How to recover lost Xp boot partition ?

[VinoBob]

Hi!

I had both Xp and in7 on my comp. Unfortunately something got messed up, and suddenly both could not boot, it said that there was something wrong with the BCD and i had to insert the Win7 installer DVD. I did so, and it repaired the error, but due to a side effect i lost my Xp entry in the MBR ( i think the whole boot configuration was rewritten by win7 ), so my Xp does not boot now. How could i make it boot again?

 

[CyberZeus]

Hi VinoBob!

Take a look at http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html.
Hope it can helps.

 

[Saltgrass]

The referenced tutorial shows how to do many things, but to make it easier, if you loaded XP last, then the boot files were in the Win 7 partition along with the XP boot files.

You need to add the XP entry back into the BCD store so it shows up in the boot menu. You can do this in two ways I know of.

The first and easiest is to use EasyBCD. This is referenced in the tutorial and you need to join their forum to get the beta 2.0 version.

Or you could use bcdedit.exe, which is a utility built into Win 7 you can run from an administrative command prompt. If you enter the commands below, one at a time and followed by enter, it should add the entry to the BCD Store. I got this from a microsoft website so you can check there also if you wish.

Create a BCD entry for the older operating system by specifying the following. Bcdedit.exe is located in the \Windows\System32 directory of the Windows Vista partition. Description is the description of the new entry for the older operating system.

Bcdedit /create {legacy} /d “Description”
Bcdedit /set {legacy} device boot
Bcdedit /set {legacy} path \ntldr
Bcdedit /displayorder {legacy} /addlast

Boot Configuration Data Editor Frequently Asked Questions

 

[King64]

Hi!

I had both Xp and in7 on my comp. Unfortunately something got messed up, and suddenly both could not boot, it said that there was something wrong with the BCD and i had to insert the Win7 installer DVD. I did so, and it repaired the error, but due to a side effect i lost my Xp entry in the MBR ( i think the whole boot configuration was rewritten by win7 ), so my Xp does not boot now. How could i make it boot again?

Read this pdf file,and use the command lines:View attachment DUALLBOOT XP_7.pdf

 

[gregrocker]

Use EasyBCD to Add XP back to dual boot: EasyBCD 2.0 Beta Builds - The NeoSmart Forums

 

[VinoBob]

no use guys. I have done the BCD thingybut no use...i created the entry of the Xp and so it appeared again in the boo menu, but after i want to let it boot, it said it could not find the ntldr :/. So i inserted the Xp CD, and tried to fix it from the command line, tried FIXMBR, FIXBOOT, CHCKDSK, neither helped ... i had to insert the Win7 DVD again, and repair the strartup, cause the XP repair deleted the Win7 entry from the MBR. So currently the NT loader is missing or it cant be found when i launch the boot sequence of Xp. What should i do ?

 

[Saltgrass]

Try looking for hidden, system files ntldr, ntdetect, and boot.ini. They should now be in the Win 7 partition. If not, they need to be added and EasyBCD will do that for you. Or you may be able to just copy them from the XP partition to the System partition.

Since it appears the install was not as I had guessed, possibly now post a snipping tool picture of your disk management window.

 

[VinoBob]

i did not find the required files, tho i searched among the hidden ones too. How to add these with Easy BCD ?

 

[gregrocker]

Use the Easy BCD build which I linked you to yesterday.

On the Add/Remove tab, Add XP by Name and type (XP). It will ask you if you want the boot files added. Agree and it will autocomplete the drive letter.

When you restart there should be a Dual Boot menu. If not, or if either OS does not start then post back a screenshot of your full Disk Mgmt drive map using Snipping Tools in Start Menu, attach file using paper clip in Reply Box.

 

[VinoBob]

I did what you said but did not work, still did not find ntldr. It created a new drive and put the missing files of Xp on the drive G ( my Xp drive is D win7 is C ) :/. Then i edited the entries and assigned the Xp to D and put the missing files ( ntldr, boot.ini etc. ) there. Then after trying to boot on Xp the computer just simply restarted, without any error messages. So i copied the files to every hard drive now, and it says that my hal.dll is issing or damaged. I guess now it tries to use the Win7-s hal.dll. Here iare my settings:

There are a total of 2 entries listed in the bootloader.

