Multi OS booting

[Brimestone]

Ok, short story, I had XP and Vista installed on separate drives, XP was the first OS installed and later came Vista, Simply I had programs that wouldn't work in Vista so having a Dual boot set up was great. XP's BOOT.INI file looked like this:
;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT

Something happened to XP and I had to do a clean install now I can't pick Vista from the boot menu no matter how I edit it.

my set up:

XP is G:\ the BIOS sees it as DISK 0
Vista is D:\ and is DISK 2

Vista will boot if I change the boot drive order in the BIOS, so I know vista is still good.

How do I edit the Menu so I can pick vista and be able to boot to it from the Menu?

Thanks

Computers are like a bag of hammers, they won't do a damn thing until you pick it up and SMASH something with it!!

 

[linney]

This is a handy program to use when having Boot problems in Vista or Windows 7, dual booting with XP. It can be run from any of the three operating systems and may correct the booting problem.


DualBootPRO 1.0 (cheap but not free, it used to be once)

http://www.vistabootpro.org/

EasyBCD

http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

You could also try the DVD that came with Vista, boot from that and try the Startup Repair option.

Startup Repair.

Startup Repair is a Windows recovery tool that can fix certain problems, such as missing or damaged system files, that might prevent Windows from starting.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Wi...809f-ed90-415f-a83f-89b42108b3551033.mspx#EFF

 

[Brimestone]

Thanks, I just bought DualbootPro, I was fed up with bashing my head against the wall.

And for my next trick, I'll be installing 64Bit windows7 onto another drive and adding it to the boot menu. Wish me luck...

Computers are like a bag of hammers, they won't do a damn thing until you pick it up and SMASH something with it!!

 

[BadBigBen]

once you have done that, you will most likely notice that Win7 replaced the DualBootPro stuff with it's own bootloader...

which will reflect XP, Vista and Win7 as boot options...;-)

btw. imho, you wasted money, as Linney mentioned all Windows editions will incorporate previous OS's into their bootloader...

you just have to remember, if you need to reinstall XP, it will overwrite the MBR and destroy any (most) bootloaders...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
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