Windows Boot Manager not being displayed

[win7fan]

Hi, I'm new to the seven forums . I've got Windows 7 dual booted with vista, but the boot manager is not being displayed, for me to select which version of Windows I want to boot up. I have got both Windows 7 & Vista on seperate Hard drives. Does anyone have any idea, how I can enable the boot manager selection screen (when my computer boots up), so I can either boot Vista or Windows 7. Currently, I can only boot Windows 7.

If this helps, I've had vista installed first and I've only just installed Windows 7 today. Any help will be appreicated.

 

[Brink]

Hello Win7fab, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Strange, if you install Windows 7 with the Vista drive still connected, then it should have had this for you by default.

Double check to make sure that you have the Time to Display the List of Operating Systems at Boot box checked with how long you want to wait to have to select a OS at boot. Be sure to check that both Vista and Windows 7 is listed as being available to select from as well.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2282-default-operating-system-change-default-boot-os.html


If you do not have both of them listed there or at boot, then you can run a Startup Repair to add it.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[win7fan]

Thanks for the help Brink . I've just checked 'System Configuration' and 'Windows 7' is the only one listed under the 'Boot' tab. This is the same in Startup and Recovery as well, Windows 7 is only avaliable in the drop down box, under the 'Default operating system' section, instead of both Vista and Windows 7. I have attached some screenshots to show this.

It looks like I am going to have to use the Startup Repair tool, like you suggested . Which DVD shall I use to perform a Startup Repair, Vista or Windows 7?

 

[MilesAhead]

You could try VistaBootPro. It's $10 now but if you hunt around you may be able to get a version when it was still freeware.

 

[Brink]

Win7fan,

You might also see if doing a Startup Repair with the Vista installation DVD can fix and add Vista to the Windows Boot Manager to have both of them.

 

[win7fan]

Thanks again, I've tried to do a Start-up Repair from the Vista DVD, but when I click 'Repair your Computer', to open the recovery tools window, Vista is not listed at all in 'System Recovery Options'. I clicked 'Next' anyway and then selected 'Start-up Repair'. It checked for any problems and attempted a repair and then displayed a report.

The following message was displayed under 'Root Cause Found' in the report:

'The partition table does not have a valid system partition.

Repair action: Partition table repair
Result: Completed successfully. Error Code 0x0
Time taken: 3406 ms.'

Does anyone know how to correct this error and repair Vista, without formating and reinstalling?

 

[Uber Philf]

Easy fix, http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/15324-lost-dual-boot-2.html#post156938

That should explain it, if you need help with it, dont hesitate to ask me here, ill be more then happy to help.

 

[win7fan]

Thanks Uber Phlif , I will try EasyBCD. Just one question though, will it add Vista, even if it can't boot up or be displayed from the Vista DVD?

 

[Uber Philf]

yes, what you need to do, is set W7 as default, and set Vista as second boot, as last post of mine in the link i gave you earlier will describe.

If you need any help, don't hesitate to ask me here, and ill be ore then happy to help you through.

 

[win7fan]

I've tried to use EasyBCD to repair and add vista, so I can dual boot it with Windows 7, but that was unfortunately unsuccessful. Earlier, I removed the Windows 7 HDD and left the Vista HDD in. I then tried booting vista but it would not boot and came up with the following message: 'Insert a Disk or Bootable Media and Press any key to continue'

Is there anyway to recover or repair Vista without formating? If this helps, vista is displayed as a healthy partition in 'Disk Management' via Windows 7. I have attached a screenshot of this below.

Thanks for your help everyone

 

[Uber Philf]

haha, i dunno if this will work, but in EasyBCD, try just doing the "Re-install Vista Bootloader" option. maybe it will boot you into Vista? Just a thought.

 

[win7fan]

haha, i dunno if this will work, but in EasyBCD, try just doing the "Re-install Vista Bootloader" option. maybe it will boot you into Vista? Just a thought.

Thanks Uber Philif, I will try that . Hopefully, Vista will boot again.

Edit: No, it did not work, windows 7 boots up again. I restarted, then I Pressed F8 before windows 7 booted up and went to Windows Boot Manager. It looks like Vista's partition table is corrupt somehow, as Windows 7 is only displayed. There's got to be a way around this, as Vista is listed as healthy.

 

[MilesAhead]

Unfortunately, when you boot a Vista install DVD and do the repair to fix the MBR, they deliberately do not overwrite the partition table info in the mbr. So if that's what's hosed, it won't fix it. That's why it's a good idea to save a copy of the mbr with some utility or use an image backup that does it. I unhosed my partition table by backing up and restoring with Macrium Reflect. But you might try some partition table fixer programs.

Also see this site:

Boot Land

They may be able to show you how to set up a USB key drive with a boot manager to boot off the HD similar to how Linux does it. Once you get it set up on USB it should be easier to get the HD setup fixed up.

 

[SIW2]

Run startup repair from the 7 dvd - if it doesn't do it automatically, select Vista from the o/s's listed and click Next, then startup repair.

Or do it by hand :

Boot into 7, open an elevated cmd prompt, type: (Replace the ? with the Vista drive letter as seen when booted into 7. Press enter after each command)

bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Vista"

A {GUID} will be returned, use that , including brackets , in the commands below:

bcdedit /set { the-guid-you-got} device partition=?:

bcdedit /set { the-guid-you-got} osdevice partition=?:

close cmd prompt.

The description between " " can be anything you like.

 

[win7fan]

Thanks SIW2 . Vista is now bootable and is now displayed in the Windows Boot Manager! Also, Thanks for the everyone who helped me out with this problem . I really appreicaite it

Edit: Accidently, I typed the commands (above post) several times and now I have got 3 Vista Entries in the Windows Boot Manager! Is it safe to delete the one's marked as 'C:'?, as 'D' is the drive windows vista is on. I've attached a screenshot of this below.

 

[Brink]

Win7fan,

I would recommend that you verify the good Vista C: or D: entry by booting into it first though, but it will be safe to delete the extra Vista C: and D: entries from msconfig afterwards.

 

[win7fan]

Thanks for your help everyone Windows 7 & Vista are now dual booted successfully and are listed in the Windows Boot Manager The problem is now solved .

 

[Brink]

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted win7fan.

 

[SIW2]

You're welcome - glad it's working for you