Perplexed, Win XP & Win 7 Dual Boot

[gregrocker]

Oh well, let's hope it will start up to a dual boot menu.

If not, then XP needs a repair install to sort out its boot first.

Then EasyBCD can add it as before, necessary when XP is installed last with Win7.

 

[dakrisht]

I'm actually on the Install screen of 7 now... and my XP installation still appears as

"DISK 0 Partition 1, Type: System"

"DISK 1 Unallocated Space" (the second drive where 7 is going...)

Even after swapping SATA cables, ports, etc... Not sure if 7 has to be on DISK 0, like you mentioned, but we don't seem to have a choice at the moment...

This is a fresh install btw...

 

[gregrocker]

Did you ever confirm Win7 was DISK0 after swapping?

I read that Win7 64 bit needs to be in first drive position.

But I can't find a reference to it now googling for the past hour.

 

[dakrisht]

Did you ever confirm Win7 was DISK0 after swapping?

I read that Win7 64 bit needs to be in first drive position.

But I can't find a reference to it now googling for the past hour.

Can't find anything either... The Win 7 HDD is IDE CHANNEL 2 MASTER in the BIOS, the XP is IDE CHANNEL 3 MASTER in the BIOS... So in theory, it is "in front" of the XP HDD as far as the system is concerned... I have BIOS boot priority set to boot from the (now being installed) Win 7 64-bit...

I have no idea how to make the XP volume DISK 1 and the new volume DISK 0... But right now, we're installing as DISK 1...

 

[gregrocker]

I guess you need to call up a command prompt in the Win7 installer Repair console or OS System Tools and type DISKPART, then LIST DISK to see which is DISK0.

You can always move it there if it fails the dual boot, then correct the listings via EasyBCD.

I wish I could find confirmation that 64 bit needs first drive position. Let's hope that means it doesn't.

Just so you dont' get your hopes up too high, there is nothing certain about this since the XP boot.ini files have apparently been scrambled.

I have great confidence in Win7 properly configuring the boot when installed last, but I dont think it can repair XP boot.ini problems. That would require an XP repair install.

 

[dakrisht]

I'm back on a fresh copy of 7... Can't see any of the boot.ini, ntldr, etc. files in the root of the drive... Of course, hidden files and system files are being shown at the moment...

Should I install EasyBCD, add Win XP as the D:\ drive, and hope it boots?

Yeap, I'm still getting the "Windows Failed to Start" when selecting the newly added entry (Win XP SP3) in EasyBCD... Even though I specify D:\ (my XP install) it doesn't boot... Not sure why, will look more into this tomorrow...

Thanks for all your help so far!

 

[gregrocker]

Hidden files would not be shown unless you unhide them in FOlder Options first on the new install.

Make sure both are listed correctly in Easy, then copy the files into the root of both drives.

XP may need a repair install tomorrow to fix boot.ini damage, assuring a fresh start with it as well (but saving all programs files and settings in place - you only need to reactivate both after repair installs).

The only thing that could be blocking dual boot then is if 64 bit needs to be in first drive position, which you can check by accessing Command Line and typing DISKPART, then LIST DISK

Also check this out: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/repairbootini.htm

 

[dakrisht]

Hidden files would not be shown unless you unhide them in FOlder Options first on the new install.

Make sure both are listed correctly in Easy, then copy the files into the root of both drives.

Copy the files from the XP root into the Win 7 root?

I opened Easy again and made sure to specify that XP is on the D:\ drive... Now instead of giving me an error, it gives me a black screen (when I select boot from XP) and the system restarts...

7 is running fine and starting fine from the bootloader, but XP doesn't wanna start... Hmmmm

 

[gregrocker]

You might be able to repair boot.ini before having to do the XP repair install

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/repairbootini.htm

 

[dakrisht]

I've got a zip file around here of the 3 boot files which include boot.ini. wouldnt hurt to replace them in both drives with fresh copies in case boot.ini is damaged.

almost threw them out the other day. here they are: View attachment 41689

unzip and replace them in the root of both XP and Windows 7 drives, copying through explorer in Computer.

So replace ALL three boot files in both the Win XP SP3 root dir and the 7 root dir with these, correct?

You answered this already!

FYI: these files do not exist in the Win 7 root (with hidden files shown)

 

[dakrisht]

I've got a zip file around here of the 3 boot files which include boot.ini. wouldnt hurt to replace them in both drives with fresh copies in case boot.ini is damaged.

almost threw them out the other day. here they are: View attachment 41689

unzip and replace them in the root of both XP and Windows 7 drives, copying through explorer in Computer.

NO boot.ini in here btw, only two files...

 

[gregrocker]

Can you Copy them into Win7 root from XP side?

Forget the zip file as boot.ini isn't there

Just try copying them through explorer and restart to see if you can boot xp. Worked before.

 

[dakrisht]

Can you Copy them in there from XP side?

Forget the zip file as boot.ini isn't there

I can copy the three from the XP side into the 7 side... Doing this now...

 

[dakrisht]

After coping them, XP still doesn't boot. Just restarts the system and goes back into the bootloader selection screen... Perplexing just like the title of this thread!

7 lists the XP install and root drive as D:\ BUT I'm manually booting into XP now to see what XP has it under... I think that could be the problem, not sure.

Yeap, it's listed as C:\ (in XP) so both OS' obviously use C:\ while 7 seems to think that XP is on D:\

Could this be it?

 

[gregrocker]

How do you manually boot into XP? If doing it via BIOS shortcut F-key, what is wrong with that? Just set Win7 as default.

It is normal in XP/7 dual boot for each to see itself as C when you are in it.

Unless someone else has a better idea, I would repair install XP and add it using Easy which is all I can think of right now. Something is blocking it. Or "manual" boot.

If anyone can confirm that Win7 64 bit needs to be the first drive slot, then you can try that config and change it in Easy, too.

It's gettin late and I'm gettin sloppy after 16 hours of this so need to sleep on it.

 

[dakrisht]

Again, thanks for all your help.

I'm manually going into the BIOS and selecting the 2nd drive (XP Drive) to boot first instead of the 7 drive at the moment...

Will try a repair of the XP system tomorrow, time to get some rest...

 

[gregrocker]

Actually, removing dual boots is such a hassle we advise those with separate HD's to use the BIOS booting method.

THere should even be a shortcut F-key, given on the first bootup screen as Boot Menu or some such thing, often F10 or F12, that you can tap at bootup to choose other than the default boot drive.

So if this the worst case scenario for you, I wouldnt' worry about it because now your drives can come and go without being interlinked as the other Dual Boot config does.

If you want to remove the dual boot menu just use EasyBCD.

Night.

 

[dakrisht]

Actually, removing dual boots is such a hassle we advise those with separate HD's to use the BIOS booting method.

THere should even be a shortcut F-key, given on the first bootup screen as Boot Menu or some such thing, often F10 or F12, that you can tap at bootup to choose other than the default boot drive.

So if this the worst case scenario for you, I wouldnt' worry about it because now your drives can come and go without being interlinked as the other Dual Boot config does.

If you want to remove the dual boot menu just use EasyBCD.

Night.

You make a good point. I might have to scrap the boot menu all together and F12 into my OS of choice...

I've gotten so used to the VMWare way of life (15+ OS' running atop multiple hypervisors, easy transfers, migrations, volume exchanges, virtual switches - aka madness - rarely a problem) and MS does it again with a painful boot menu config, when it should be a piece of cake...

Windows 7 looks solid so far, really want to see what a 64-bit version of 7 with 8GB RAM can do...

Thanks again for your help...

-K