dual boot issue

ok so im having a weird problem thats probably very easy to fix.

background info: before my win7 install i had 3 partitions
vista 64
xp 32
empty (soon to be linux)

when i downloaded the newest win 7 build i deleted my xp 32 partition and installed win7 on that partition. because win7 creates that "reserve partition" or what ever, it extended my EMPTY partition with my vista partion. which cause it to become a "logical drive" rather than a "boot" drive. aka i cannot figure out how to access my vista OS.. rather annoying since im just toying with win7 atm.

Hi,

Open an elevated command prompt, type: (press enter after each command)

bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows Vista"

It will return a number in brackets - the GUID or identifier

Use that GUID , including the brackets in these commands:

bcdedit /set {the-Guid-you-got} device partition=D:

bcdedit /set {the-Guid-you-got} osdevice partition=D:

Close command prompt.

Hope it helps

ya worked perfectly! thanks, just for clarification. what did that do? just map the boot.ini to the memory location on my vista partition?

Hi,

You're welcome , couch.

When you install Windows, it looks to see if there is a partition marked Active.

If there is, it places it's boot files on the Active partition and includes in boot management any previous versions of Windows already installed.

The rest of the o/s installs on whatever partition you pointed it at.

When you installed Vista - you already had XP on the first partition, which was Active. Therefore Vista's bootfiles went on the XP partition.

When you deleted that, there was no XP, no Vista bootfiles, no Active partition.

You then installed 7 - it did not see an active partition - so made it's own little one and put it's bootfiles on there.

7 did not see the Vista boot files as they were no longer there, so did not add Vista to boot management.

The commands add the entry for Vista to the 7 boot management system.

XP used ntldr and boot.ini.

These do not exist on Vista and 7. They use bootmgr and bcd.

Glad it worked for you

Hope it helps.

i am having a similar issue- as the original poster did, i must have wiped my vista boot record from the drive when i installed win7, i used a prog called EasyBCD to recover the boot info for vista, i was able to run it in win 7... problem is, now the boot info for win7 is gone, will your method work the other direction? im in the vista os now... since o restored my proper boot log for vista to this drive ( or did i?) if i just reinstall win7 on another partition should i then have the dual boot option?

ColdSteele said:

i am having a similar issue- as the original poster did, i must have wiped my vista boot record from the drive when i installed win7, i used a prog called EasyBCD to recover the boot info for vista, i was able to run it in win 7... problem is, now the boot info for win7 is gone, will your method work the other direction? im in the vista os now... since o restored my proper boot log for vista to this drive ( or did i?) if i just reinstall win7 on another partition should i then have the dual boot option?

Startup Repair

this will write the boot info for win 7 to the active drive (vista) and allow dual boot screen?

now i am getting an error on bootup when i try to select win 7..
"reports an unsigned driver in d:/windows\system32\winload.exe tells me to either put the disk in and run a "last known good..." or press F8 when os is selected to use recovery option "last known good...", but when i press F8 i just get the same error screen... think ima just try to reinstall, if i lose my boot option for vista- at least with this topic i know how to fix it from :the other side

ok decided to dump win 7, i reinstalled the xp64 i was using, but alas... same problem, no more dual boot... i go straight into xp now, will the above instructions work to add the boot record for vista so i can choose between this xp64 and vista 64?

ColdSteele said:

ok decided to dump win 7, i reinstalled the xp64 i was using, but alas... same problem, no more dual boot... i go straight into xp now, will the above instructions work to add the boot record for vista so i can choose between this xp64 and vista 64?

Whenever you install an older OS after a more current one you will loose the dual boot option, if you have a choice install in order of age old to new. See the later part of method 2 to correct your problem Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP