Help to put 7 in default boot manager

[mastertushar]

i am using dual boot configuration system as in C drive xp and in D drive window7... but for some reason i format my xp from C drive and reinstalled it.. i've not touch to window7 in D drive during installation of xp.. but now whenever i try to start my pc directly xp gets started there is no option to start the windows7.. please help me how can i run my windows7 .....


my windows 7 which is installed on D drive is 64bit and in C drive the xp is 32bit


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; plz help me .. i m waiting for answer

 

[Arc]

Is C and D are the partitions of the same hard disk ?

Download EasyBCD 2.0 Beta Builds - The NeoSmart Forums
Install microsoft dotnet framework 2 (http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Signatures-Updates/Microsoft-NET-Framework-Service-Pack.shtml) and then install EasyBCD in xp. (without .net framework 2 easybcd may not run in xp). Run Easybcd 2, click on Add/Remove Entries button, then add an windows entry of appropriate type (windows 7) and press the add entry button. This will add a windows 7 entry in the boot manager, and you will be able to access it. Reboot and see it there.

Edit : If you have the windows 7 installation dvd, You may run http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html to fix the MBR and bring back the windows 7 boot entry back. Generally http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html is to run at least three consecutive times to fix MBR.

 

[iseeuu]

Windows installers put their boot code in the first "Active" partition it finds. Most likely is that Windows 7 boot code was placed in the XP partition and when you reformatted XP you deleted the boot code for Windows 7. Boot to the Windows 7 DVD and run the "Startup Repair" from the DVD. You will need to reboot and repeat the process as many as three times to complete the repair. See this link for more info: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

To avoid this problem in the future please take a look at this thread: http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/58680-solve-dual-boot-problem-windows-7-a.html

Cheers!
Robert

 

[mastertushar]

Thanx a lot both of you. I'll try and reply.

 

[mastertushar]

many thanx to iseeuu and Arc i can now boot both OS only because ofu thanx once again .. my problen is now solve

 

[iseeuu]

many thanx to iseeuu and Arc i can now boot both OS only because ofu thanx once again .. my problen is now solve

That's great news! Glad we could be of help!

Happy surfing!
Robert

 

[chandras83]

I'm facing the exact same problem as mastertushar and luckily landed on this forum.
I tried the solutions listed above, but nothing worked. Tried doing Startup repair 5 times, but the same sequence of events comes over and over again.
I installed EasyBCD 2.0 and when I start it I get an error message "The boot configuration data store could not be opened. The system cannot find the file specified" error. It asks "Would you like to manually load a BCD registry for EasyBCD to manage?"

Please advise me on what to do now. Any help is really appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[iseeuu]

I'm facing the exact same problem as mastertushar and luckily landed on this forum.
I tried the solutions listed above, but nothing worked. Tried doing Startup repair 5 times, but the same sequence of events comes over and over again.
I installed EasyBCD 2.0 and when I start it I get an error message "The boot configuration data store could not be opened. The system cannot find the file specified" error. It asks "Would you like to manually load a BCD registry for EasyBCD to manage?"

Please advise me on what to do now. Any help is really appreciated.
Thanks!

Hello chandras83, and welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

Before we can offer suggestions, we need to know a little more about how your computer is setup. Can you capture a snap shot of the drive map shown in the Windows 7 Disk Management utility?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/51160-screenshot-upload-using-mwsnap.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9717-screenshot-paint.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-how-post-screenshot-seven-forums.html

To open type: disk management in the start menu search box. Example:



Cheers!
Robert

 

[Arc]

Hi Tushar !
Feeling nice that you have fixed it.

 

[chandras83]

Hi Robert,
I'm currently not able to boot into Windows 7 on my computer and hence cannot get the screenshots you requested. Will a similar screenshot from XP help?

I originally had Windows XP installed on Drive C (primary boot drive)and WIndows 7 installed on Drive F (separate hard drive). I recently formatted Drive C and installed XP on it again. Now my computer boots directly into XP (and doesn't recognize Win 7). I'm looking for a way to bring back the dual boot option at startup.

