Windows 7 and XP on separate drives

G

gary_s

Member
I have windows xp installed on one ssd and windows 7 installed on a separate ssd, each OS was installed without the other ssd connected.

Depending on which sata socket on my motherboard is used for the drives my system either boots to windows 7 or xp. If booted to XP the windows 7 drive is not recognized by the system although bios does seem to recognize it. If booted to windows 7 the system recognizes the XP drive on "E" but won't ever bring up a boot option menu to allow an option during start up.

I installed easyBCD on the windows 7 drive, with both drives connected, and easyBCD now brings up the option menu during start up but if I click on the XP choice I get winlogon.exe error messages and that boot attempt fails.

I suspect the problem may have something to do with the drive letters assigned in the boot record, i.e., the XP drive is set to "C" but windows 7 and easyBCD want to call it "E".
 
gary_s said:
I have windows xp installed on one ssd and windows 7 installed on a separate ssd, each OS was installed without the other ssd connected.

Depending on which sata socket on my motherboard is used for the drives my system either boots to windows 7 or xp. If booted to XP the windows 7 drive is not recognized by the system although bios does seem to recognize it. If booted to windows 7 the system recognizes the XP drive on "E" but won't ever bring up a boot option menu to allow an option during start up.

I installed easyBCD on the windows 7 drive, with both drives connected, and easyBCD now brings up the option menu during start up but if I click on the XP choice I get winlogon.exe error messages and that boot attempt fails.

I suspect the problem may have something to do with the drive letters assigned in the boot record, i.e., the XP drive is set to "C" but windows 7 and easyBCD want to call it "E".
Click to expand...

Correction and some more detail of error message:


Windows Boot Manager

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:

1. insert your windows installation disc and restart your computer.

2. choose your language settings, and then click "Next."

3. click "Repair your computer."

If you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.

File: \windows\syst=32\winload.exe
Status: OXcOOOOOOf

info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt
 
When you add the XP entry to the BCD, let EasyBCD auto configure and don't change any disk letters.
They're not wrong.
The BCD does not point to XP, it points to the location of XP's boot files, and "auto configure" will make sure that copies of all the necessary files are placed where they must be and that the correct chaining is put in place.
Disk letters are not "real", they're virtual labels mapped in the registry of the running OS. The fact that XP thinks of itself as C when it's running means nothing to W7.
To W7 it's just another drive and it gets the first available unused letter unless you set it (in Disk Management) to something else of your choice.
The BCD doesn't even contain any letters. EasyBCD just translates the unintelligible hashed UID into a letter for your convenience so you can see easily what's being referred to.
It uses the aforementioned registry map to use the same letter you'll see in Explorer.
 
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