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Windows 7: windows xp and windows 7 dual boot issue: they won't
windows xp and windows 7 dual boot issue: they won't
by mhguda - 5/21/09 9:02 AMI read the complete step by step how to on setting up dual booting windows 7 and xp. I prepared all my partitions beforehand, and labeled them accordingly so there would be no confusion. I installed windows 7 on my new SATA drive. Everything went OK, except that I never got a boot menu presented - to 7, it was as if XP was not there.
I downloaded and installed, and ran, easybcd, and tried to add the xp menu entry manually. It asks for the drive, and the drive with xp on it is now, under windows 7, drive D (it is E when I boot xp). All necessary files (ntldr, ntdetect.com, boot.ini) are all on this drive. But when I try that menu entry, all the computer does is reboot. It will still only boot windows 7, unless I go into the BIOS settings and change the boot order of the hard drives (in this list, if I make the one with the Win7 partition nr 1, I can boot windows 7 and only that; if I make the one with the XP partition nr 1, I get my regular old boot menu from boot.ini (which also gets me into my wubi install of ubuntu).
I would like to be able to boot into XP from the windows 7 boot menu, or, alternately, would like to boot windows 7 from the xp boot menu. (that would be even better). Does anyone have any pointers for me?
Thanks in advance.
Using your Windows 7 DVD...
by John.Wilkinson
- 5/21/09 10:00 AM
In reply to: windows xp and windows 7 dual boot issue: they won't by mhguda
Insert your Vista DVD, restart your computer, and press any key to boot from CD/DVD when prompted. (You may have to edit your BIOS settings to set your optical drive as your primary boot device.) Once the Windows Vista installer launches proceed through the keyboard/language selection and, instead of clicking Install Now, choose "Repair my Computer" from the bottom left corner. Finally, choose the Startup Repair option and restart your computer once it completes. That should automatically detect both operating systems and reset the boot options.
Hope this helps,
John
Startup cannot repair my system...
by mhguda - 5/21/09 2:20 PM In reply to: Using your Windows 7 DVD... by John.Wilkinson
I did what you suggested. It did not help. After much searching of the system, the options to repair the boot menu are really only what's already there: to boot Windows 7. It does not see XP. I opened the command prompt to see if all my drives are seen, and yes, they are. Now C is the XP partition and D is the Windows 7 partition. But as to boot options, XP stays invisible.
use OS manager it worked well for me...
by Chinookman - 5/23/09 8:37 AM In reply to: Startup cannot repair my system... by mhgudadon't know if you are out of luck but I never use a boot manager. I have XP Pro, Vista Ultimate and W7RC32 and they are all managed by the OS. at boot up I have:"Previous edition of Windows", Vista (the default it goes to) and then the W7RC32".
So maybe the use of a boot manager hosed this up for you. Just my guess may have misread your post, maybe?
Also after my OS was loaded then I went in a renamed the partition so I could tell which is which.
I've figured out what I was doing wrong
by mhguda - 5/23/09 9:29 AM In reply to: use OS manager it worked well for me... by ChinookmanI was using easybcd to edit the boot record, and following all the howtos and manuals and whatnot. All of them somehow assuming that the boot disk is the same for all the OSes, even if you say they are not. For instance, none of those howtos mentioned that even when I had my older windows (XP) on drive E and the newer one on C, and I am pointing the BCD to the correct drive, what I actually had to do was copy the three crucial files - ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to the C drive anyway, then edit this new boot.ini to point at the E drive where XP lives (with the drive letter it would acquire when I would boot from Win 7 - yet another item to add to the confusion). What happens then, it seems, is that when I choose XP from the new BCD bootmenu, the copy of the xp bootloader that is now on C takes over, finds my OS from the (edited) boot.ini, and starts XP.
Here is another chapter to this story. I had previously installed wubi ubuntu under XP and was trying to boot into that from the BCD. All sorts of howtos, manuals, and items on easybcd that claim to make this possible - don't. I finally figured out how to do it: adding, with easybcd, a boot item for wubi, then using bcdedit, editing both its drive and its path. The path should be wubildr.mbr, in spite of all claims to the contrary. I can now boot the three OSes, 7, XP, and wubi ubuntu, from one boot prompt. I'm just wondering why it should still be so difficult.
Another solution for Win7 - WinXP dual boot
by wladstoil - 8/9/09 9:59 AM In reply to: I've figured out what I was doing wrong by mhgudaYour solution has some drawbacks. For example Windows XP won't be able to modify directly the copy of boot.ini which resides on the Win7 partition.
Another solution to the problem is to dump the boot sector from the WinXP partition in file and instruct the Win7 boot manager to load this file.
Step by step instructions to achive this:
1. Dump the boot sector from the WinXP partition in file bootsect.bin and place this file in the root directory of the WinXP partition.
2. bcdedit /create /d "Windows XP" /application bootsector
bcdedit will return an identifier, which I will refer to as {ID}.
3. bcdedit /set {ID} device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
\Device\HarddiskVolume1 refers to the first partition. You may need to change that.
