Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

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

   Information

This will show you how to install Windows 7 and XP to dual boot with when you already have either Windows 7 or XP installed first.

   Note

With a dual boot installaton, you will have two operating systems (OS) installed. When you start the computer, you will have the choice to choose which OS you would like to start up to. This method is the easiest way of doing a dual boot with these two operating systems.

   Tip

When dual booting with another OS (ex: Vista or XP), you may not always have that OS partition show up in Computer with a driver letter in Windows 7. If this happens, then you will just need to add a drive letter to the OS (ex: Vista or XP) partition in Windows 7 Disk Management for it to show up in Computer with a driver letter.

   Warning

To stop XP from deleting your Windows 7 System Restore Points everytime XP is started, then see System Restore Points - Stop XP Dual Boot Delete to hide Windows 7 from XP.

Windows 7 Minimum Hardware Requirements


NOTE: For more information on this, see: Windows 7 system requirements

• 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
• 1 GB RAM for 32-bit Windows 7 OR 2 GB RAM for 64-bit Windows 7
• 16 GB available disk space 32-bit Windows 7 OR 20 GB for 64-bit Windows 7
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme)
• DVD-R/W Drive
• Internet or phone access to activate Windows 7.

Windows XP Minimum Hardware Requirements

NOTE: For more information on this, see: System requirements for Windows XP operating systems

• PC with 300 megahertz (MHz) or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233-MHz minimum required;* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
• 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)
• 1.5 gigabyte (GB) of available hard disk space.*
• Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor
• CD-ROM or DVD drive
• Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

EXAMPLE: Windows Boot Manager
NOTE: This is the boot screen where you select what operating system that you would like to start. By default, you have 30 seconds to choose another operating system before the default operating system will start automatically.

OPTION ONE

When XP is Installed First

NOTE: If you have a RAID setup, you will need to have the Windows 7 RAID drivers on a USB flash drive available to select and load while installing Windows 7.
1. Do step 2 or 3 below for where you wanted to install Windows 7 at.

2. To Create a New Partition from the XP Hard Disk Drive
A) With your Windows 7 installation disc boot into the Command Prompt from the System Recovery Options screen.
NOTE: Make sure that the CD/DVD drive is selected first in the boot order in the BIOS.

B) In the command prompt, select and shrink the XP volume by how many MB (1024 MB = 1 GB) you want to have for this Windows 7 partition. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You would do steps 2 to 9 in METHOD TWO at that link. Windows 7 will need a minimum of 16 GB (16384 MB).

C) Click on the X at the top right corner to close the command prompt. (See screenshot above)

D) Click on the X at the top right corner to close System Recovery Options. (See screenshot below)

E) Go to step 4.
3. To Use a Separate Hard Disk Drive than the XP Drive
A) Boot from your Windows 7 installation disc.
NOTE: Make sure that the CD/DVD drive is selected first in the boot order in the BIOS.
4. Click on the Install now button. (See screenshot below)

5. When you get to this point, select the partition (step 2) or hard drive to install Windows 7 on. (See screenshot below)

6. Finish installing Windows 7.
NOTE: You would start at step 9 in that link to finish installing Windows 7.

7. When finished, restart the computer to have the option to boot from XP (Earlier Verision of Windows) or Windows 7. (See screenshot below)

   Note

If you are only booting into Windows 7 and do not have XP listed in the Windows Boot Manager, then you can install only EasyBCD (step 8 Option Two below) to add XP (or Windows 7) while started in Windows 7 the same way to the boot list.

OPTION TWO

When Windows 7 is Installed First

   Warning

• If you have a RAID setup, you will need to have the XP RAID drivers for your specific motherboard on a Floppy disc available to select and load at the F6 prompt while installing XP.
• If you have a SATA drive, then you will need to do either one of these options to load the SATA drivers for XP for your specific motherboard.
  • How to Slipstream SATA drivers into Windows XP setup CD with Dual Boot of Windows 7 or Vista
  • How to Load SATA Drivers in Windows XP Setup on your Dual Boot PC with Vista or Windows 7 for how to load your SATA drivers from a Floppy disc at the F6 prompt while installing XP.