Thanks.
Chandru

P.S.: Since I formatted my C drive, there is no BCD file in it anymore and windows boots through boot.ini. I actually have a backup copy of the old BCD file from before formatting. I tried copying that file back to C:, but it didn't help.

 

[Arc]

I'm currently not able to boot into Windows 7 on my computer and hence cannot get the screenshots you requested
I originally had Windows XP installed on Drive C (primary boot drive)and WIndows 7 installed on Drive F (separate hard drive).

Hi Chandra!
You can still boot into windows 7, though it is not appearing in windows boot manager (as you have installed it in a seperate hard drive). Search for your boot time drive chooser key ( a key which is to press at boottime to boot from a selected drive without going to the bios) in your user manual, Press the key (F8 in my machine) while you see the motherboard screen after power on (before bootscreen) and boot from drive f.

Edit : If the above works, just have a http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html, Everything should be fine then.

 

[iseeuu]

Hi Robert,
I'm currently not able to boot into Windows 7 on my computer and hence cannot get the screenshots you requested. Will a similar screenshot from XP help?

I originally had Windows XP installed on Drive C (primary boot drive)and WIndows 7 installed on Drive F (separate hard drive). I recently formatted Drive C and installed XP on it again. Now my computer boots directly into XP (and doesn't recognize Win 7). I'm looking for a way to bring back the dual boot option at startup.

Thanks.
Chandru

P.S.: Since I formatted my C drive, there is no BCD file in it anymore and windows boots through boot.ini. I actually have a backup copy of the old BCD file from before formatting. I tried copying that file back to C:, but it didn't help.

Yes, the screen shot from XP would be fine, you can "cntrl - PrntScrn", paste in to Paint, cut down to size, and attach to a post much like you would do in 7.

You are on the right track, just a little more needs to be done to restore the dual boot menu. Also, if you do not want to loose the boot code again, the next time you format a partition, you should consider your options.

The 100MB "System Reserved" partition keeps your boot code in a separate partition so it does not get deleted. Or you can put the boot code back in the XP partition or even put it in the 7 partition. You can use the "Startup Repair" from the 7 install DVD, or if you are comfortable with the "command line" you can restore the BCD STORE.

Please let us know what you wish to do so we can help?

Cheers!
Robert

 

[chandras83]

Hi Chandra!
You can still boot into windows 7, though it is not appearing in windows boot manager (as you have installed it in a seperate hard drive). Search for your boot time drive chooser key ( a key which is to press at boottime to boot from a selected drive without going to the bios) in your user manual, Press the key (F8 in my machine) while you see the motherboard screen after power on (before bootscreen) and boot from drive f.

Edit : If the above works, just have a http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html, Everything should be fine then.

WHen I Press the F8 key, I see only the Windows XP operating system on drive C:. I don't see the WIndows 7 option at all.

Just to clarify, I had Windows 7 installed in a dual boot config with XP before I formatted my XP drive. You think it would still show up??

 

[chandras83]

Yes, the screen shot from XP would be fine, you can "cntrl - PrntScrn", paste in to Paint, cut down to size, and attach to a post much like you would do in 7.

You are on the right track, just a little more needs to be done to restore the dual boot menu. Also, if you do not want to loose the boot code again, the next time you format a partition, you should consider your options.

The 100MB "System Reserved" partition keeps your boot code in a separate partition so it does not get deleted. Or you can put the boot code back in the XP partition or even put it in the 7 partition. You can use the "Startup Repair" from the 7 install DVD, or if you are comfortable with the "command line" you can restore the BCD STORE.

Please let us know what you wish to do so we can help?

Cheers!
Robert

Hi Robert,
Here is the screen shot of my disk management info from XP.

I actually tried Startup Repair several times using the Win 7 DVD, but it didn't work. Maybe I was doing something wrong. I'm not sure. Anyways, I'm fine with using the command line too. I currently have backup copy of the old BCD.

