Boot priorities?

NotAGolf · 8 May 2007 at 18:41

I'm looking to install vista 64bit but i'm getting really confused as to the order I should install things.

I have 2 hard drives; 1 has XP pro 32bit installed on a partition (the other partition is just storage), and I have Vista 32bit installed on the other hard drive. I want to replace the XP install with a vista 64bit install, therefore running both 32bit and 64bit versions of vista running on different hard drives (just while i get 64 bit setup).

Now is it just as simple as formatting the XP partition and installing 64bit vista? I was going to format it last night using partition magic but it gave the warning about not having an active partion set, i didn't know what this was so i didn't do it lol.

Also i'm not using any kind of dual booting program at the moment, just the standard windows one where i get the choice to boot xp or vista (although I have 2 vista options listed even though I have only installed it once :confused:

).

So if anyone could help explain things I would be very grateful.

NotAGolf · 8 May 2007 at 21:28

anyone? (sorry i just wanna get this done tonight if possible, thanks)

NotAGolf · 9 May 2007 at 12:03

Well I just removed the first hard drive (the one with XP on) to see if Vista would boot, and it didn't, i got an NTLDR is missing, press do da to restart. So i guess this is because it cant find the active partition it. So how can I do this, i'm really confused now!

weeble · 9 May 2007 at 13:17

In my limited experience NTLDR is a latter part of the boot process: POST > BIOS/CMOS > MBR.

NTLDR is required by XP to locate the boot folder on the active partition (dunno if Vista uses NTLDR).

Looks like the BIOS still think's it is looking for XP...

NotAGolf · 9 May 2007 at 13:38

weeble said:
In my limited experience NTLDR is a latter part of the boot process: POST > BIOS/CMOS > MBR.

NTLDR is required by XP to locate the boot folder on the active partition (dunno if Vista uses NTLDR).

Looks like the BIOS still think's it is looking for XP...

Thanks for the response. Yea that makes sense, but why wouldn't it find the MBR on the vista drive? Would installing the new OS 'overwrite' this so the BIOS would look for the MBR elsewhere or would I have physically have to change this somehow?

weeble · 9 May 2007 at 14:37

Have you tried clearing the CMOS? Effectively starting from afresh, unless you have a dual/backup BIOS?

NotAGolf · 9 May 2007 at 14:46

weeble said:
Have you tried clearing the CMOS? Effectively starting from afresh, unless you have a dual/backup BIOS?

No I havn't because I dont want to reset everything, I just want to remove my XP install, format that drive, then do a fresh install of vista 64bit on it. I'm currently using vista 32bit on another drive so I dont want to go damaging that because thats working fine atm, thus allowing me to dual boot between vista 32bit and 64bit.....hopefully

Uhtred · 9 May 2007 at 15:42

You're right, it's because you don't have a bootable partition on the vista drive, it's all on the xp drive. You need some form of fixmbr, fixboot magic, i'm not quite sure with vista. I should wait until someone who knows what they're talking about comes in

NotAGolf · 9 May 2007 at 15:49

Zap said:
You're right, it's because you don't have a bootable partition on the vista drive, it's all on the xp drive. You need some form of fixmbr, fixboot magic, i'm not quite sure with vista. I should wait until someone who knows what they're talking about comes in

But surely when you install an OS (i.e. when i install the 64bit vista) it must create a bootable partition otherwise you would never be able to boot it :confused:

. Or is this why there is all this cufuffle about needing xp to install vista (i'm sure I read about this somewhere)? Anyone wise enough to shed some light on this situation?

Thanks for all the help so far people.

Uhtred · 9 May 2007 at 20:10

mpledge52 said:
But surely when you install an OS (i.e. when i install the 64bit vista) it must create a bootable partition otherwise you would never be able to boot it . Or is this why there is all this cufuffle about needing xp to install vista (i'm sure I read about this somewhere)? Anyone wise enough to shed some light on this situation?

Thanks for all the help so far people.

It does create a bootable partition, the thing is vista has used the bootable partition of the disk which xp is on and not its native partition otherwise you'd have to switch boot priorities in the bios to switch between operating systems.

NotAGolf · 9 May 2007 at 20:28

OK thanks Zap. Well I took the plunge, i've formatted the XP partitiion and am now installing vista 64 bit on it as I speak. I'll let you know how it all goes later.

NotAGolf · 9 May 2007 at 20:58

Well its installed ok so far, but I have just restarted my computer and I no longer get the windows boot manager scren to select which OS to load. Is there a way I can turn this back on or do I need to download a different boot manager program for Vista? Thanks.