Win 7 & XP Dual Boot Problem

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radicalgel

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Hey Guys,

I have 2 SATA HDD's. One 200Gb in which Xp is installed and a 500Gb in which win 7 is installed. I currently dual boot without any issues but I now required to move the 200Gb HDD with Xp to another PC but the moment I remove the 200 Disk win 7 doesn't boot. All I need to know is how I can transfer all the boot manager data from XP to the win 7 HDD. I tried copying the boot folder and the bootmgr file to win 7 and I am able to boot but weirdly I still get a OS choice menu even though the XP HDD is disconnected and if I select the XP option from the OS menu choice it says NTLDR is missing. How can I solve this issue.

I want win 7 to store its boot data on its own drive (500gb) and XP stores it boot data on the 200GB. I really don't want the 2 to get mixed up. I hope someone can help me achieve this.
 
Boot from the Windows 7 install disk, and select repair startup. This will fix the boot loader
 
Okie I seem to have run into another problem now. I managed to transfer the boot manager data to my win 7 drive but now I am unable to boot into XP anymore. I really need to use XP now. Hope someone can help.. If I choose XP from the OS choice screen my PC just restarts.
 
Take a look at EasyBCD to configure dual boots for Windows 7 and XP for your case

Note that Windows boots from the primary drive. It looks for the boot data in the root partition on the primary.
> The boot data format for Windows 7 is different from what it used to be for XP
> So if one does their XP install AFTER Windows 7 exists or does an XP repair, XP doesn't understand/know Windows 7 boot data exists. So it simply writes its ownn boot data into the primary drive. This will let you boot into XP (but not into your Windows 7 partition)
> If one installs Win 7 AFTER XP, for this case Win 7 understands that XP boot data exists and can add itself to create to the boot info to create a dual boot config

I think EasyBCD should be able to create both the Win 7 and XP boot data for you
 
Thanks LookinAround.
EasyBCD works flawlessly. I was able to remove the Vista entry, now that I only run Windows 7 on this computer
 
LookinAround said:
Hi Tmagic650

Yea, i've found EasyBCD pretty handy. Glad you found it helpful as well.
Click to expand...

Hey cool, I just got EasyBCD but I can't seem to figure it out. Also it only has options for Vista and not Win 7.

Ok heres what I want. I want my Win 7 HDD to be the primary one and hold all the boot data (Win 7 & Xp). I want to be able to Dual boot and also have no issues bootin into Win 7 in case I decide to disconnect the HDD with Xp in it.

I would be very grateful if you could give me a quick tutorial on how to achieve this using EasyBCD. I would also like to know which version of EasyBCD i should get cuz I heard somewhere that 2.0 beta supports Win 7.

P.S. Im running Win 7 (64bit) and Win Xp (32bit)
 
I tried that but no luck. I stopped getting the ntldr missing error but if I select XP from the OS choice menu my PC just restarts.
 
In Windows 7, go to Control Panel, System, Advanced Settings, Startup & Recovery. IN the drop down box, check to see if Windows 7 and XP are listed, and there is time in seconds displayed in both choices below the drop down box
 
1) Check Advanced Settings as Tmagic650 suggested
2) I'm guessing here, but sounds like if you get the dual boot choice but selecting XP causes PC to restart, i'm thinking the XP choice is either
> Pointing to something invalid (does it point to the right disk?)
> The XP drive still needs certain XP specific boot files on the drive (i think EasyBCD can rewrite them for you) such as: ntldr, ntdetect.com

You might also try posting in the NeoSmart forums for more detailed help about your specific issue

You might also look at Windows 7 - BCDEDIT - How to Use
 
LookinAround said:
1) Check Advanced Settings as Tmagic650 suggested
2) I'm guessing here, but sounds like if you get the dual boot choice but selecting XP causes PC to restart, i'm thinking the XP choice is either
> Pointing to something invalid (does it point to the right disk?)
> The XP drive still needs certain XP specific boot files on the drive (i think EasyBCD can rewrite them for you) such as: ntldr, ntdetect.com

You might also try posting in the NeoSmart forums for more detailed help about your specific issue

You might also look at Windows 7 - BCDEDIT - How to Use
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot!

Finally figured it out using EasyBCD 2.0 beta.

I just have one last doubt. A system has suddenly appeared on my Win 7 root dir. It's called QVQAH and has no extension. Can someone please tell me what it is and if it can be removed?
 
Radicalgel,

You should be able to pull the 200GB HD with Windows XP out of the computer, boot from the Windows 7 DVD and perform a startup repair.

Should you require additional assistance and feedback, Microsoft does have an official Windows 7 Support Forum located here http://tinyurl.com/9fhdl5 . It is supported by product specialists as well as engineers and support teams.

Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team
 
dual boot

windows 7 and XP can dual boot but XP must be the first install for the system uses XP'S boot loader for the MBR
 
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