Triple boot XP, Vista, and Windows 7...

[Cr00zng]

I have four SATA II drives, four gig memory, etc, in my machine that have Windows XP and Vista dual-booting. Both OS's are installed on the same physical drives; about 150 gig each partition.

I've freed up one of the drives, changed the BIOS to boot from the DVD, and installed Windows 7, 64-bit. The installation completed without a hitch and the setup detected everything, sans the Viewsonic monitor. Windows did have a driver for the monitor, but I used the one for Vista 64-bit from Viewsonic and we are good.

After rebooting Windows 7, I expected to have couple of boot option but there's none. No XP and/or Vista, just Windows 7. I've tried to locate the bootmanager in Windows 7, but I couldn't find it and that worried me. There was no backup made since it should've picked up the other OS's.

I didn't touch any of the bootsectors, nor did Windows 7; the latter one did make the drive a primary disk and installed the boot record there. After modifying the BIOS, making the the XP/Vista drive the first drive to be booted, XP and Vista came back, but Windows 7 disappeared. I can boot either OS's by changing the order the drives are booted by the BIOS, but I rather have the choice for XP/Vista/7 in the boot menu.

I am not sure why Windows 7 didn't pick up on the other OS's; the reason could be the SATA drives, if I'd have to guess. Since "disk 1" was set as the first drive to boot by the BIOS, Windows 7 did not check other drives and declared itself the only OS.

The question is, how do I add Windows 7 to the Vista's boot menu, or alternatively, how do I add XP/Vista to 7's boot menu?
TIA...

Cr00zng

 

[torrentg]

Boot into Win7. Then use EasyBCD to add the XP and Vista partitions each as a boot choice. Use add/remove entries on the left side of the program. Don't forget to hit save after you add them. Not too tough. Post back if you need further help. Good luck.

EasyBCD: http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

After you've done that successfully and booted into all 3 OS successfully, you can then work on getting rid of the second boot screen that will appear when booting either Vista or XP.

 

[Cr00zng]

Thanks Torrent, but couldn't I just use EasyBCD in Vista as well? In that case, Windows 7 can be removed rather easily; keep in mind that this is just RC1 version with time limit.

I've looked at the drives from within Vista and Windows Explorer does not show the drive where Windows 7 had been installed. The drive in itself does show up as "Healthy" NTFS active primary partition within Vista disk manager with no drive letter assign to it.

Adding Windows 7 from within Vista, either with BCDedit and/or EasyBCD won't work without assigning a drive letter for the Windows 7 drive. It doesn't seem like it would cause an issue for Windows 7 assigning the drive letter "I" or "J" under Vista, but I am not sure. Windows 7 will probably call it "C" or system drive anyway, correct?
TIA...

Cr00zng

 

[SIW2]

Assign 7 letter in Vista Disk Management - shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Cr00zng]

Well, I did assign drive letter "J" under Vista and added the drive to the boot menu using BCDEdit. After the reboot, I have three entries:

Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7

Selecting Windows 7 does seem like starting up Vista instead of 7. Vista "Starting up Windows..." screen is displayed, but when it completes Windows 7 log on screen comes up. Evidently, I didn't enter the parameters correctly. It seems that Vista's boot manager, with its own splash screen, starts and then Windows 7 takes over. Oh well, as long as I don't have to change BIOS settings all the times, this is just fine as it is.
Thanks guys for your help...

Cr00zng

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

If you booted from the Vista partition and are in 7 now, stay in 7, open an elevated command and type:

bcdedit /set {current} locale en-US

Press Enter.

 

[Cr00zng]

Hi,

If you booted from the Vista partition and are in 7 now, stay in 7, open an elevated command and type:

bcdedit /set {current} locale en-US

Press Enter.

That has been set by Windows 7 at the time of the installation. You could say that I have two boot manager installed on my system; one on the "drive 0" (Vista and XP) and one on the "drive 1" (Windows 7).

Here's the output for the "bcdedit" command from Windos 7, unchanged since install:

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=C:
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {current}
resumeobject            {c6f82f90-3d77-11de-acfd-d81b0903b0fe}
displayorder            {current}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {c6f82f92-3d77-11de-acfd-d81b0903b0fe}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {c6f82f90-3d77-11de-acfd-d81b0903b0fe}
nx                      OptIn

This is the output of "bcdedit" command from Vista, Windows 7 added after install:

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=D:
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {273b26bf-f4da-11dd-af3f-a98b068a0bfe}
resumeobject            {273b26be-f4da-11dd-af3f-a98b068a0bfe}
displayorder            {ntldr}
                        {current}
                        {273b26c2-f4da-11dd-af3f-a98b068a0bfe}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier              {ntldr}
device                  partition=D:
path                    \ntldr
description             Windows XP