 

[iseeuu]

Yes, the screen shot from XP would be fine, you can "cntrl - PrntScrn", paste in to Paint, cut down to size, and attach to a post much like you would do in 7.

You are on the right track, just a little more needs to be done to restore the dual boot menu. Also, if you do not want to loose the boot code again, the next time you format a partition, you should consider your options.

The 100MB "System Reserved" partition keeps your boot code in a separate partition so it does not get deleted. Or you can put the boot code back in the XP partition or even put it in the 7 partition. You can use the "Startup Repair" from the 7 install DVD, or if you are comfortable with the "command line" you can restore the BCD STORE.

Please let us know what you wish to do so we can help?

Cheers!
Robert

Hi Robert,
Here is the screen shot of my disk management info from XP.

I actually tried Startup Repair several times using the Win 7 DVD, but it didn't work. Maybe I was doing something wrong. I'm not sure. Anyways, I'm fine with using the command line too. I currently have backup copy of the old BCD.

Well ... I just have to guess, based on what you have said and what I can see from your screen shot, When you installed 7 on your new, separate hard drive, the only "Active" (or System in the XP drive map) was the XP partition. The 7 installer put the boot code in the XP partition and when you deleted it, you deleted the boot code for 7. Then when you installed XP again, the only bootable partition was XP.

The boot manager for XP does not recognize Vista or 7 partitions. You need the Vista or 7 bootmgr to include XP with 7. The "Startup Repair" will not work if there is no "Active" partition with bootmgr bootcode to repair. Since the ONLY "Active" partition is XP, that did not work.

If I may suggest to you, I would 1) mark the F: (Windows 7) partition "Active" from the disk management utility in XP. Right click on the F: partition and select make active.
2) Boot to the 7 install DVD to the Command Prompt option and type:
bootrec /rebuildbcd
Saltgrass put me on to this tip, it is much easier than the "Startup Repair" as long as you are OK with the command line.
3) Open the BIOS and place the Windows 7 hard drive as the first in boot order.

When done, you will have your boot menu with 7 and XP, plus if you select the XP hard drive with your BIOS boot menu, you can boot to XP even if something happens to the other hard drive.

Please let us know if this works for you?

Cheers!

 

[chandras83]

Well ... I just have to guess, based on what you have said and what I can see from your screen shot, When you installed 7 on your new, separate hard drive, the only "Active" (or System in the XP drive map) was the XP partition. The 7 installer put the boot code in the XP partition and when you deleted it, you deleted the boot code for 7. Then when you installed XP again, the only bootable partition was XP.

The boot manager for XP does not recognize Vista or 7 partitions. You need the Vista or 7 bootmgr to include XP with 7. The "Startup Repair" will not work if there is no "Active" partition with bootmgr bootcode to repair. Since the ONLY "Active" partition is XP, that did not work.

If I may suggest to you, I would 1) mark the F: (Windows 7) partition "Active" from the disk management utility in XP. Right click on the F: partition and select make active.
2) Boot to the 7 install DVD to the Command Prompt option and type:
bootrec /rebuildbcd
Saltgrass put me on to this tip, it is much easier than the "Startup Repair" as long as you are OK with the command line.
3) Open the BIOS and place the Windows 7 hard drive as the first in boot order.

When done, you will have your boot menu with 7 and XP, plus if you select the XP hard drive with your BIOS boot menu, you can boot to XP even if something happens to the other hard drive.

Please let us know if this works for you?

Cheers!

You guesses about my computer configuration is perfect. I tried out the steps listed above. It told windows installation found and asked me if I want to rebuild BCD. I said yes, got a message that it was successful. Then rebooted, changed the hard drive boot order, and now I get an error saying "BOOTMGR" is missing.

I'm now going to try startup repair. Will let you know how that turns out.

Thanks a lot for all you tips and suggestions.

