| Forum Home | ||||
| Press F1 | ||||
| Thread ID: 88481 | 2008-03-28 23:52:00 | Assistance with dual-booting Win XP and Vista | xmojo1 (4630) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 653774 | 2008-03-28 23:52:00 | I have a Win XPSP2 setup and I recently acquired Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 . I wanted to try out Vista so I bought a second HDD . Before installing Vista I unplugged the Win XP hard drive and when Vista was installed on the second HDD I plugged the Win XP drive again . The problems are: 1 . I don't get the option at boot to choose which OS to boot . The computer boots whichever hard drive is at the top of the list in the BIOS . 2 . I fiddled around with EasyBCD and added Win XP to the list of OSes . At boot I do get the choice of either XP or Vista but selecting XP gives the message that \NTLDR is missing or corrupt and XP won't load . Vista boots if it is selected . The XP installation isn't trashed as I can still boot into it by selecting the hard drive that it is installed on . Should I have installed Vista with the XP hard drive plugged in also instead of unplugging it? I read in another post that if XP is plugged in while installing Vista, XP's bootloader is configured to give the OS selection menu and all is well . Is this true? |
xmojo1 (4630) | ||
| 653775 | 2008-03-28 23:58:00 | Just press F8 upon bootup and you are given some options on screen. Oh read your last line .. The bios may also give you an option to press a button for a temporary boot up drive. Or just change the bootup drive sequence in bios. |
Nomad (952) | ||
| 653776 | 2008-03-29 00:13:00 | Vista's bootloader can handle XP but XP's loader can't handle Vista, so you may need to reformat the XP drive, and reinstall it when both drives are in the machine . When you boot to Vista, make sure both drives appear in Win Explorer . Install XP on the XP drive (with both drives in the machine), and reinstate Vista's bootloader from the Vista DVD . (Startup and repair when you boot from the disc I think) Then boot into Vista and use BCDEdit to put XP back on the boot menu . You (should!) have a working dual-boot system now - back up everything first just in case!! :D For more info: Link ( . com/how_to_dual_boot_vista_and_xp_with_vista_installed" target="_blank">apcmag . com _first__the_stepbystep_guide . htm) |
jwil1 (65) | ||
| 653777 | 2008-03-29 00:29:00 | Bit late now, but you should Have left XP drive attached, Vista would have detected the XP and made it into a dual boot automatically . You DONT need to reinstall XP . Two options . Wipe the Vista Drive and attach the XP, making sure it boots into XP first, then leaving the XP drive attached, load vista on the empty drive, making sure you select the correct drive to install Vista . ( other wise it will wipe XP) Second option, and easier is to download EasyBCD ( . net/dl . php?id=1" target="_blank">neosmart . net) Load it / install on the Vista and open the program you will see This window ( . imagef1 . net . nz/files/EasyBCD . jpg" target="_blank">www . imagef1 . net . nz) then do the following: Under “Add an Entry” and under the Windows tab and select in the Version drop-down list Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3 . Change the Drive to E:\ and the name to “Windows XP”, then click “Add Entry” and “Save Reboot and you will be offered two options to boot into, XP or Vista . Note: if at any time you want to remove Vista, its a simple case of editing the Boot . ini file and XP will boot back as normal . |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 653778 | 2008-03-29 03:19:00 | I have a Win XPSP2 setup and I recently acquired Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1. I wanted to try out Vista so I bought a second HDD. Before installing Vista I unplugged the Win XP hard drive and when Vista was installed on the second HDD I plugged the Win XP drive again. did pretty much exactly this myself........after the vista install I set it back up again with the vista drive as slave and xp as master........THEN I installed 'bootUS' .......upon powerup I now get a boot screen giving me choice of either system and it works perfectly........ |
drcspy (146) | ||
| 653779 | 2008-03-29 03:20:00 | oh yep.......I installed bootUS onto the xp drive..... | drcspy (146) | ||
| 653780 | 2008-03-29 03:23:00 | Hmmm, should have left them both connected. That way Vista would haven known about the XP install, but it didn't. | pctek (84) | ||
| 653781 | 2008-03-29 07:32:00 | yeh but it's not necessary to do so........as I say I did exactly the same - deliberately - and it working perfectly | drcspy (146) | ||
| 653782 | 2008-03-29 11:01:00 | I did as Wainuitech suggested: I re-formatted and re-installed Vista on the second hard drive and left the Win XP hard drive plugged in and this time around it's worked, I get the option to boot either XP or Vista. Thanks for the advice everybody! | xmojo1 (4630) | ||
| 1 | |||||