Default: Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
Timeout: 30 seconds.
Boot Drive: F:\

Entry #1
Name: Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #2
Name: Microsoft Windows XP
BCD ID: {56ec5813-37d4-11df-8e58-d9b6b97f8c41}
Device: boot
Bootloader Path: \NTLDR

And here is the disk management window:

 

[King64]

I did what you said but did not work, still did not find ntldr. It created a new drive and put the missing files of Xp on the drive G ( my Xp drive is D win7 is C ) :/. Then i edited the entries and assigned the Xp to D and put the missing files ( ntldr, boot.ini etc. ) there. Then after trying to boot on Xp the computer just simply restarted, without any error messages. So i copied the files to every hard drive now, and it says that my hal.dll is issing or damaged. I guess now it tries to use the Win7-s hal.dll. Here iare my settings:

There are a total of 2 entries listed in the bootloader.

Default: Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
Timeout: 30 seconds.
Boot Drive: F:\



Entry #1
Name: Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #2
Name: Microsoft Windows XP
BCD ID: {56ec5813-37d4-11df-8e58-d9b6b97f8c41}
Device: boot
Bootloader Path: \NTLDR

And here is the disk management window:

Hi,assign a letter to the 100MB reserverd partition on disk management and copy and paste the 4 command lines i have on the pdf file on my other post,read it,and your problem is solved.
cheers.

 

[gregrocker]

The problem is that your System Active partition has been derailed into F: Downloads partition, there is no System Reserved boot partition to recover it into, and Win7 is presently a Logical partition which cannot be marked Active to recover System MBR. .

Use free Partition Wizard bootable CD to convert Win7 partition from Logical to Primary, mark it active, mark F: inactive, then use Win7 DVD to recover MBR into Win7.

Boot PW, allow files to load, select 1 for screen res, right click on Win7 partition>Modify>Set Partition to Primary, OK. Then rightclick Win7 again>Modify>Set to Active, OK.

Now rightclick F: Downloads partition>Modify>Set to Inactive, OK. Apply all steps.

Win7 will not now boot. Instead boot Win7 DVD, select Repair on second screen, click through to Recovery tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times as it will attempt to repair and finally write System MBR to Win7 partition.

Finally, from Win7 use EasyBCD 2.0 beta to Add XP as given earlier.

.

 

[VinoBob]

I made everything that you said, still doesnt work After i repaired the startup with the Win7 DVD my Downloads partition got marked active again ( dont know whether it supposed to be so ) and when i did the EasyBCD part, and restarted and booted Xp, it said that hal.dll is missing or damaged.

Here is how it looks like currently:

There are a total of 2 entries listed in the bootloader.

Default: Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
Timeout: 30 seconds.
Boot Drive: F:\

Entry #1
Name: Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #2
Name: Microsoft Windows XP
BCD ID: {56ec5814-37d4-11df-8e58-d9b6b97f8c41}
Device: boot
Bootloader Path: \NTLDR

Should i set the F: ( downloads ) partition inactive again?

 

[gregrocker]

Run Partition Wizard from desktop to mark Downloads partition Inactive again, OK, Apply, Confirm.

Then shut down, unplug Disk0 and either swap its cable to Disk1 or enter BIOS setup to Set Disk1 (Win7) as first HD to boot, after DVD.

Now boot the Win7 DVD to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times to force repair to recover System MBR to Win7 partition which is already marked Active.

After Win7 starts, shut down and replug Disk0, preferably into Disk1 slot now since Win7 installer/repair looks for first active drive to place the MBR and Downloads is somehow marking itself active.

 

[VinoBob]

i did it again, but after the repair if the volume containing the downloads partition is not connected, and i wanna boot win7, it says that the NTLDR is missing. I plugged the other HDD again, and it still didnt start, said the hal.dll is damaged or missing. So the only way to boot win7 is when the downloads partition is active.

Thanks for trying to help, but i had now nuff from this, i will format the downloads and the XP and Win7partitions and reinstall everything, i aint got no time for playin around with this shit.

 

[gregrocker]

Are you running Startup Repair from the Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD at least 3 separate times with reboots?

This is not the offered repair when you first boot in, but you must click through to Recovery Tools to select Startup Repair repeatedly after running the offered repair.

It requires running repeatedly because it attempts to repair the MBR first and assumes that fixes it unless you try again when it will eventually write the MBR to the new partition. It takes 3 tries in most cases.

The reason I ask is that some will only attempt the repair once or twice and then assume it won' work, but it will always work to write the MBR to the active partition if Win7 is intact and not damaged.