EDIT: Even after the startup repair (it automatically detected that boot record is missing and asked me if i want to fix it), I'm still getting BOOTMGR is missing and the system halts.

EDIT2: After repeatedly running startup repair, the system now automatically boots into Windows 7. Great! But now how do I get the dual boot menu to access windows XP. Do I have to use EasyBCD??

 

[mastertushar]

Well ... I just have to guess, based on what you have said and what I can see from your screen shot, When you installed 7 on your new, separate hard drive, the only "Active" (or System in the XP drive map) was the XP partition. The 7 installer put the boot code in the XP partition and when you deleted it, you deleted the boot code for 7. Then when you installed XP again, the only bootable partition was XP.

The boot manager for XP does not recognize Vista or 7 partitions. You need the Vista or 7 bootmgr to include XP with 7. The "Startup Repair" will not work if there is no "Active" partition with bootmgr bootcode to repair. Since the ONLY "Active" partition is XP, that did not work.

If I may suggest to you, I would 1) mark the F: (Windows 7) partition "Active" from the disk management utility in XP. Right click on the F: partition and select make active.
2) Boot to the 7 install DVD to the Command Prompt option and type:
bootrec /rebuildbcd
Saltgrass put me on to this tip, it is much easier than the "Startup Repair" as long as you are OK with the command line.
3) Open the BIOS and place the Windows 7 hard drive as the first in boot order.

When done, you will have your boot menu with 7 and XP, plus if you select the XP hard drive with your BIOS boot menu, you can boot to XP even if something happens to the other hard drive.

Please let us know if this works for you?

Cheers!

You guesses about my computer configuration is perfect. I tried out the steps listed above. It told windows installation found and asked me if I want to rebuild BCD. I said yes, got a message that it was successful. Then rebooted, changed the hard drive boot order, and now I get an error saying "BOOTMGR" is missing.

I'm now going to try startup repair. Will let you know how that turns out.

Thanks a lot for all you tips and suggestions.

EDIT: Even after the startup repair (it automatically detected that boot record is missing and asked me if i want to fix it), I'm still getting BOOTMGR is missing and the system halts.

EDIT2: After repeatedly running startup repair, the system now automatically boots into Windows 7. Great! But now how do I get the dual boot menu to access windows XP. Do I have to use EasyBCD??

yes u can use now EasyBCD same with me.. after 2 to 3times startup repair my system directly boots to windows 7 then i use EasyBCD to add xp to boot mgr

 

[iseeuu]

But now how do I get the dual boot menu to access windows XP. Do I have to use EasyBCD??

yes u can use now EasyBCD same with me.. after 2 to 3times startup repair my system directly boots to windows 7 then i use EasyBCD to add xp to boot mgr

EasyBCD2 is a handy free tool to have around. You can also manually add the entry to your boot menu with these command line instructions from an elevated command prompt:

Bcdedit /create {legacy} /d “WinXP”

Bcdedit /set {legacy} device boot

Bcdedit /set {legacy} path \ntldr

Bcdedit /displayorder {legacy} /addlast

Glad you got your system sorted out, whatever works for you.

Cheers!
Robert

 

[gregrocker]

Now that you have Win7 MBR restored, you have the option to Dual Boot via the BIOS which will keep the HD's independent and able to come and go as you please. A Windows-managed dual boot will interconnect them so one is hard to remove.

To Dual Boot via the BIOS, set the preferred HD to boot first in BIOS boot order. If you want to boot the other HD instead, use the BIOS one-time Boot Menu key given on the first bootup screen (often F10 or F12).

If you want a Windows-managed Dual boot instead, Install EasyBCD 2.0 beta to Win7 after doing quick registration to use beta.

On Add/remove tab, add XP by name, type. Drive letter will autocomplete after prompting you to add boot files. Restart to Dual Boot menu.

 

[chandras83]

Thanks a lot guys. I really appreciate it. I used EasyBCD to create the dual boot. Everything works fine now.
It wouldn't have been possible without your help. You guys really rock!!!