Windows Vista/XP Booting

[ftmscott]

I recently got a copy of Windows Vista business edition, i already had Windows XP installed on one partition which i was using previously. I installed Windows Vista, set it all up, but now i can't boot into Windows XP.

Is there anyway to get it to give me the option to boot into Windows XP again?

 

[KSoD]

It should have auto set up the Vista partition to include XP...

But google EasyBCD. That should help you solve this. Just add XP to the Vista boot loader.

 

[ftmscott]

As i understand it should have given me the option anyway but for some reason it hasn't. I ran that software, added Windows XP to the boot list, saved and then restarted.

My drive with XP Pro on is E:\ as shown

So when i added it, i put the drive letter as E:\

When i restarted, it gave me the two options, i selected XP Pro and it brought up an error. Something about ntldr.

I booted back into Vista and checked the boot options and the second option says;

Entry #2

Name: Microsoft Windows XP
BCD ID: {ba71c6eb-c0de-11db-a0ee-00138feff323}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \ntldr
Windows Directory:

Why is it labelled as C:\?

 

[KSoD]

If you installed Vista by booting from the DVD, Vista automatically takes the C Drive. Even if XP already has it. Within Vista it will be C but within XP it will be D or E. While XP is C.

To fix the XP insert the XP disc. Go to the recovery console and do a fixboot and fixmbr. From there you will only have the option to boot into XP.

Get the boot info from the boot.ini and write it down. Then install EasyBCD and add the Vista boot loader. It should then allow you to boot into Vista. Then add the boot info you got from XP to that and you should be all set to dual boot.

 

[ftmscott]

Before i installed Vista, XP was originally on E:\ anyway, C:\ was my second partition that i used for storing media.

When i installed Vista, i deleted the C:\ partition and then installed Vista on the unpartitioned space on the hard drive and it automatically gave i the letter C:\ while it changed my E:\ drive to D:\ drive, which i changed back to E:\ in Vista.

I'll give that a shot and see if i can get it to work.

 

[ftmscott]

Ok, so i loaded up the recovery console using my XP disk, it asked which one i wanted to recoverl

C:\Windows
D:\WINDOWS

On both of them it asked for an admin password, which i don't know. I have passwords on admin accounts but the recovery console doesnt recongise them.

Any Ideas?

 

[KSoD]

Wow. It sounds as if both isntalls went bad on you. I cant explain it. Have you tried the password with both? I assume so. The only suggestion i can have is to format and start over.

 

[ftmscott]

But Vista is fine, i'm running it with no problems or anything. I just can't seem to get XP to run, i've tried different passwords on both things but i have no idea.

 

[EricB]

don't any password. just hit enter on the recovery console. you delete the boot.ini on c when you install vista. go to folders options in vista and check "show hidden files" and uncheck "hide protected files" to see if you have a boot.ini on the e drive. I'll bet that you don't