How to enable Dual Boot?

[Doctoral]

So currently I have Windows 7 64-Bit as my Default OS.
And I have XP on my hard drive on another partition.

But look at Boot:

How can I re-enable Windows XP on dual boot? Last time I had it on dual boot, it gave me an option. Windows 7 or Windows XP. I want that back

 

[whs]

Have a look HERE. Look further on the page until you find: " Adding a Windows XP entry with EasyBCD ".

 

[Doctoral]

Thanks, trying it right now. If it works I'll report back

 

[Doctoral]

Ok in easybcd I did add entry Microsoft xp.
Now when I turn on my computer and it goes past bios it says invalid boot.ini file starting from c:/windows/ and keeps booting over and over again. I tried my system recovery disk I made and it says something in French then it says invalid boot.ini like last time so I'm screwed. I'm on my iPod.. :/

 

[Doctoral]

Managed to fix it, it just happens that the French words were saying "Press any button" lol

 

[whs]

Sometimes foreign languages helped. Too bad you did not tell what it said. French is my second mother language.

 

[Doctoral]

Hmm so what do you think I should do? Seeing as easybcd just corrupts my boot.ini file :x

 

[whs]

Maybe this would work: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/42776-extract-files-windows-7-installation-dvd.html

 

[gregrocker]

Please post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk Management drive map with listings, using the Snipping Tool in Start Menu.

Did XP ever boot? Was it configured into a Dual Boot during Win7 install? What happened that caused it to stop booting?

 

[Doctoral]

Screensnapr > Snipping tool BTW

XP never booted. When it went past BIOS, all it said was this:
INVALID BOOT.INI
Starting from c:\windows\

And it just kept looping over and over with that message. I fixed it using a start up recovery disk.
@whs I will try that!



~~~~

What I did on EasyBCD:
I added this entry:

 

[gregrocker]

The System boot files are on XP partition as shown in Disk Mgmt by the System Active flags on E.

What I would do is write the System boot files to Win7 which makes it easier to add XP using EasyBCD:

Mark C Active: Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two)

Then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times until Win7 starts and holds the System Active flags.

Then using EasyBCD delete any XP listing in Edit OS Menu, then on Add OS Entry tab add XP by name, type and drive letter, accept boot files, Save and reboot to Dual Boot Menu.

If this fails then you may need an XP Repair Install or reinstall.

 

[Doctoral]

So you're saying I should make a XP Repair cd before I do all this? Just in case.

 

[gregrocker]

You would use the XP installation CD to Repair Install. Click the blue link for it's tutorial.

You can also try the first Repair prompt shown in tutorial to open a Command Line, type bootrec.exe /fixboot, click Enter, then type bootrec.exe /fixmbr, click Enter. Reboot to see if XP will start. However this will likely cut Win7 out of the boot requiring adding it using Method Two in Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP, or starting Win7 to add XP using EasyBCD.

But first boot into Win7 DVD System Recovery Options to run Startup Repair a few times as rarely it will correct problems with the Dual Boot so that XP will start.