1. To Create a New Partition from the Windows 7 Hard Disk Drive
NOTE: If you want to install XP on a separate internal hard drive instead, then skip this step and go to step 2.
A) In Windows 7, select and shrink the Windows 7 volume in Disk Management by how many MB (1024 MB = 1 GB) you want to have for this XP partition. (See screenshots below)
NOTE: You would do all of Method One at that link.





2. Insert your XP installation disc, then restart the computer and press any key to boot from it when prompted. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: Make sure that the CD/DVD drive is selected first in the boot order in the BIOS.

3. From XP Setup, Press Enter. (See screenshot below)

   Warning

• If you have a RAID setup, you will need to have the XP RAID drivers for your specific motherboard on a Floppy disc available to select and load at the F6 prompt while installing XP.
• If you have a SATA drive, then you will need to do either one of these options to load the SATA drivers for XP for your specific motherboard.
  • How to Slipstream SATA drivers into Windows XP setup CD with Dual Boot of Windows 7 or Vista
  • How to Load SATA Drivers in Windows XP Setup on your Dual Boot PC with Vista or Windows 7 for how to load your SATA drivers from a Floppy disc at the F6 prompt while installing XP.

4. Press F8. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: On some multimedia keyboards, you may need to press the F-Lock or Function key before pressing F8.

5. Select the partition (step 1) or hard drive that you want to install XP on using the arrow keys and press Enter.

6. Finish installing XP.

   Tip

If you get Error loading Operating System after XP restarts:

• Using your Windows 7 installation disc, boot to the command prompt at startup.
• Type in these comands below, and press enter after each one.
  • bootrec /FixMbr
  • bootrec /FixBoot
  • bootrec /RebuildBcd
• Exit the command prompt and restart the computer.
• At this point, Windows 7 should boot up the same way before trying to install XP.
• Continue to step 8 below and run EasyBCD from Windows 7 instead.

7. In XP, download and install .Net Framework 2.0 (32-bit) version or .Net Framework 2.0 (64-bit) version first, and EasyBCD (free version) for your 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x86) XP.
NOTE: In XP, Net Framework is required to be installed to run EasyBCD. After you click on Register (at bottom of link) for the free EasyBCD, registration is not required to download it.

8. Run EasyBCD (free version).
NOTE: This is required to repair the Windows 7 boot file and add XP to the Windows Boot Manager list.

9. On the left side of EasyBCD, click on the Add New Entry button. (See screenshot below)
A) In the top section under Operating Systems, click on the Windows tab. (See screenshot below)
B) To the right of Type, select Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3 from the drop down menu. (See screenshot below)
:warn:WARNING: Be sure to leave the Automatically detect correct drive box checked.

C) To the right of Name, you can leave the default Microsoft Windows XP as the name to be displayed in the Windows Boot Manager, or you can type whatever name you would like to have instead. (See screenshot below)
D) Click on the Add Entry button. (See screenshot below)

10. On the left side of EasyBCD, click on the BCD Deployment button, select (dot) the Install the Windows Vista/7 bootloader to the MBR option, and click on the Write MBR button. (See screenshot below)

11. Close EasyBCD.

12. Restart the computer to have the option to boot from Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 7. (See screenshot below)