4. bcdedit /set {ID} path \bootsect.bin
5. bcdedit /displayorder {ID} /addlast
That is.
How do I get my old boot.ini file?
by allenshorter - 9/1/09 2:07 PM In reply to: Another solution for Win7 - WinXP dual boot by wladstoilI have a partitioned drive that was working with XP on the E: drive and Vista on the C: drive. My vista got so bad I just upgraded it to Windows 7. Problem is, my xp drive will no longer boot.
I am trying to follow the steps you listed, but how do I "Dump the boot sector from the winXP partition WHILE USING Windows 7 (since that is the only thing that will boot up now).
BELOW IS MY CURRENT BCDEDIT PRINTOUT...IF THAT HELPS...
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {640c746f-10ee-11de-bc22-9e23c80aa7b3}
displayorder {current}
{640c7476-10ee-11de-bc22-9e23c80aa7b3}
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 {640c7471-10ee-11de-bc22-9e23c80aa7b3}
recoveryenabled Yes
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {640c746f-10ee-11de-bc22-9e23c80aa7b3}
nx OptIn
Real-mode Boot Sector
---------------------
identifier {640c7476-10ee-11de-bc22-9e23c80aa7b3}
device partition=E:
path \NTLDR
description ERCfT Studio
C:\Windows\system32>
WIN 7 & XP
by YeYe55 - 5/26/09 7:38 AM In reply to: windows xp and windows 7 dual boot issue: they won't by mhgudaVery simple. You don't need to partion the hard drive to install xp and won 7. All you need to do is just install win 7 and then once you have the system up and running, install xp and choose another folder. What will happen is,Xp will be installed in another pocket. After this you will be able to see both boot ups.
Win7 and WinXP on the same partition is problematic
by wladstoil - 8/9/09 9:06 AM In reply to: WIN 7 & XP by YeYe55That way a directory collision may occur since Windows 7 and Windows XP use similar directory structure. For example both use the following directories:
%SystemDrive%\Program Files
%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings (this actually is not a directory, but a junction in Windows 7)
Also they both will use the same pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys by default if they both are configured to use page file and hibernate file. If for example you want to run one of the Windows OSes in virtual machine from the other a problem may occur because of this.
There may be other problems. It is much more cleanly to separete the two OSes in different partitions.
Strange
by tubaloth - 8/14/09 7:38 AM In reply to: windows xp and windows 7 dual boot issue: they won't by mhgudaThat is strange that it didn't work.
I have had a dual boot of Vista and XP for the longest time, I add Windows 7 to mix and no problem at all.
The only thing I know is that Windows 7 (and or Vista) need to be the second OS you install. But it sounds like XP was already on your system (and Ubuntu?) And you installed W7 after that?
I did have Ubuntu installed before Windows 7 (same partition) but Ubuntu has a different boot loader and not really cause problems but wasn't as easy with Windows.
Have you started a fresh again, At least two different partitions. Install XP (Pro) then Windows 7?
Hi windows XP and Windows & on dual hard drives
by goutham_sabala - 9/14/09 1:15 AM In reply to: windows xp and windows 7 dual boot issue: they won't by mhguda1> I have 2 Hard drives, 1stHdd - 160 Gb and 2nd 500gb ( Blank _ NewHdd)
2> 1st hard drive has win xp and all the data
3> I would like to install win 7 RC on the second hard drive and when i boot my system I would like to have a option to choose from the operating system that I would like to boot from .
If you could please provide me the detailed instructions that would be of great help . Thanks in Advance
The short version.
by R. Proffitt - 9/14/09 4:39 AM
In reply to: Hi windows XP and Windows & on dual hard drives by goutham_sabala
I did this.
1. Installed XP to the first drive. Done and working.
2. Booted up my 7 RC DVD and let it install to the second drive. Done and now I get a boot menu.
What you need to know is that we can't remove XP or 7 without pain. I never offer good news on that.
Bob
Dual Hard Drive - Windows 7 RC and XP - "can't remove 7 RC"
by liebermanrichard - 10/17/09 6:05 AM In reply to: The short version. by R. Proffitt
It's distressing to learn that "we can't remove XP or 7 without pain."
I have the same setup (XP on one hard drive, Windows 7 RC on another). I know Windows 7 RC self-destructs my computer at some point, and I want to keep my XP.
What if I format my Windows 7 RC drive and erase all? Will I still be able to access XP?
Any other suggestions? Do you know if installing the full Windows 7 when it comes out will cure the Windows 7 RC self-destruct problem?
That.
by R. Proffitt - 10/17/09 9:41 AM
In reply to: Dual Hard Drive - Windows 7 RC and XP - "can't remove 7 RC" by liebermanrichard
That issue about removing one or the other Windows and what happens next is well worn ground. Nothing has changed here. There is your supported paths and then you find folk that take up learning and tinkering far more than I will.
TODAY I'm migrating from one machine to another and that backup and restore is how I deal with this issue.
You may find your our solution but there has yet to be a click here to remove that and make my other OS still work.
Bob
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