Dual Boot - Vista Basic and XP X64 - One Hard Disk and Two Partiti

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Guest

Hi

I have two partitions on my harddisk; with Vista Basic on one, and XP X64 on
the other. I can only have one boot; at a time, either to Vista or X64. I
tried to have a dual boot by installing third party software tools such as
VitsaBootPro, but did could not boot to XP X64, though I had a boot option
menu at the bootup. Selecting and trying to boot to XP X64, showed an error.

How could I have a successfull dual boot?

Help is Most appreciated.
Hemanth
 
You don't say what you do to boot to XP. Also which partition has Vista,
which XP which is designated as the system partition when you boot into
Vista. Without better information, all I can suggest is that you copy the
ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini files to the other partition. Check to see
if the entry points to the correct partition number for XP
 
Dear John,

thanks for your reply. I have one SATA hard disk, with two paritions in it.

C:\ - > Vista Basic
D:\- > XP X64

I am not (unable) currently booting to XP X64.

'Drive C' is the System Partition.

Where can I find ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini files? Should I copy them
from XP X 64 to Vista Basic root partition? (C:\)

Waiting for your reply.

Please let me know if you need any further details.

Many Thanks,
Hemanth
 
Hi

I copied NTLDR and NTDETECT from the Windows XP X64 installation CD to D:\
where XP X64 is installed.

The BCD Registry Settings on VistaBootPRO look as,

START********************************************

There is currently 2 OS(s) installed on your system.
The current boot timeout is: 30

Default OS: Microsoft Windows Vista

Entry 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Microsoft Windows Vista
BCD ID: {current}
Boot Drive: C:
Windows Drive: C:
System Bootloader: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

Entry 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Windows XP X64
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Boot Drive: D:
System Bootloader: \ntldr

END ****************************************************

I get two operating systems (Vista and XP X64) at the boot; but I get a
message as follows when I select Windows XP X64.

Invalid Boot.ini
Booting to C:\Windows

Then an error message appears to copy NTOSKRNL to <Windows Root>\System32\

Now I wonder why an attempt is being made to boot to C:\ though XP X64 is on
D:\.

Looking forward to your reply.

Many Thanks,
Hemanth
 
You need to copy the boot.ini file over also. Without a boot.ini the
default is to boot to the partition that the ntldr is on, which in your case
is Vista, which ntldr can't load.
 
Hi John,
thanks for your reply.

1>Where *exactly* to copy NTLDR, NTDETECT and BOOT.INI files? I have C:\ for
Vista and D:\ for XP X64.

2>Where to find BOOT.INI?

Hemanth
 
You already have the ntdetect.com and ntldr files, that's why you now get
the NTOSKRNL message. If you don't have a boot.ini it is more difficult as
it can be difficult to create one. On your XP install CD, go into the
Recovery Console, and at a command prompt enter bootcfg /rebuild and see
if one is created. Has worked for some not others.
 
Hemanth,

I hope you wouldn't mind, if I join this conversation.

I have just bought a laptop with Vista Home Premium
running on C: drive. Although the drive was partitioned as
C and D drives, I had to re-format the C drive and load my
old XP Pro on C:drive and re-loaded Vista on D: drive.
If you use multiple OP systems under XP, the boot.ini
file on C drive takes care of the booting, but as soon as
you load the Vista as an OP system, the boot settings
are controlled by Vista. You should load WinXP on
C: drive, but load the Vista as the ‘last’ OP system
on the D: drive or E: Drive. Once you load Vista, it will
control the loading process.

I am not a tech 'Guru', but I have both XP Pro and Vista
Home Premium running on my Laptop, with home network,
although I had more difficulty to setup the common printer.

Good luck

User66
 
If you are talking about 1 drive, consistent active partition and installing
Vista last, Vista presents the bootscreen. Once you select a legacy system,
the Vista bootloader passes control to the NT bootloader (ntldr) and the
booting to the selected os proceeds thru its process, which includes using
the boot.ini when present. If you have more than one XP system, as I do, you
will see the boot.ini boot screen to chose which system to boot.
 
Hi

many thanks John....
I wrote the following code in Notepad and saved it as Boot.ini (type - text).

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP X64"
/fastdetect

I could now have a dual partition option menu during boot up; and
successfully boot to both of them.

I have the same NTLDR, NTDETECT (copied from XP installation disk) and the
newly created BOOT.INI in both C:\ and D:\ on my hard disk. In fact, they
have to be copied to both the partitions, or else can't have dual boot up
(can't boot to XP).

I have VistaBootPro on the Vista.

Regards,
Hemanth
 
Good work. Glad you have it working.


Hemanth said:
Hi

many thanks John....
I wrote the following code in Notepad and saved it as Boot.ini (type -
text).

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP X64"
/fastdetect

I could now have a dual partition option menu during boot up; and
successfully boot to both of them.

I have the same NTLDR, NTDETECT (copied from XP installation disk) and the
newly created BOOT.INI in both C:\ and D:\ on my hard disk. In fact, they
have to be copied to both the partitions, or else can't have dual boot up
(can't boot to XP).

I have VistaBootPro on the Vista.

Regards,
Hemanth


John Barnes said:
If you are talking about 1 drive, consistent active partition and
installing
Vista last, Vista presents the bootscreen. Once you select a legacy
system,
the Vista bootloader passes control to the NT bootloader (ntldr) and the
booting to the selected os proceeds thru its process, which includes
using
the boot.ini when present. If you have more than one XP system, as I do,
you
will see the boot.ini boot screen to chose which system to boot.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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