Need Help getting dual boot working!

[frisbeejohn]

I have spent a couple hours reading how-to's and trying to get my dual boot up and running, but I still can't get it

What I have: XP on a 250gig drive and W7 on a 60gig SSD. When I start my comp it goes straight to W7. I can force it to go to XP if i switch my bios to boot off the XP drive. I don't have a XP CD, but I do have a W7 DVD

What I want: Boot screen with Windows 7 as main with XP in a close second.

Here are some pics that may be helpful:

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[gregrocker]

go Control Panel>Folder Options>View>uncheck Hide Protected System files, and check Show Hidden Files

check to see that Ntldr, Ntdetect.com, and boot.ini are copied into the root of both drives

restart and report back

 

[torrentg]

Use Easybcd to add a reference to the boot manager for the XP partition/drive. (Looks like you did that already. But you want to edit the XP entry's drive to be D: instead of \Device\HarddiskVolume1)

Reboot and test both OS.

If XP gives the famed "missing NTLDR," you need to edit boot.ini on the XP partition/drive to be correct so it looks in the right place for the XP.

Let me know how it goes and if you need further help editing the boot.ini. Copy and paste the contents of your current boot.ini (using notepad) and I will make suggestions on how to proceed.

 

[frisbeejohn]

Gregrocker: are you saying to do that in W7 or XP? While in W7, I can only find Boot.ini (D"\Windows\pss)

torrentg: your right, I get the boot screen and XP cant load because of the NTDLR problem. Here is a copy of that file
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

 

[gregrocker]

those 3 files need to be in both OS roots

Yesterday, I helped a dozen people who were already wanting to bail out of XP in a dual boot. It is hard to do and complicated. Consider if you really want to config XP/7 dual boot which will be tough to back out of later.

Right now you have it config'd exactly where I would want to be in your position: you can boot into XP by choosing it for BIOs boot at startup, you can access files in XP via explorer and eventually devolve it to a data drive.

Why dual boot when you will most likely want to get out of it soon anyway. Just askin.

 

[torrentg]

Respectfully disagree.

Dual boot has its advantages, like accessing each other's locked files when not in use, helpful for many troubleshooting reasons, people with little amount of ram that can't run virtual xp or whatever that is lol for that one app they simply need to run. Many other reasons depending on software you're running and certain tasks you'd like to accomplish, where it makes things generally easier.

I don't have dual boot with XP anymore. I have dual boot 7(x2) though. Also functions as my backup install in case my main goes out for any reason, hardware or anything.

 

[gregrocker]

Isn't he able to access his XP files from Win7 (and vice versa) via explorer in the current config, with them both plugged but not dual-booting?

After helping remove a dozen dual boots and XP's from first partition recently here, guys wanting to bail out of XP within hours of dual booting, I thought I should at least ask him to consider. Some of these become a real mess, especially the ones who want their 7 moved onto first partition.

What did you think of his boot.ini file? Doesn't he need all 3 of the boot files in both roots?

 

[frisbeejohn]

I have a lot of things saved on my XP setup(passwords, bookmarks, etc) Yes i could mine through files in order to find them later on, but it makes more sence for me to just dual boot in case I ever need something off my old XP.

It seems to me I just need to fix the path the bootloader uses to find XP, right?

 

[gregrocker]

I have a lot of things saved on my XP setup(passwords, bookmarks, etc) Yes i could mine through files in order to find them later on, but it makes more sence for me to just dual boot in case I ever need something off my old XP.

It seems to me I just need to fix the path the bootloader uses to find XP, right?

It's up to you.

Aren't your XP files available now from Win7 using explorer via Computer?

It is plugged in, right? Shouldn't need to be dual booted to do that much, but should act as a data drive in that mode.

 

[MacGyvr]

Use Windows Easy Transfer and move it all into 7.

 

[torrentg]

Wow, sorry FrisbeeJohn. I missed your post with the boot.ini info when I last visited.

http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/bootini.htm

"The "rdisk" parameter is for the HDD drive number, where n=0,1,2,... depending upon which physical drive this HDD is in your system."


Try this out. You will have to take off read only permissions to save it. Doesn't matter which OS you do this from.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Try the above and let me know how it went. If not, try rdisk value of 2 for each line.

It's a good idea to copy boot.ini, ntldr, ntdetect.com all to root of XP drive.

