Dual boot 7 and xp

nickmaza · 27 Jun 2009

torrentg said:

Edit your boot.ini file for XP. Change the rdisk value to something new than what it is now. (If it's 1, make it 0. If it's 0, make it 1...you can go all the way up to how many physical disks you have minus 1, to try.)

Change the rdisk value in all instances of the boot.ini.

Keep trying and rebooting until it either works or you run out of numbers. When you chose XP now in the dual boot menu, it is just trying to access the wrong partition or drive, hence the system restart.

Note: You will have to take off read-only on the boot.ini file to edit it. When you're done, replace it. Also, it is a hidden system file so you will have to enable viewing those too.

based on info from DiskPart I edited my boot.ini

it now looks like

[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Windows XP"

DiskPart

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7100]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7100
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: 626-PC

DISKPART> select disk 0 <<------- disk(0)

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> detail disk

ST3500320AS ATA Device
Disk ID: A075DAD2
Type : ATA
Status : Online
Path : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1F02)#ATA(C00T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only : No
Boot Disk : Yes
Pagefile Disk : Yes
Hibernation File Disk : No
Crashdump Disk : Yes
Clustered Disk : No

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 2 C NTFS Partition 45 GB Healthy System
Volume 3 D XP NTFS Partition 19 GB Healthy
Volume 4 E NTFS Partition 200 GB Healthy
Volume 5 F NTFS Partition 199 GB Healthy

DISKPART> select partition = 4 <<------- partition(4)

Partition 4 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> detail partition

Partition 4
Type : 07
Hidden: No
Active: No
Offset in Bytes: 49180311552

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
* Volume 3 D XP NTFS Partition 19 GB Healthy

DISKPART>

but my PC is still restarting

sup3rsprt · 27 Jun 2009

according to diskpart, your XP partition is number 3. I don't believe the partitions in boot.ini start at 0 but I could be wrong.

Plus, the boot.ini file needs to be on the same partition as the ntldr and ntdetect. As well as the Windows 7 boot manager needs to point to ntldr on the correct partition.

nickmaza · 27 Jun 2009

^ i logged into xp few miniutes back

and i used the boot.ini mentioned in in my post

I placed boot.ini in C: (where 7 is installed) along with ntdetect.com and ntldr

I had to place ntldr and ntldr.com in D: too else I get ntldr missing.

sup3rsprt · 27 Jun 2009

nickmaza said:

I had to place ntldr and ntldr.com in D: too else I get ntldr missing.

Well they should only need to be in one place, but as you can see multiple places won't hurt. The boot manager will load whichever one it finds.

nickmaza · 27 Jun 2009

Can ne1 explain why a copy of ntdetect.com and ntldr is required in both drives???

sup3rsprt · 27 Jun 2009

hmm

don't know, because they are only in one place on my system. The C: partition.

nickmaza · 27 Jun 2009

hmm...
:)
i tried many P&Cs and the working one was:

C:\

boot.ini
ntdetect.com

D:\

ntldr

removing ntldr from D: gave the error ntldr missing placing one in C: didn't help

removing ntdetect.com from C: restarted my PC placing this file on D: instead didn't help

removing boot.in from C: and placing it on D: gave an error "ntoskrnl.exe is corrupt"

thanks to everyone who posted here

mods can lock the thread if they want