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Vista
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {eacd22e7-cfae-11dc-9a71-b4b57b4d0ffa}
nx                      OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {273b26c2-f4da-11dd-af3f-a98b068a0bfe}
device                  partition=J:
path                    \Windows\System32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7
osdevice                partition=J:
systemroot              \WINDOWS
resumeobject            {1ae1339f-3dcd-11de-8834-806e6f6e6963}

When I am in Windows 7, it does not see the other boot record that the machine has on another drive. Nor does Vista see Windows 7's boot record. As such, the two boot records work independently from each other. I was able to manually add Windows 7 to Vista's boot manager, I know it's horrible way it's been added, but it works. Windows 7 is a choice in Vista's boot manager and it does boot it up on a funny way.

I do believe that this related to the SATA drives where you can select any of the drive as the first disk for the BIOS to boot the OS. Alternatively, it's the "end user" who messed things up but I rather not go there...

Cr00zng

 

[SIW2]

Exactly, there is no setting in Vista bcd for 7 Locale.

That is why when you boot 7 thru the Vista bootmgr, you get the Vista bootscreen.

That is what the command I posted is for.

 

[Cr00zng]

You're confusing me SIW, which isn't hard when it comes to this...

If I'd execute the command:

bcdedit /set {current} locale en-US

Where would it change boot manager, Vista or Windows 7, and what is the change that it would do?
TIA...

Cr00zng

 

[Cr00zng]

Duh, I should've looked at the content of the bcdedit output in Windows 7, before I've posted the previous message:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=D:
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {273b26bf-f4da-11dd-af3f-a98b068a0bfe}
resumeobject            {273b26be-f4da-11dd-af3f-a98b068a0bfe}
displayorder            {ntldr}
                        {eacd22e6-cfae-11dc-9a71-b4b57b4d0ffa}
                        {current}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier              {ntldr}
device                  partition=D:
path                    \ntldr
description             Windows XP

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {eacd22e6-cfae-11dc-9a71-b4b57b4d0ffa}
device                  partition=G:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows Vista
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
osdevice                partition=G:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {eacd22e7-cfae-11dc-9a71-b4b57b4d0ffa}
nx                      OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\System32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7
locale                  en-US
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \WINDOWS
resumeobject            {1ae1339f-3dcd-11de-8834-806e6f6e6963}

The output in my previous post was from a text file that I've captured yesterday for Windows 7.

The command of "bcdedit /set {current} locale en-US" tells boot manager to use the English splash/bootup screen. Not specifying the locale defaults to the boot manager's locale it seems.
Thank for your help guys...

Cr00zng

 

[SIW2]

It would add the locale en-Us entry to the 7 entries in the Vista bcd.

When you select 7 from the boot menu, it will "fetch" the 7 bootscreen.

See here:



Seven locale is missing from the Vista bcd. That command will put it in.

You will then get the Vista bootscreen when you boot Vista, and the 7 bootscreen when you boot 7.

 

[Cr00zng]

You will then get the Vista bootscreen when you boot Vista, and the 7 bootscreen when you boot 7.

Works as you said it would after running the suggested command, thanks for your help SIW...

Cr00zng

 

[SIW2]

You're welcome

 

[lynxxyarly]

I'm having a similar issue myself. Basically, I'll run down my specifics of it:

I did not want windows 7 to touch my vista boot loader at all, so I went ahead and unplugged all my drives, save for the one I was intending to install windows 7 on (Note: its not the same drive as what vista is installed on). I installed it just fine and it boots up great.

So I hooked up the other drives and loaded up from my normal vista drive and the bootloader works fine as normal (obvioulsy not including the windows 7 boot). I then loaded up EasyBCD and attempted to add in a boot entry for windows 7 and then proceeded to assign it to the proper drive letter. Saved it all and rebooted. I tried to load up windows 7 from the boot menu and I get an error. It tells me that windows can not verify the digital signature for this file. So I attempt to press F8 to go to advanced options and shut off that digital signature enforcement for this session....but to my surprise it takes me back to the same error screen about how it cant do anything because of the driver signature enforcement.

I know I need to add the command "bcdedit -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS" to the boot loader for the windows 7 section. I have it for the vista loader already. So my question is...how do I add this for windows 7, within vista?

If it helps...

