Windows 7: Dual boot (Windows 7, XP)

I have two disks. In one disk I have XP. I disconnect the power of this disk and I attached another new disk where I installed Windows 7. In finish, I connect two disks and I can choose in BIOS which disk can be first boot and this work ok.

But I like to have Dual boot manager. In Windows 7, I create an entry in EasyBCD for Windows XP, but in startup when I choose XP, the PC wont boot (black screen). When I choose Windows 7 it is ok.

Please can you explain me why cannot boot in XP with dual boot.

Does your system have the 100 mb System Reserved partition? If so you need to give it a letter, like S: and remove and redo the EasyBCD entry. Which EasyBCD version are you using?

Also, the drive you show as primary is very important. That is what determines where the boot files are placed.

A snipping tool picture attached would help us see what might be happening.
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If you do not show the 3 files mentioned in the root directory of the Win 7 drive, you need to copy them there and modify the boot.ini, probably. EasyBCD version 2 will move the files and alter the boot.ini for you if you have that version. You do need to join their forum to download the beta 2.0 version.

Thank you Saltgrass,

Yes, there are the System Reserved partition, and don't has letter!
First I use EasyBCD 2 beta, and also I tried with Version 1.7.2, but the same thing.







C: and D: are two partitions in the drive where is Windows 7 installed.
F: and G: partitions are respectively C: and D: partitions in Windows XP drive.


In XP the boot.ini is default:

[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="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

You are using the earlier version of EasyBCD. It would be best to download the 2.0 from the NeoSmart site after joining the forum.

But right now, you probably need to give the small a drive letter. Then remove the current ntldr entry and redo it.

In the end, you need 3 XP files in the System Reserved partition:
ntldr
ntdetect
boot.ini

The boot.ini file can be modified using notepad, or using tools in Easybcd, but is should show rdisk(1) instead of rdisk(0)

Also the entry in the BCD store should show the System partiton drive letter you add. Below is an attachment showing the situation. Don't worry about the disk numbers, they only depend on SATA connections.

Is there a how to on how to set up 2 os?

Try this:

Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP[3]=Installation and Setup

Thank you Saltgrass, solved.

Only for curiosity... I think that some time ago I have set up the bootloader in Windows 7 with EasyBCD, AND putting the F: partition (which was the C: partition in XP) for Device drive (same as in the above image of EasyBCD). The only difference was that I did not disconnect the old hard drive (with XP) when I installed Windows 7!

I do not really understand you question. But drive letters change depending on which OS you booted into.

Disconnecting the additional drive, just ensures the other drive is primary. You can install an independent OS if the drive you install it on is primary. The new install will never see the secondary drive, even though it has an active partition.

But try whatever combinations you like, I just know what I posted boots fine for me.

Keep in mind that in all likelihood you will end up ditching XP and retaining 7 as your OS of choice. At that time, NOT having dual boot will save you headaches, because you can simply delete XP and move on. When you have a dual boot setup there are a few more hurdles.

LOL. Unless he's in driver development or something.