   Tip

If Windows 7 will not start up when selected, then use your Windows 7 installation DVD to do a Startup Repair.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows Vista and XP
• How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Dual Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu
• How to Correctly Setup a Dual Boot with Windows 7 and LinuxMint13
• How to Change Time to Display Operating Systems at Boot in Windows 7
• How to Change the Listed OS Arrangement Order in Windows Boot Manager Screen
• How to Change the Default Operating System to Start in Windows 7
• How to Delete an Operating System Listed in Windows Boot Manager
• How to Change the OS Name in Windows Boot Manager
• How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7
• How to Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB Device
• Install Windows 7 Without Using Any External Device
• How to Setup Windows 7 to Boot from a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)
• How to Create a Windows 7 VHD at Boot to Start with from Boot
• How to Do a Custom Installation of Windows 7
• How to Load SATA Drivers in Windows XP Setup on your Dual Boot PC with Vista or Windows 7
• How to Slipstream SATA drivers into Windows XP setup CD with Dual Boot of Windows 7 or Vista
• How to Load SATA Driver Using Shift+F10 to Open Command Prompt
• How to Recover a Partition Used by an Older OS in a Dual Boot
• How to Properly Delete a OS in a Dual Boot
• How to Stop System Restore Points from being Deleted in Vista and Windows 7 when Dual Booting with XP

 

[SIW2]

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:

View attachment 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]

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

 

[SIW2]

Great, glad it's working for you.

 

[madhatter]

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 Win7, 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 Win7 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 Win7 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]

You could use a different drive label.

 

[Antman]

...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 Win7, 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 Win7 volume. "Confusion not enabled."

 

[madhatter]

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 Win7 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]

Hi madhatter,

On my system (see my specs), I installed Vista 32-bit first, followed by the 64-bit version. I then installed W7 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 W7 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.

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 http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2676-bcdedit-how-use.html

 

[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?

 

[Muad Dib]

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 W7 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.

​

 

[madhatter]

Yes yes, not entirely meaningless of course, but what I'm trying to understand here is how exactly the computer knows whats written inside the boot file, when I don't see any definitions which would assign letters to partitions inside of it and the assignments can be completely unique for each Windows on the same machine. So in other words, the way I understand it now, the boot file must be read with the help of some reference file, because let's say
device partition=F:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
means something entirely different when viewed by this or that operating system, or not? How does the boot file know which letter assignments are to be used so that its contents make sense?
You mentioned "Secondary drive letters". Does that mean there are primary ones too? Do those determine what the contents of the boot file say?

 

[knightsaber]

Hi there.

After reading this guide and others on the web, I finally managed to get dual boot Windows 7 and XP working. Like to share my experience with others here.
I am using Windows 7 RTM and Windows XP SP3 Install CD, with a new unformatted 1 TB HDD, and a backup WinXP running on a different HDD.

Attempt 1:
I used my old XP installation to partition my new HDD for Windows 7 and XP partitions. I then rebooted from Win 7 DVD and tried to install Win 7 on the pre-formatted partitions. No go. Win 7 won't install unless I delete the existing partitions and recreate it from scratch.

Attempt 2:
I removed all partitions and let Win7 DVD create a 200GB partition (via Advanced > New..) . Win 7 created the System Reserved partition (100MB) and and the OS partition. (Note that at this time there is no unallocated 1MB partition in front of the System Reserved Partition.) I then started Win XP CD, created a new partition 200GB partition using WInXP CD (text based menu) and started the installation there. Upon rebooting, I get the following message.
"Error Loading Operating System"
Using the Win 7 DVD startup repair tool does NOT resolve this issue. When I booted up using my backup OS on another drive, I noticed 1MB unallocated space in front of every partition on my new drive.

Attempt 3:
I restarted and assigned a drive letter to "System Reserved". Does not help. Same error and mysterious unallocated 1MB space appears before each partition after Win XP CD partitioning and formatting.

