Dual boot problem with Win XP and Windows 7

[mld218]

Hello,

I followed the guides on setting up a dual boot scenario between an existing Windows XP install and a Windows 7 install.

I shrunk the drive my XP install is on c: and added a partitition for Windows 7 f: and installed Windows 7 onto the f drive. It appeared to install successfully, the issue I am having is my machine boots directly into XP, I never get an option to choose windows 7.

If I click into the drive (partition) that Windows 7 is on, I can see that windows 7 is there and installed, I just can't boot into it.

This is the 1st time I am trying a dual boot scenario and not sure where to go from here.

Thanks for any help you can give
Mike

 

[C0u64R]

okay in windows XP right click on your "my computer" icon and choose properties. then click on the advanced tab and there will be a sub class that says startup and recovery Click the settings button next to it. it will open up a dialog box to allow you to select the timing on showing other os. Check the box to display other operating systems and allow at least 30 seconds or more to choose it that way your able to have time to pick which one you want. Press okay and okay to the windows and restart your pc. The pc should now boot to a menu where you can select windows 7 or windows xp. congrats on your dual boot system.

Cougar

 

[mld218]

I navigated as you mentioned, and checked the box that says "time to display a list of operating systems" and set it to 60. It was already checked and set to 30. I know the time shouldnt matter but I wanted to change it just to see if something would be activated.

Unfortunately the menu with with both systems didnt appear, on reboot is just booted directly into WIn XP.

Does something need to be done with manual start up options in there manually? These are the entries that are listed manually

;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
[boot loader]
timeout=60
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT

There is no mention is Windows 7 at all, even though I know it was installed.

Thanks for any help you can give
Mike

 

[C0u64R]

yeah actually you may need to manually add the line to allow selection of the boot partition for windows 7.. I need to know what partition your windows 7 install is on. Please tell me so I can help you configure the script to call it correctly.

Cougar

 

[mld218]

Thank you for the help,

The Drive letter is F: and it is the 3rd partition that was created on that drive. Does that help you at all, or is there a tool or somewhere I need to look to get you the specific information.

Once again thank you for the help
Mike

 

[C0u64R]

I’m not sure why its not installed correctly for booting but I need to take a different approach from what I was originally thinking because this has become slightly more complex.

I was reading your file and it says

;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.

This means that we must edit BCDEDIT.exe I have never done that before. I was just going to write you a new loader for xp but that would not solve the problem. as a result I must do a bit more research in the matter.

I would suggest reading this thread and seeing if you find any helpful info there.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21741595-Windows-7-boot-manager-editing-questions

Alternatively the person in that thread solved his problem using a program which can be found here.
http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 Just scroll to the bottom and click download. I take no responsibility for the information in the external forum post and I am not responsible for any damages caused by your choice to run the software mentioned in this post.

 

[mld218]

Well as an update to this topic, I found somewhere over the weekend that the boot files need to be on the 1st partition and in my system they were on the 2nd partition, because I created my Win 7 partition to the left of the existing XP partitiion. I deleted the Win 7 partition which was to the left, and created a new one to the right. This caused another boot issue, to where the system would act like it was booting up and but just hang at the win xp blue startup screen.

After trying to fix that for many hours, I just ended up formatting the drive and installing a clean version of windows 7. I spent most of yesterday installing programs. There are 2 driver issues I am having both seemingly related to pci input cards that I can't find anything on.

Thats how I solved my problem.

 

[Poppa Bear]

Multiple boot scenario

Although the boot problem is a dead issue, this might hopefully be useful for future reference.

I'm running XP Pro, Vista Ultimate & Win7 Ultimate on one HD with a 4th partition for storage. And I have experienced problems with lost boot files for both Vista and Win7. There were two possible fairly simple solutions that I came across.

1. Boot your PC from your installation DVD for Win7 and when it reaches the point where it asks you to install windows, choose the repair option. It will then search for windows installations, and offer to repair any missing or damaged boot files.

It doesn't always work, but more often does than not.

2. I spent quite a lot of time working with BCDEdit, and frankly it's a nightmare. NeoSmart put out a brilliant little program called EasyBCD, and it's free. it can add, delete, repair or rename boot files; and set which OS will control the boot as well as set the boot order. All in all a very simple and effective program. It can be downloaded here.

To save a bit of time, the download button is at the very bottom of the web page, while all the mis-leading, pay-for download options are at the top. Still I guess they've got to make a $ or $$ two.

Hope this may prove helpful.