Need Dual Boot (XP Pro and Vista) help.

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Guest

Hello,

I just installed the 64 bit version of RC1 on an extra drive (G:).

On my primary drive (C:) I am running XP Pro (32 bit).

Vista goes through the initial setup routine, then when it says "vista must
reboot to continue installation", the system reboots but XP starts up.

I restarted and hit F8 to go to go my boot menu to boot the drive that I
installed Vista on, however it tells me the NTLDR is missing. I tried to
install again and then got a message that there was a boot disk missing.

What do I need to do in order to properly get the windows boot menu so that
I can choose to boot either to XP or Vista?

I did search the posts for an answer to this question, but wasn't able to
really find anything that specifically addressed this kind of situation.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Rich35,

I have done two installs of Vista (one 64 and one 32) on a dirrerent
partition on my 2nd hard drive and have had NO problems. The program does its
rebooting to the correct drive.

Might I suggest reformatting your drive with Vista installed and then do a
clean install.

You did choose customized install and pointed Vista to your new drive?

Did you boot to your Vista DVD? or start installing from XP?

Jeff
 
i too would like to ask "Did you begin istallation from INSIDE XP?" if you
did not then try this before you reformat.

***MAKE SURE COMPUTER IS OFF BEFORE YOU DISCONNECT A HDD***

first make sure your XP drive is still Bootable; disconnect the Vista drive
and start computer, if XP did not BOOT, you will want to fix this first and
make that drive Bootable. after that is done now you can continue by
disconnecting the XP drive (BTW what you are trying to do IS NOT dual
Booting, dual boot is reffered to when you have more than one OS on the SAME
HDD; however what you are doing is definately the better way to go since if
Vista craps out you have a bootable drive w/o the need for anything else)
re-start the computer with the Vista CD in the CD drive. it should continue
from where it left off; if it does not and you have any option either try
"Repair, or Custom" or what ever it may say. if no option then you may have
to reformat the drive but i don think you'll need to do that.
then continue with the install, still with the XP drive disconnected and
when Vista is ALL done installing turn off computer and re-connect the XP
drive. now you have 2 drives that are bootable and you can choose which OS to
boot from the "Boot options Menu-- if your computer has this -- or from CMOS)
if you rather choose from inside an OS you can make a Boot entry in MSCONFIG
inside Vista for the XP drive, and when Vista begins it will give an option
to choose either Vista or XP.

--Good Luck.
 
Hi There,

Since I tried installing the 64 bit version, you can't install from within
XP.

I guess I will need to try again with the 32 bit version and install from
within XP.

Thanks!
 
Rich35 said:
Hi There,

Since I tried installing the 64 bit version, you can't install from within
XP.

I guess I will need to try again with the 32 bit version and install from
within XP.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I would not begin installation of Vista from within XP unless you realize
that you will not be able to boot XP w/o Vista. Since you have 2 drives i
would install Vista separately and then make an entry in the Vista Boot
loader. (EasyBCD will help you out with that --neosmat.net) if you decide to
begin installation from inside XP make sure you chose "CUSTOM" install
(CLEAN) and send Vista to drive G: you then will have an option to choose
partition, in which yuu will choose the old installation in G: and first
delete then make a new partition and format. this will give two entries to
boot from but then you are comitted to the Vista Boot loader and the XP drive
will not be Bootable any more. thats why i really think the better way to do
it is install them separately and then make a Boot entry in Vista for drive
C:. the only way to do that is by disconnecting the XP drive and reconnecting
after installation of Vista.
 
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