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device                  partition=D:
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default                 {80393741-3cf8-11de-89c7-e244ff43c983}
displayorder            {466f5a88-0af2-4f76-9038-095b170dc21c}
                        {80393741-3cf8-11de-89c7-e244ff43c983}
                        {e97dcf2f-3c88-11de-a8fa-00044b19257b}
                        {e97dcf31-3c88-11de-a8fa-00044b19257b}
toolsdisplayorder       {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout                 5

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {80393741-3cf8-11de-89c7-e244ff43c983}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Vista x64
locale                  en-US
loadoptions             DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
inherit                 {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
nointegritychecks       Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {80393742-3cf8-11de-89c7-e244ff43c983}
nx                      OptIn

Real-mode Boot Sector
---------------------
identifier              {e97dcf2f-3c88-11de-a8fa-00044b19257b}
device                  partition=I:
path                    \NTLDR
description             Windows XP

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {e97dcf31-3c88-11de-a8fa-00044b19257b}
device                  partition=J:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7 x64
osdevice                partition=J:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {2a5e2163-3f9e-11de-afc4-806e6f6e6963}

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

For setting an entry for 7 in your Vista bcd. Boot into Vista and the command is:

bcdedit /set {e97dcf31-3c88-11de-a8fa-00044b19257b} locale en-US

Where the guid relating to 7 is {e97dcf31-3c88-11de-a8fa-00044b19257b}

and you want to add the locale setting ( you need that to get the 7 bootscreen).

To add or "set" anything else, replace the locale en-Us with what you want to set.

Why would you need Disable Integrity checks - shouldn't be necessary.

Is there any reason why you have NTLDR listed with the same GUID as 7 booloader?

I presume you have another partition with XP - can you boot into that OK from Vista?

I would have a look at the 7 drive from within Vista - navigate to it and attempt to open it and folders on it. It may say you do not have permission - click to get access. If so , click.

You might be better removing removing the NTLDR and 7 entries from bcd - use Easybcd to do that.

Then add the 7 entry to Vista bcd using the command prompt.

You might post a screenshot of disk management too , like this:



Hope it helps

 

[lynxxyarly]

Thank you for the quick, prompt, and concise reply!

To answer your questions thus far, I know notice that xp does have the same GUID that windows 7 has. Previously (before I installed windows 7 on that drive) I had a dual boot up for vista and xp just fine with what I had set up.However, now XP does not boot at all. I must admit, that while I am an advanced computer user, I don't ever do much with messing with the bcd and such.

So, if I go off your recommendation, I can just rewrite the bcd via command prompt for windows 7...how would I go about doing all that and setting it up kosher? I assume it all starts out as: "bcdedit /set {e97dcf31-3c88-11de-a8fa-00044b19257b} xxxx" -- where 'xxxx' will replace a command. What commands do I need for said bcd. Also, while I'm at it...I'll have to rewrite the bcd for XP now, since it appears that putting windows 7 on that same drive will take precedence without a bcdedit of some sort.

Also, as you requested..my disk management screen:

 

[torrentg]

lol at your pagefile partition.

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

Is there a reason your D; Games partition is System?



I would make C: Vista into the System partition first.

To do that, go to Folder Options, make sure Hidden files and protected operating system files are showing.

Copy and paste bootmgr and the yellow Boot folder from D to C.

You will get a message saying can't copy bcd as it is in use - just skip it, copy the rest.

Open an elevated command prompt and type:

bcdedit /export D:\Boot\bcd C:\Boot\bcd

In Disk Management, mark C as active.

Also , have a look at which partition the XP bootfiles are on - ntldr and boot.ini.

 

[SIW2]

7 entries in Vista bcd will probably be fine as they are if you use Easybcd to remove the XP entry.

You may want to add these optional commands:

bcdedit /set {e97dcf31-3c88-11de-a8fa-00044b19257b} nx OptIn

bcdedit /set {e97dcf31-3c88-11de-a8fa-00044b19257b} locale en-US

 

[lynxxyarly]

There is no particular reason why my games partition is system...I would assume that it existed first because I always keep the "games' drive saved after every time I wipe my system. I have a wd raptor that I store just games and windows on. 2 partitions; 1 being windows/programs, and the other being all my games...so after I delete a windows partition to reinstall or whatnot, I would assume that the games drive becomes the new first partition. *shrug* I'll change it as you suggested, though. What benefit do I gain by changing this, by the by?

Thank you for the command line options to put in for windows 7, as well. I'll implement those asap. I will also remove the xp entry as instructed.

As far as where ntldr is located...I did a search and I came up with an ntldr located in two different places (see attached picture) I am assuming one of the ntldr is useless since it was last modified in 2004 (its on an old hard drive (slave I) however, the only other ntldr is listed as last modified in 2008 sometime. I know that I just installed xp like a week ago...so I don't know how that makes much sense. The other ntldr is located on my games drive (which is a partition of the same hard drive that vista was installed on. Subsequently, it was also existing when I threw xp on AFTER I already had vista on there). Boot.ini is also only located on the games drive. I know I need to move a few files like ntldr, ntdetect.com and uh..i think bootsect.bak however, I dont recall where I put them, nor do I recall how to then rebuild a boot loader for xp within vista.