Dual Boot

[Gunny3053]

Hi Gang

Now here is what I have, 2 SATA drives with one having XP OP system and one HD with Win 7 OP system.

When I installed the Win 7 I disconnected the XP drive, (which I understand was wrong) If I want it to dual boot I should have left the XP HD connected. Ok being I goofed and did this what can I do to correct it. I want it to dual boot and give me the choice of which OP system I want to boot to.

Thanx......Gunny

 

[Lee]

Not sure if there is anything you can do other then start from the beginning. Trying to think of a way this can be corrected, just nothing comes to mind. Have you gone to Tutorials to see if something has been posted there for your problem. Sorry just drawing a blank. Just looked through the Tutorials, and could find nothing there that matches your situation.

The Only thing that come to mind is to start over. Would recommend you read the section "How To Do A Dual Boot Installation With Windows 7 and XP," in the Tutorials section of "Seven Forums." Some great information.

Sorry couldn't be of more help.

 

[gregrocker]

THere are two ways to do this:

1) Run a repair install of your Win7 install with the xp drive plugged in. This is an Upgrade over the current OS running the installer from the desktop which will leave everything in place except you will have to re=activate 7. It re-establishes Win7 as second installed so sets up the boot menu correctly.

2) plug in the XP drive, copy boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com between the roots of both drives. In order to do this you have to unhide these files: Go to Control Panel>Folder options>View>uncheck hide protected system files & check show hidden files

download EasyBCD and Add the XP by name and drive letter to the boot menu on the Add/Remove page.

If anything is not right after these steps, post a screen shot of your Disk Management map so we can check how it is set up and give you a quick solution. It would most likely be a conflict in which drive is marked Active.

 

[Gunny3053]

Hi Lee and gregrocker

Hi Lee no problem, I think I know what has to be done, redoing the install with XP connected this time. Greg is saying that too. So if this is the only way to get it done, that is what I will do then.

The problem is I don't do this that often, so I did not recall from the last time I did this. I trust I will not forget the next time. if any one else has any ideas I hope you post here, and let me know.

Lee how is the weather in Idaho this time of the year.?

Thanx and take care....Gunny

 

[DocBrown]

Hey Gunny, got to get you up to speed Ol'Buddy

Try some of our SevenForums reading material for a few minutes

Questions to use for help with Installation Issues



Tutorial quick reference list for Installing Windows 7

 

[Gunny3053]

Hi Doc

Ya I have been doing a lot of reading about this. Made a big mistake, did the reading after the fact, should have done it before I started. Oh well that is old stuff now time to correct it.

It looks like I should have left the XP drive hooked up, I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I was afraid the install would goof up the XP. But as I remember when I installed the Win 7 beta version I left the other drive connected and I got my choice of which drive it went on. Silly me, oh well we live and we learn if we pay attention.

Doc how are things going.?

Take care and thanx....Gunny

 

[Gunny3053]

Doc me again, has any one posted with a problem of the desktop icons moving around some times. Ya I can go to a site or download something and when I get back to my desktop some of the icons have moved. It is like they are nervous or something. I can reboot and when it gets back to the desktop they are back in place. I know what you are thinking, this guy comes up with the craziest problems. Ya I am guilty of that I guess.

Thanx and take care....Gunny..P.S. where do you guys get these crazy avatars. I need one.

 

[Gunny3053]

Hi Doc

While I have your attention here, another question.

On my wifes computer she has a 1T drive, and a good 500G drive. Now this is the computer in question with the dual boot problem. I am formatting the drive now, getting it cleaned up ready to do what ever.

Now would it be a better idea to partition the 1T drive and have XP and install Win 7 on it too. And use the 500G drive for some thing else. My wife does a lot of graphics, but still the 1T drive will never even get close to being used up, even splitting it down the middle. I am sort of leaning this direction now, instead of using the 500G drive for Win 7.

What do all of you learned people think.? I mean doing this will work out better all the way around. And is there any advantage of doing the 64 bit instead of the 32 bit install, as long as your MOBO will handle 64 bit.?

Thanx ....Gunny