XP/Vista dual boot XP won't start from Vista boot manager

Partitioned HDD originally with XP + Linux now XP + Vista + Linux
(installed in that order) all three OS now work happily if booted
separately with GRUB boot loader.

Selecting Vista from GRUB (behaviour was same before adding Linux /
GRUB) the Vista Boot Manager presents Vista and XP options but if I
select XP option I am recycled back to the same Boot Manager option
screen.

It is as if the Vista boot manager thinks XP is where Vista actually
is and hence boots into itself again. Selecting Vista works as
expected. XP previously failed with missing NTLDR error fixed with
Easy BCD by selecting the "F:" drive for the legacy OS.

It bugs me to see references to C: and F: in configurations when these
are partitions that Windows renames at the drop of the hat, so below
Vista's C: drive is XP's F: drive etc.

Viewed from XP (partition 1) :-

C: has ntldr, boot.ini etc
F: has bootmgr and the /BOOT directory

Running from XP :-

F:\Windows\System32>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=F:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {default}
displayorder {default}
{d2b28d04-b902-11db-ad28-001195c8bc7c}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {default}
device partition=F:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice partition=F:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {fd438835-b8b2-11db-a847-a1fa7ab7e25e}
nx OptIn

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {d2b28d04-b902-11db-ad28-001195c8bc7c}
device partition=C:
path \ntldr
description Windows XP

I would like to get Windows handling the two boot options properly for
future use in dual boot situations without using GRUB.

Any suggestions ?

Phil

 

Phil,

Pop along to the Pronetworks forum and download the Vista Boot pro programme
then post on their forum, as these guys no more about dual/multi boot issues
with vista than anyone I know!

It sounds like the BCD path needs editing to point at the same drive for
both Vista and XP, but as I say these guys are much more knowledgeable than I.

Ridesy

 

thanks for the suggestion. I'm trying to avoid any more add-ons and I
want to understand the fundamentals here.
I have posted there but thus far the solutions suggested include
measures like inserting CDs in drives and I'm not prepared to move
from 3 working systems on the basis of hoping that something will
happen to fix it

Surely MS have a workable dual boot solution for XP and vista on one
hard drive without having to use Open Source tools to manage the
booting ?

Personally I think anything referring to a drive letter is doomed to
fail as these change from when you install off a bootable DVD to
depend on which OS you're in ie "drive C:" is not uniquely defined as
a specific device or partition on a specific disk, its like the OS
saying "look there first, wherever "there" might be, and if its not
there somethings changed and I can't help you" At least XP's
boot.ini directly references drives, partitions etc.

Phil

 

^^^^^^
I've seen similar questions answered with hints that ntldr is
in the wrong root directory and needs to be copied/moved to
another drive. But of course I can't recall the details.

If BCD really means C:\ntldr then it might mean the first
primary partition of the first BIOS hd -- or it might mean
the root directory of your Vista, or ...

I'd copy ntldr into every root directory you have on every
hd until it works. Mine is on the first primary partition
of the first BIOS hd, which contains *no* operating system
at all, and yet it works.

 

Thanks for the thoughts, but I don't think that's the current problem.
I went through a spell of the "ntldr not found" thing and that was
solved by getting the right partition device for the XP.

EasyBCD is a GUI editor for this latest MS creation. http://
neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

Phil

 

Well then, what about holding down F8 while trying to boot XP?

 

no go, gets me to Vista. On more careful observation I see that selecting XP
is triggering a reboot (POST screen etc) not just going back round the boot
manager options.

I'm following up your ntldr idea next, having found what looked to be a key
fact late last night.

Phil

 

I have it fixed now. Thaks for the suggestion.

The rules are that both the new Boot Manager and the old ntldr stuff have to
be on the Active partition when the machine boots up. In my case that is the
Vista partition which is the second on the hard drive. It was set to be the
Active partition so that Vista would install into it.

By copying ntldr, ntdetect and boot.ini onto the active Vista partition
(where /BOOT bootmgr and the other Vista boot stuff lives) then XP will
correctly reboot via the Vista moot menu.

If my XP partition was the active one then perhaps the new Vista boot
manager files would need to be on it.

These three files can be removed from the XP partition and XP will still
boot from Vista, but not directly with GRUB which is explicitly referencing
their location on the XP partition, although I suspect it might work if I
pointed it at the other partition - save that for tomorrow.

So now everything works like it should.

Originally I had an error "\ntldr missing or corrupt" which went away when I
pointed the new boot manager at F: (which today has decided to be E to
load XP but this didn't address the fundamental problem.

With hindsight I didn't need the 3rd party utility as its partial fix was
the wrong way to go.

Phil