Windows 7: Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

Brink · 28 Apr 2009

How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

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Click here to read the entire tutorial

Last edited by Brink; 30 Mar 2013 at 11:34 AM..

SIW2 · 05 Aug 2009

OK. If that doesn't work , try booting the XP install cd:

At the first screen select SETUP WINDOWS XP

At the second screen press R to repair your XP install.

If still no joy, use this:

bootsect.zip

Extract it from the zip and copy it onto a cd

OR, if you have PowerIso ( the free , unregistered version will be fine) open the downloaded Vista recovery disc .iso and paste bootsect.exe into the Boot folder. Then hit Save. The new .iso will contain bootsect.exe. Burn it to cd.

Try the bootrec commands first.

If it isn't working:

To run bootsect, Boot the Vista recovery cd to command prompt,

( if bootsect is on a separate cd, take Vista rec cd out, put bootsect cd in )

Type :

Dvdriveletter:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All /mbr {enter}

[ Obviously if it on a separate cd , and not inside the boot folder, the command is: Dvdriveletter:Bootsect.exe /NT60 All /mbr {enter} ]

To find dvddriveletter, type:

Diskpart {enter}

lis vol {enter}

to leave diskpart, type :

exit {enter}

Explodatron · 06 Aug 2009

Fantastic! Bootsect fixed it immediately. Now I'm just fixing the entries in EasyBcd. Thanks a bunch!

SIW2 · 06 Aug 2009

Great, glad it's working for you.

madhatter · 10 Aug 2009

Hello folks,
I would like to refer back to the problem Luciak described back on page 1, which almost made my eyes roll straight out of my skull...
I've never used a dual boot system before, but my friend told me he had one and that one Windows claimed to be on C and the other on D, just like he installed them.
So wherever I install Windows 7, it will claim being located on C? Isn't that a mess? Maybe my understanding of partition letters is completely wrong, but I thought they should appear the same on every Windows in a dual boot. However here I see that on Windows 7 G became C while it's still G on XP.
I mean, how do I now tell for sure what is what? Let's say I make two partitions of the same size and install Windows 7 on both, so that i can make risky experiments on one of them. Both would be installed on C? If one broke or I just decided I didn't want it anymore, how would I know which partition letter I need to concentrate on?
I was planning to try out an XP + 7 dual boot, but this issue left me utterly confused and I don't think I can proceed before this is sorted out in my head.

SIW2 · 10 Aug 2009

You could use a different drive label.

Antman · 10 Aug 2009

Quote: Originally Posted by madhatter

...I was planning to try out an XP + 7 dual boot, but this issue left me utterly confused and I don't think I can proceed before this is sorted out in my head.

SIW is correct - just label the drive (rename via right click). C, D, E etc are relative to the individual OS. In XP, for legacy reasons, I have a drive R and in 7 it is Drive G (no legacy to satisfy). The label itself remains visible in all OS - as the label is physically on the drive.

Also, From within Windows 7, it may be wise to use diskmgmt.msc to remove the drive letter assignment for the XP volume; vice versa from within XP - remove the drive letter assignmet for the Windows 7 volume. "Confusion not enabled."

madhatter · 10 Aug 2009

K, thanks a lot.
So labels, which are in fact much easier to change (I always forget where the letters are managed from), are always absolutely reliable in every systems environment?
Good, second question: I read that boot.ini, responsible for the booting of every NT-based multi boot system, is always located on "C:\", which means that formatting this partition dooms the entire multi boot system. If C is no magical letter which keeps the world together, then I would like to inquire what determines which partition will carry this duty. I also read that Vista and Windows 7 booting works differently, but I assume there's a key boot.ini-esque file there too. So which one is it and where can it be found?
I'm sure I'll grow tired of one of the systems sooner or later, so I would like to avoid losing them all with the formatting of one partition.

Dwarf · 10 Aug 2009

Hi madhatter,

On my system (see my specs), I installed Vista 32-bit first, followed by the 64-bit version. I then installed Windows 7 32-bit and finally 64-bit. The main boot partition is that on which you installed your first OS on, in my case Vista 32-bit.

Unless you are deleting the first OS installed, you should have no problems in deleting any of the others. If you delete the first OS, you might need to perform a repair install on the remaining OSes. The first OS that you repair will then contain the main boot partition.

Here is my layout as an example. As you can see, I am currently running Windows 7 64-bit (the partition that is currently C). The main boot partition, where the boot manager resides, is D because that is Vista 32-bit and it is the first OS that I installed on my system. If I choose to run a different OS, the running OS will always be C and the boot manager will be on the partition containing Vista 32-bit even though the drive letters dynamically change between OSes.

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7229]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=D:
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {427d3eb0-4d34-11de-af38-d2fd5eee9bdb}
displayorder            {current}
                        {427d3ead-4d34-11de-af38-d2fd5eee9bdb}
                        {04e874fd-4cc5-11de-a4b6-9306ff4e7520}
                        {0db4c38a-4bf4-11de-8a82-d3a442d052a3}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 10
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7 RC 7229 64-bit
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {427d3eb2-4d34-11de-af38-d2fd5eee9bdb}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {427d3eb0-4d34-11de-af38-d2fd5eee9bdb}
nx                      OptIn
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {427d3ead-4d34-11de-af38-d2fd5eee9bdb}
device                  partition=F:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7 RC 7229 32-bit
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {427d3eae-4d34-11de-af38-d2fd5eee9bdb}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=F:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {427d3eac-4d34-11de-af38-d2fd5eee9bdb}
nx                      OptIn
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {04e874fd-4cc5-11de-a4b6-9306ff4e7520}
device                  partition=E:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 64-bit
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                partition=E:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {04e874fe-4cc5-11de-a4b6-9306ff4e7520}
nx                      OptIn
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {0db4c38a-4bf4-11de-8a82-d3a442d052a3}
device                  partition=D:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 32-bit
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                partition=D:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {0db4c38b-4bf4-11de-8a82-d3a442d052a3}
nx                      OptIn
C:\Windows\system32>

If you wish to change any of these settings, have a look here BCDEDIT - How to Use

madhatter · 10 Aug 2009

Ah, finally I think I'm getting the hang of it.
Thanks Dwarf.
Still, looking at the contents of that file, I see heavy use of drive letters. Since drive letters have been said to be rather meaningless, there must be another file which translates the letters into concrete partitions. What and where is that file?

Muad Dib · 10 Aug 2009

Quote: Originally Posted by madhatter

Ah, finally I think I'm getting the hang of it.
Thanks Dwarf.
Still, looking at the contents of that file, I see heavy use of drive letters. Since drive letters have been said to be rather meaningless, there must be another file which translates the letters into concrete partitions. What and where is that file?

Secondary drive letters can be specified for each boot. The volume labels remain consistent. Nontheless the drive letters ARE NOT "meaningless" as the applications refer to the drive letters not the Volume label.

IE: All my personal "USER" folders for Windows 7 Windows 7 7232 and Vista (soon to be restored over Windows 7 7232 in that partition after migration to Windows 7 RTM) reside on W7_Data.

See below. Guess what happens to drive letters when I boot to XP Pro or Windows 7 7232? Drive letters are reassigned in a consistent fashion but they cannot be changed arbitrarily.

Windows 7: Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP problems?