Attempt 4:
Stuck at the previous issue for several hours, I decided to try another approach. I deleted all partitions on my new drive. I started WIn 7 DVD, and this time let Win 7 OS partition take my whole 1TB drive. (emulate pre-install conditions) After WIn7 installation is done, I booted in Win 7, went to Disk Management and re-partitioned the drive to free up 800GB of unallocated space. I then rebooted and started my WinXP installation CD. Upon entering Win XP CD text-based partitioning menu, I noticed a WinXP CD detected a 1MB unallocated space before my "System Reserved" partition which wasn't there in previous tries. I let XP take the remaining 800GB space and started XP installation. Upon rebooting, instead of "Error Loading Operating System", I get...
_
...(a blinking cursor.)
Sensing some hope, I put in my Win 7 Installation CD and ran startup repair tool. Upon reboot, my system was able to boot into WIn 7 OS again.(But no dual boot menu).
From then on I just installed EasyBCD Download EasyBCD 1.7.2 - NeoSmart Technologies, created a WinXP entry, and rebooted. This time the dual boot menu came up, I selected XP option and the XP install continued from there.Success!

Attempt 5:
I varied Attempt 4 by pre-creating the XP partition beforehand in Win 7 Disk management Tool (as I couldn't resize the XP partition to the size I want after Attempt 4), loading Win XP CD, reformatted that partition (as I heard XP NTFS not truly compatible with Win7 NTFS), and installed XP into that partition. Re-run startup-repair tool, and the repeated the rest of the steps. This method also works. Seems like as long as the unallocated 1MB partition was created by Win 7 Disk management tool, the startup repair tool works. However, If you use the Win 7 DVD (Advanced > New..) partitioning method, the unallocated 1MB space will not be created at the front of disk and Win 7 startup repair tool will fail.

I then spent the other 1/2 of the day figuring out how to get Kubuntu booted as the 3rd OS, but that's a story for another day.

 

[Zidane24]

Hi there.

After reading this guide and others on the web, I finally managed to get dual boot Windows 7 and XP working. Like to share my experience with others here.
I am using Windows 7 RTM and Windows XP SP3 Install CD, with a new unformatted 1 TB HDD, and a backup WinXP running on a different HDD.

Attempt 1:
I used my old XP installation to partition my new HDD for Windows 7 and XP partitions. I then rebooted from Win 7 DVD and tried to install Win 7 on the pre-formatted partitions. No go. Win 7 won't install unless I delete the existing partitions and recreate it from scratch.

Attempt 2:
I removed all partitions and let Win7 DVD create a 200GB partition (via Advanced > New..) . Win 7 created the System Reserved partition (100MB) and and the OS partition. (Note that at this time there is no unallocated 1MB partition in front of the System Reserved Partition.) I then started Win XP CD, created a new partition 200GB partition using WInXP CD (text based menu) and started the installation there. Upon rebooting, I get the following message.
"Error Loading Operating System"
Using the Win 7 DVD startup repair tool does NOT resolve this issue. When I booted up using my backup OS on another drive, I noticed 1MB unallocated space in front of every partition on my new drive.

Attempt 3:
I restarted and assigned a drive letter to "System Reserved". Does not help. Same error and mysterious unallocated 1MB space appears before each partition after Win XP CD partitioning and formatting.

Attempt 4:
Stuck at the previous issue for several hours, I decided to try another approach. I deleted all partitions on my new drive. I started WIn 7 DVD, and this time let Win 7 OS partition take my whole 1TB drive. (emulate pre-install conditions) After WIn7 installation is done, I booted in Win 7, went to Disk Management and re-partitioned the drive to free up 800GB of unallocated space. I then rebooted and started my WinXP installation CD. Upon entering Win XP CD text-based partitioning menu, I noticed a WinXP CD detected a 1MB unallocated space before my "System Reserved" partition which wasn't there in previous tries. I let XP take the remaining 800GB space and started XP installation. Upon rebooting, instead of "Error Loading Operating System", I get...
_
...(a blinking cursor.)
Sensing some hope, I put in my Win 7 Installation CD and ran startup repair tool. Upon reboot, my system was able to boot into WIn 7 OS again.(But no dual boot menu).
From then on I just installed EasyBCD Download EasyBCD 1.7.2 - NeoSmart Technologies, created a WinXP entry, and rebooted. This time the dual boot menu came up, I selected XP option and the XP install continued from there.Success!

