My system was running a dual boot with XP pro and Win 7 ultimate.
I got Win 8 pro upgrade and installed it from within Win 7. Like an
idiot I didn't research how to dual boot XP and Win 8 and now the
boot manager screen is gone at startup. The other partition with
XP is still there and it seems all files are intact. How do I the
boot screen back? With a boot manager? Thanks!
Install WinXP: MBR=WinXP_type Boot_Management=boot.ini
Install Win7: MBR=Win7_type (i.e. the MBR was overwritten)
Boot flag moved to System Reserved partition, if
the install used two partitions.
Boot is BCD based (OSes since Vista use this).
Installer builds BCD menu, including Win7 entry
and a WinXP entry. Proper boot management like that,
is most likely to happen if the newer OS is installed
last.
Install Win8: Install type = Upgrade
Win7 folder moved to "windows.old"
Old BCD info might have been in there.
MBR=Win8_type (i.e. the MBR was overwritten)
Boot flag moved. Could be running out of primary partitions.
(Actually, since Win7 got bumped out of the way, I suppose
nothing has moved.)
Boot is BCD based. BCD portion built from scratch.
Not sure what installer logic does, whether there is
any interest in a boot menu or not. A boot menu would
screw up the "clean appearance" of the new OS. Like,
research what it takes to get into Safe Mode, to understand
how brain dead the Windows designers are.
So what it looks like, is you need to either use bcdedit (command line
utility in OS), to make changes to the BCD. Or use something like
EasyBCD, assuming it's been updated.
Now that I think about it, the upgrade will effectively trash Win7,
so now you should have Win8, (Win7 hiding in windows.old of Win8 C
,
and the old WinXP.
So I guess if I was in your shoes, I'd be looking for EasyBCD, and
checking whether it's ready for Win8.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EasyBCD
(
http://neosmart.net )
And before you go any further, I'd be reviewing my backup strategy
*******
My own philosophy on a desktop, is one OS per disk drive. I disabled
System Restore on WinXP, as I don't understand how System Volume Information
folder usage is segregated between OSes. This way, if Win8 wants to mess
around with the other disks SVI folders, it can, and I don't care.
Drive#1 Win2K
Drive#2 WinXP <--- System Restore disabled
Drive#3 Win8 (preview version, key good until Jan.15) \__ Unplugged.
Drive4,5 data /
When I install an OS, I unplug all other drives, even data drives.
This is a technique learned through bitter experience. Installers
do not respect anything, when they're working, so you have to
"use a whip and a chair", to remain in control. Unplugging the
disks seems to work pretty well, but it's hard on the connectors.
When it's time to trash that copy of Win8 Preview, I just unplug it.
No boot menu to repair. No lost OSes. Booting is controlled
from the BIOS Popup Boot Menu (press F8 during BIOS POST). I
select a drive from there, as the current boot OS. That saves
on actually editing the BIOS. Popup boot menu features have
existed for at least the last five years or so. And it's a very
convenient feature. (F8 key on Asus, F11 key on Asrock, check manual
for details.)
(Someone took a picture of their BIOS screen, here...)
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa279/Von_klumpen/boot_pop.jpg
*******
On a laptop, the options aren't quite as pleasant. A single disk
drive, means all the install OSes go on the same disk. And then
I'd need EasyBCD. The boot manager is still Windows own code,
just the boot config is edited by EasyBCD.
I do boot more than one OS on the laptop at the moment, but
the Ubuntu lives on a USB flash stick (with a bitmap file
functioning as persistent storage for the home directory).
And I do use the popup boot menu on the laptop to get
there - I just can't remember the F key to use when I
need to do it :-( It's yet another F key... Might be
F2 on the laptop. To read the BIOS screen in time, I have
to press the Pause key, it goes by so fast.
HTH,
Paul
