XP Boot - invalid boot.ini

S

Spinman

Member
I installed Easy BCD v2.2 recently to rename and change default of my triple boot windows installation (Win 10 / Win 7 / XP).

I just noticed when booting into XP that there is a message that the boot.ini is invalid, but windows is continuing to load from C:\ Windows. XP loads and runs properly from that point on. No problems with Win 10 or @in 7 loading or running properly - just the error message when starting XP.

I have poked around, but unable to find what is causing this error message.
Hope someone can point me in the right direction.

Here's my info:
3 partitions on boot hard drive
Partition 1 = XP
Partition 2 = Win 7
Partition 3 = Win 10
2nd hard drive in system for data only
***************************************
Info from Win 7 install of EasyBCD:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default {c4bc5a34-3710-11e5-8c14-a0ca5b53aa9a}
resumeobject {298d5e7a-3b07-11e5-8130-f9196a90ab0e}
displayorder {298d5e7b-3b07-11e5-8130-f9196a90ab0e}
{c4bc5a34-3710-11e5-8c14-a0ca5b53aa9a}
{466f5a88-0af2-4f76-9038-095b170dc21c}
toolsdisplayorder {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout 30
displaybootmenu Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {298d5e7b-3b07-11e5-8130-f9196a90ab0e}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume3
path \WINDOWS\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 10 Pro
locale en-US
inherit {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
recoverysequence {39746373-3b07-11e5-8130-f9196a90ab0e}
recoveryenabled Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume3
systemroot \WINDOWS
resumeobject {298d5e7a-3b07-11e5-8130-f9196a90ab0e}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {c4bc5a34-3710-11e5-8c14-a0ca5b53aa9a}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 7 Pro
locale en-US
inherit {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
recoverysequence {c4bc5a35-3710-11e5-8c14-a0ca5b53aa9a}
recoveryenabled Yes
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {c4bc5a33-3710-11e5-8c14-a0ca5b53aa9a}
nx OptIn

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {466f5a88-0af2-4f76-9038-095b170dc21c}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path \ntldr
description Windows XP Pro


******************************
Info from Win 7 install of EasyBCD:
There are a total of 3 entries listed in the bootloader.

Default: Windows 7 Pro
Timeout: 30 seconds
EasyBCD Boot Device: C:\

Entry #1
Name: Windows 10 Pro
BCD ID: {298d5e7b-3b07-11e5-8130-f9196a90ab0e}
Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume3
Bootloader Path: \WINDOWS\system32\winload.exe

Entry #2
Name: Windows 7 Pro
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #3
Name: Windows XP Pro
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Bootloader Path: \ntldr

*******************************************
Info from XP install of EasyBCD:
here are a total of 3 entries listed in the bootloader.

Default: Windows 7 Pro
Timeout: 30 seconds
Boot Drive: C:\

Entry #1
Name: Windows 10 Pro
BCD ID: {298d5e7b-3b07-11e5-8130-f9196a90ab0e}
Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume3
Bootloader Path: \WINDOWS\system32\winload.exe

Entry #2
Name: Windows 7 Pro
BCD ID: {default}
Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #3
Name: Windows XP Pro
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \ntldr

************************************
And here is the info obtained from the XP Boot.ini :

; This boot.ini was automatically generated by NeoSmart Technologies' BootGrabber.exe
; Use EasyBCD from http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 to manage your bootloader

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect


Thanks!
 
iirc from that long ago, NTLDR has hard-coded defaults for boot.ini which it uses if it encounters a problem in the boot.ini file. Those defaults assume XP in the first partition of the boot drive, which would account for it continuing successfully in your case.
The boot.ini you included, also looks fine, which would suggest it's not actually the one being objected to.
Try deleting the XP entry from the BCD and adding a new one, letting EasyBCD auto-configure everything.
 
Thanks for the info - deleting the entry for XP and recreating it solved the problem.

Working from the Win7 install - every time I tried to add an XP entry - it told me that there was no such OS on the disk. Finally discovered that I needed to add a drive letter to the hidden partition. Once I did that, it found the install partition. Rebooted - and XP loaded w/o any error messages. Rebooted back into Win7 and hid the partition for XP. No problems since...

Another satisfied customer!
 
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