Windows Boot Manager not being displayed

win7fan · 05 Jul 2009

Hi, I'm new to the seven forums

. I've got Windows 7 dual booted with vista, but the boot manager is not being displayed, for me to select which version of Windows I want to boot up. I have got both Windows 7 & Vista on seperate Hard drives. Does anyone have any idea, how I can enable the boot manager selection screen (when my computer boots up), so I can either boot Vista or Windows 7. Currently, I can only boot Windows 7.

If this helps, I've had vista installed first and I've only just installed Windows 7 today. Any help will be appreicated.

Brink · 05 Jul 2009

Hello Win7fab, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Strange, if you install Windows 7 with the Vista drive still connected, then it should have had this for you by default.

Double check to make sure that you have the Time to Display the List of Operating Systems at Boot box checked with how long you want to wait to have to select a OS at boot. Be sure to check that both Vista and Windows 7 is listed as being available to select from as well.

Default Operating System - Change Default Boot OS

If you do not have both of them listed there or at boot, then you can run a Startup Repair to add it.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

win7fan · 05 Jul 2009

Thanks for the help Brink

. I've just checked 'System Configuration' and 'Windows 7' is the only one listed under the 'Boot' tab. This is the same in Startup and Recovery as well, Windows 7 is only avaliable in the drop down box, under the 'Default operating system' section, instead of both Vista and Windows 7. I have attached some screenshots to show this.

It looks like I am going to have to use the Startup Repair tool, like you suggested

. Which DVD shall I use to perform a Startup Repair, Vista or Windows 7?

MilesAhead · 05 Jul 2009

You could try VistaBootPro. It's $10 now but if you hunt around you may be able to get a version when it was still freeware.

Brink · 05 Jul 2009

Win7fan,

You might also see if doing a Startup Repair with the Vista installation DVD can fix and add Vista to the Windows Boot Manager to have both of them.

win7fan · 07 Jul 2009

Thanks again, I've tried to do a Start-up Repair from the Vista DVD, but when I click 'Repair your Computer', to open the recovery tools window, Vista is not listed at all in 'System Recovery Options'. I clicked 'Next' anyway and then selected 'Start-up Repair'. It checked for any problems and attempted a repair and then displayed a report.

The following message was displayed under 'Root Cause Found' in the report:

'The partition table does not have a valid system partition.

Repair action: Partition table repair
Result: Completed successfully. Error Code 0x0
Time taken: 3406 ms.'

Does anyone know how to correct this error and repair Vista, without formating and reinstalling?

Uber Philf · 07 Jul 2009

Easy fix, Lost dual boot ?

That should explain it, if you need help with it, dont hesitate to ask me here, ill be more then happy to help.

win7fan · 07 Jul 2009

Thanks Uber Phlif

, I will try EasyBCD. Just one question though, will it add Vista, even if it can't boot up or be displayed from the Vista DVD?

Uber Philf · 07 Jul 2009

yes, what you need to do, is set W7 as default, and set Vista as second boot, as last post of mine in the link i gave you earlier will describe.

If you need any help, don't hesitate to ask me here, and ill be ore then happy to help you through.

win7fan · 07 Jul 2009

I've tried to use EasyBCD to repair and add vista, so I can dual boot it with Windows 7, but that was unfortunately unsuccessful. Earlier, I removed the Windows 7 HDD and left the Vista HDD in. I then tried booting vista but it would not boot and came up with the following message: 'Insert a Disk or Bootable Media and Press any key to continue'

Is there anyway to recover or repair Vista without formating? If this helps, vista is displayed as a healthy partition in 'Disk Management' via Windows 7. I have attached a screenshot of this below.

Thanks for your help everyone