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

In Disk Management , rt click the 100mb partition and give it a drive letter, S is good.

Unzip this and put the 3 files ( not the folder ) on the 100mb partition.

View attachment xpbootfilesSIW2.zip

Open Easybcd, go to Add/Remove entries.

Select S in the drive drop down box at the bottom.

Then select Windows NT/2K/XP/2K3 in the Type box.

Click Add Entry.



Give it a drive letter

I have spent a couple hours reading how-to's and trying to get my dual boot up and running, but I still can't get it

What I have: XP on a 250gig drive and W7 on a 60gig SSD. When I start my comp it goes straight to W7. I can force it to go to XP if i switch my bios to boot off the XP drive. I don't have a XP CD, but I do have a W7 DVD

What I want: Boot screen with Windows 7 as main with XP in a close second.

Here are some pics that may be helpful:

ImageBam - Fast, Free Image Hosting and Photo Sharing
ImageBam - Fast, Free Image Hosting and Photo Sharing

 

[gregrocker]

+rep

SIW2 to the rescue!

That Disk Management snip wouldn't open for me so I didnt' catch the dreaded 100mb holding the boot.

 

[frisbeejohn]

Here is where im at:
I tried both siw2's and torrentg's advice, niether worked or changed the situation. Still getting the missing NTDLR.
under bios my HDD is listed as "IDE channel 4" if that helps. I did change the rdisk value to 4 to try that, no effect.

here is what my easyBCD looks like
Entry #1

Name: Windows 7
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

Entry #2

Name: Windows XP
BCD ID: {f6c2cfdf-bf80-11de-81d6-81fa34a7acda}
Drive: S:\
Bootloader Path: \NTLDR

 

[gregrocker]

The fact that the 100mb system reserved partition is there on a dual boot like this means that XP drive must have been plugged in after Win7 was installed. As you can read here, the 100mb isn't supposed to be installed when Win7 is correctly installed last and configs a dual boot with a prior existing OS which is on the drive or plugged in.

You can make sure XP is marked active (as it shows now), delete the 100mb partition, and boot into the Win7 installer Repair console to run startup repair - several times if it doesn't boot after startup. The 3 boot files need to be in XP's root if you do this.

But an easier and safer way which will not possibly lose the ability to boot is to run a Win7 repair install from the desktop. In Win7, the repair install is an Upgrade install that keeps files, programs and settings in place but replaces the OS and reasserts the boot config. This has always worked for me as a last resort to repair boot issues. However I have never had the 100mb present in such a situation so we will have to see if Win7 can reconfig such a mess with a repair install. At least you won't lose the ability to boot into Win7 since a repair install never does.

Afterward we will see if it was able to reconfig your dual boot correctly with the dreaded 100mb partition in the mix. You'll need to reactivate, too, which is no problem from the link at Computer>Properties.

 

[SIW2]

It will only work if you keep DISK0 as the first HD in Bios boot order.

Post a screenshot of the contents of S.

Here is where im at:
I tried both siw2's and torrentg's advice, niether worked or changed the situation. Still getting the missing NTDLR.
under bios my HDD is listed as "IDE channel 4" if that helps. I did change the rdisk value to 4 to try that, no effect.

here is what my easyBCD looks like
Entry #1

Name: Windows 7
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

Entry #2

Name: Windows XP
BCD ID: {f6c2cfdf-bf80-11de-81d6-81fa34a7acda}
Drive: S:\
Bootloader Path: \NTLDR

 

[torrentg]

IDE channel 4 could = 3

There's a 0 device or, meaning, placeholder to take into consideration.

0, 1, 2, 3

4 integers gets you to 3

 

[gregrocker]

SIW2 and torrentg:

Why do you think the 100mb is there on a dual boot? Is it causing the problem?

Would a repair install of 7 sort it out, reasserting the dual boot?

 

[frisbeejohn]

Ok here is a snip of the S content, should be no surprises here:
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Bios looks like this:
IDE channel 0 master: none
IDE channel 0 slave: none
IDE channel 1 master: none
IDE channel 1 slave: none
IDE channel 2 master: Agilty SSD
IDE channel 3 master: none
IDE channel 4 master: WDL HDD
IDE channel 5 master: DVD drive

 

[chuckr]

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SIW2,

'boot.ini' needed here?