.
 
Any version of EasyBCD will do. Just download and install it. After you do, read the Wiki completely:

http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Windows+XP

From there it will help you understand how the process really works. Yes it is right that XP cant run the BCDEDIT command. It is not included in XP at all. It is only a Vista/Win7 command. XP uses the boot.ini file to boot and cant do anything with the BCD at all.

So you can use EasyBCD to modify the bootloader, you can also download and install iReboot to just select the OS of choice and boot directly from that version of Windows from within the other version without having to use the boot menu at all.
 
Check your BIOS to see that USB legacy support is enabled if your keyboard and mouse are dead during boot.
 
Thanks Alex for that advice, I will give it a go (with intrepidation !!)

iReboot sound fantastic does it need easybcd ? otherwise it would do what I need on its own.

Thanks Terry too, but without a keyboard I cant get into the bios. funny thing is if I remove the USB keyboard and plug another I have into the mauve socket the pc says "keyboard missing" (or not detected) cant remember, when it boots up.
 
You've tried a PS2 keyboard and it's still dead during boot ?
It was connected whilst the power was off I trust. They can't be hot-plugged.
 
Hi Terry, Power off, yes. The keyboard and mouse work fine with 2 other pc's even in dos, I'm beggining to think the pc might have gone phut. Dont know if thats possible as they both work once the pc is running windows.

Does iReBoot need EasyBCD to be installed. ?

Thanks
 
No but it needs .NET 2 like EasyBCD does.
The keyboard thing sounds really weird. I understand USB keyboards being slow to come online, but not PS2.
I'd suggest intense scrutiny of the BIOS options, but you've got a Catch 22 there.
Maybe a CMOS reset is your only option.
 
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