Error while installing XP (NTLDR missing)

Link · 06 May 2010

Hi,

my problem is the following: when installing XP Pro, my PC wants to reboot (after the steps of choosing the partition and copying the first files) to finish installation. But while rebooting, it chooses Win7 automatically. I tried to repair the bootloader using EasyBCD 1.7, it shows XP in the boot menu, but when choosing it, the message "\NTLDR missing" appears.
Hard Disk Configuration: 2 SATA-HDDs (Vista HP pre-installed by Medion on 1st HDD, Win7 Pro (MSDNAA version from university) on 2nd HDD). On the second I have the XP partition where I want to install XP Pro (also MSDNAA version).
The boot files (boot.ini etc.) are ONLY on the Vista HDD, not on the Win7. But pointing to them via EasyBCD doesn't fix the first problem. There is no "System Reserved" either.
Does anybody know how to fix that?

Thanks for your answers

PS: I'm new to this forum, sorry.

Saltgrass · 06 May 2010

Could you attach a snipping tool picture of your Disk Management Window?

I suspect the HP Vista install might be interferring with the XP install. I will have to check to see if XP will install on a second hard drive.

For now, you need to get the EasyBCD 2.0 beta, which means you need to join their forum and download it from there. It works much better in Win 7, especially with XP installs.

Link · 07 May 2010

Here's my Disk Management Window.
For partitioning I'm using EASEUS Partition Manager 3.0 Home.

Saltgrass · 07 May 2010

As I mentioned, the 1.7 version of EasyBCD is not good for Win 7.

If you have XP installed and trying to set up a dual boot, the boot has to point to the System partition, which is C: . If you look for hidden system files, you should see ntldr, boot.ini (which may need to be altered), and detect.com. You may have to copy these files to the C partition if they are not already there, which the EasyBCD 2.0 version does automatically.

Do you have XP completely installed, your original post indicated you were having install problems. Which is why I do not understand your trying to use EasyBCD until after the install is complete.

Link · 07 May 2010

Well, I didn't succeed installing XP completely. The reboot it requests led directly to Win7 and not to WinXP.
That XP partition in the DM is completely empty, I created it with EASEUS and wanted to install XP in the Setup menu on that prepared partition.

Saltgrass · 07 May 2010

In every instance I have seen where XP was installed after Win 7, the XP bootloader overwrote the Win 7 one and you no longer got the Win 7 boot menu.

For some reason, yours seems to behave differently and I cannot see why. Are you interferring with the reboots in some manner? Could the recovery system be repairing the boot to go back to Win 7 during the reboot?

Link · 07 May 2010

No, I didn't do anything while rebooting. Also, I never got any message or screen in which the recovery partition repaired any files...I see there is only a Recover partition on the Vista HDD, not on the Win7 HDD

Link · 12 May 2010

Marking my Vista HDD as offline and my XP partition as Active wouldn't fix the problem, would it? It's suspect to me changing the Active partition from Win7 to XP 'cause I don't know if XP is installed properly then. If not, the PC would not boot anymore. Am I right?

Link · 20 May 2010

Hi,

using EasyBCD 2.0 fixed my problem! Can now choose between Win XP Pro and Win 7!!

Another problem: I tried installing a dual boot with XP on my notebook (7 first), too. First I suceeded, but then I couldn't boot into 7 anymore. After solving that (I don't know how), I deleted the XP partition and the three files ntldr, ntdetect and Boot.ini. But I still get that Bootmanager screen with 7 as the only one OS. How can I fix that?

Thanks

Link

gregrocker · 20 May 2010

Remove the boot menu at Computer>Properties>Advanced Tools?Startup tab>uncheck show boot menu

When you install XP after Win7 for a dual boot, XP is supposed to take over until you Add Win7 to the Dual Boot menu using EasyBCD 2.0. You will need to install Net Framework 2.0 to run Easy in XP.