Attempt 5:
I varied Attempt 4 by pre-creating the XP partition beforehand in Win 7 Disk management Tool (as I couldn't resize the XP partition to the size I want after Attempt 4), loading Win XP CD, reformatted that partition (as I heard XP NTFS not truly compatible with Win7 NTFS), and installed XP into that partition. Re-run startup-repair tool, and the repeated the rest of the steps. This method also works. Seems like as long as the unallocated 1MB partition was created by Win 7 Disk management tool, the startup repair tool works. However, If you use the Win 7 DVD (Advanced > New..) partitioning method, the unallocated 1MB space will not be created at the front of disk and Win 7 startup repair tool will fail.

I then spent the other 1/2 of the day figuring out how to get Kubuntu booted as the 3rd OS, but that's a story for another day.

Nice testing you have done there...I can see this to be valuable for other people out there that one day may have this issue

 

[ZombieZomG]

Hi all, I would like to thank you VERY much! i spent about 4 hours trying to be able to boot back into windows 7 after installing XP on a partition until i came here and it was a quick and easy fix! thank you once again.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome ZombieZomG, and welcome to Seven Forums. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

Shawn

 

[binkky]

Hope this hasn't been asked

So I have Win 7 64 installed on my C drive - a 1TB Raid 0.
I installed Win XP Home 32 on a different 750 GB Non raid

I tried to boot to Win 7 after XP install. Failed. I didn't find this forum, but instead, put the Win 7 CD in and recovered my Win 7 MBR through that.
I'm now unable to boot to Win XP even though I manually adjusted the MBR in Win 7 via the command prompt.

When I try to load Win XP at OS select it tells me Win XP MBR is corrupt and to put in the disc.

So...which steps should I follow to finish this process Win 7 side only?
I installed Easy ECB, deleted the manual entry I established in the MBR for Win XP and used Easy to create a new one.

Do I have to copy anything over to my Win XP partition to get this to work? Am I missing any steps? The XP option is pointed to the correct drive I think. In my win 7 setup it shows as drive E, though in the XP setup it shows as drive D (and My 7 setup shows as drive C across both.)

 

[SIW2]

Hi binkky,

It seems you had the 7 HD attached when installing XP.

The XP bootfiles would be on the Active partition on 7 HD.

You should be able to add ntldr to 7 bcd - try pointing Easybcd at the System, Active partition to do that ( sounds like that would be C).



Then click Add Entry, then Save.

Remove any incorrect ntldr entries with Easybcd as well.

 

[binkky]

I think that did the trick. I tried that out before your post, and I just had my wife test it at home (god bless remote access).
I was just able to select either or in boot up and it booted successfully to both. This is a fantastic forum and I'm going to do all I can to never lose it. Great stuff guys, thanks so much!

 

[SIW2]

You're welcome - glad it's working for you.

 

[s0me0ne]

When I install Win7 and select XP from the boot loader my computer reboots. I tried repairing my XP install since I couldn't boot from it any longer. I ended up having to reformat, it was suggested to install 7 from within XP. This did not work, because I have x86 xp and x64 7.

I am trying again using your tutorial (which is how I did it initally, lets hope it works this time).

I have 3 hard drives, one for XP with a 10gig partition for a page file, one for 7 with same 10 gig for page file and a final drive I store non-program data on.

If XP first then 7 install doesn't work this time I'll try 7 then XP and as a last resort I will use the boot loader from SUSE 10. Never used it with 2 windows installs though.

Has anyone else had dual boot issues with a 64 bit and non-64 bit version?

Sorry to reply to an old post, but just so others know it is possible to use Win7 x64 and XP x86 as a dual boot. Got mine setup last night, they are on the same HDD. Everything seems to be working fine.