Solved issues after installing to dual boot win7 enter32 and win7 ult 64

[flavorflave]

when i did a clean install and chose the new non partitioned HD win7 ult installed fine. but when i t started it assigned it self as HD C and gave the other win 7 drive a new letter as will ,and wont dual boot and the boot manager doesnt recognize the other windows, so went and booted win7 enterpe and the drive letters didnt change it just assigned a new drive letter to the new HD after many attempts gave up and formatted the new HD and assigned it a letter which ofcours now win 7 wont accept installing it self on a pre partioned.
is it normal that a new win 7 assigns random drive letters or am i doing something wrong .
furthermore neither win 7 detects the other to dual boot .
tried the dual boot installation guide but nothing explains the random drive letters assignment

the first pic shows the HDs on win 7 enter 32 and the 2nd pic shows the HD drive letters under win 7 ult 64

 

[gregrocker]

The first screenshot shows W being booted from XP as signified by XP being marked System. It must have been installed from the XP partition thus locking out C drive letter, or it would always boot as C.

The second screenshot shows C booting from System Reserved.

What I would do is boot into C again, install EasyBCD (click Download - no Name or Email required), on Edit OS tab delete all other OS's except the C drive, then on the Add OS tab add XP and Enterprise by their type and drive letter back to the multi-boot menu. This is providing you don't mind having Enterprise on a letter other than C. If you do then I'd reinstall it correctly from boot.

You should also mark Inactive all partitions except System Reserved which is the only one booting all OS's after this operation and hence the only one which should be marked Active, period. Partition - Mark as Inactive - Windows 7 Forums

How is it you are using Enterprise which is meant for large organizations, and how it it activated when that is only done by special MAK keys administered by IT departments of organizations? If you're not entitled to use it then I would delete its partition.

 

[flavorflave]

The first screenshot shows W being booted from XP as signified by XP being marked System. It must have been installed from the XP partition thus locking out C drive letter, or it would always boot as C.

The second screenshot shows C booting from System Reserved.

thank you for the reply .
the first screen shot is what i want to have with C remaining for XP and W for win7 enter. looking at the logic of the partitions i am thinking of uninstalling Win7 ulti 64 then Fix the partition situation marking C win Xp active and inactive for the rest i hope that might force win 7 ulti upon installation to avoid letter C , but just to be sure in the first image i shall 1- delete disk 0 to uninstall win7 ulti 2- mark all inactive except C 3- maintain W as boot ? or change to C ? would that make ulti picks up the drive logic and install in a new drive as win 7 enter did ? and if thats a sure NO i will follow ur instructions above .

How is it you are using Enterprise which is meant for large organizations, and how it it activated when that is only done by special MAK keys administered by IT departments of organizations? If you're not entitled to use it then I would delete its partition.

Thank you for your concerns which havn't stopped you from giving help and advice, and i assure you i am entitled to it , yet when all back ups are done and data migrated fine with no issues with encryption keys and such ill move it to a separate Desktop remove XP and have win7 prof 32 and utnbu on this one.

Thanks again for your reply

 

[gregrocker]

It is not correct to have Win7 boot on any letter other than C. There is no good reason to do this ever. I would certainly not reinstall to accomplish this mistake.

What works best is to have each drive independently bootable so all drives can come and go as you please without affecting any other drive's boot. Disks 0 and 1 are already independently bootable. To make Win7 32 bit bootable, Mark Partition Active, power down to unplug all other drives, then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times until it starts and is independently bootable.

Once each hard drive will boot from itself and is marked System Active, you can still add them all to a Windows Boot Menu using EasyBCD from the primary OS. Remove all listings first except the one you're booted into, then from the Add OS tab add the others by type and drive letter.

 

[flavorflave]

tried the solution in your 2nd post then just adjusted shared data drive letters to match, once i marked win x64 partition active now can boot individually through boot manager in msnconfig and in easybcd and it seems alright didnt need to run the repair for some reason.
Thanks alot for the help now i know what i will be facing when i install win pro 32bit and remove xp .
Best regards

 

[gregrocker]

The true test is if the drive will boot itself when plugged in alone. If not mark Active as instructed, then run 3 Startup Repairs until it will boot on its own and when booted wears the System Active labels.