Moving Vista System Partition (BCD) Issue

Oxide™

Oxide™

Oxide™

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Having spent ages researching this - perhaps I can pick OCuk's brain for some assistance please.

Setup:
SATA 0 = 150Gb XP Partition (System, Active)
SATA 1 = 320Gb Data Storage
SATA 2 = 400Gb HDD with 60GB Vista partition (Boot) and 320Gb Data Storage

Scenario:
I currently dual boot between Vista and XP but havent used XP in ages and would like to format that HDD and use it as extra storage. All data has been backed up to an external HDD.

Theory:
Vista Bootmanager (BOOT folder, bootmgr etc files stored on SATA 0 ie system partition) initially loads OS boot select screen. So without XP HDD installed and set as active, the OS boot select screen does not appear. (please insert system disk)
Need to recreate Bootmanager on the vista installation partition but Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, decided to change Vista boot process and it isnt obvious how to undo a dual boot system.

Progress:
Ive disabled SATA 0 and moved SATA 2 to be the first boot HDD in the BIOS.
Booted into Windows Recovery Disk.
Using diskpart set the Vista partition as active.
Rebooted back into Windows Recovery Disk.
Ran command bootrec /fixmbr successfully
Ran command bootrec /rebuildbcd and keep getting the error 'element not found' when choosing the yes option to add the vista installation to the boot list.

Troubleshooting:
After reversing above progress and booting back into Vista (need to enable XP partition again to get back into Vista as thats where the Boot Manager (BCD) is installed) and after more research and numerous back and forth back into Windows Recovery Disk I am certain that if I can just get past the 'element not found' error I will be successful.

but....

the fix for 'element not found' is to make the Vista partition active using diskpart (which Ive done) and move the Vista installation HDD to first place in the boot priority of the BIOS (which Ive done)

Plea:
Can anyone offer advice how to get past 'element not found' error when running the bootrec /rebuildbcd command? Its doing my nut in. I dont want to reinstall Vista if at all possible.

Upon Resolution:
Extreme Glee and copiuos amounts of appreciation to whoever can rationally resolve my trauma.
 
Last edited:
Have seen and used the bootrec commands before, but I dont think it was necessary here. Would have been useful to know which OS was on first.
You should really have either disconnected your xp hdd and boot with the vista cd which would have repaired the bootmgr. Or you could have downloaded EasyBCD while still in Vista and modify the boot menu and then boot from vista disk and repaired the bootmgr that way.
Not too sure what state the disks are in now but you could boot from your vista disc and choose 'Repair your computer'. It will then ask you to confirm the Vista install it has found. Then choose 'Startup Repair' from list of tasks.
 
Nanobot said:
Have seen and used the bootrec commands before, but I dont think it was necessary here. Would have been useful to know which OS was on first.
You should really have either disconnected your xp hdd and boot with the vista cd which would have repaired the bootmgr. Or you could have downloaded EasyBCD while still in Vista and modify the boot menu and then boot from vista disk and repaired the bootmgr that way.
Not too sure what state the disks are in now but you could boot from your vista disc and choose 'Repair your computer'. It will then ask you to confirm the Vista install it has found. Then choose 'Startup Repair' from list of tasks.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions but I have tried that already.

XP was installed first originally - probably should have disconnected the XP HDD when I first installed Vista in hindsight to avoid this happening.

I have EasyBCD and VistaBootPRO but I think they just repair the Bootloader (which isnt a problem) rather than move the Bootmanager to a different partition. I may be wrong. Perhaps I should read more into if EasyBCD can indeed move the Bootmanager to a different partition.

Have run Vista Startup Repair about 40 times and each time it never automatically finds an installation of Vista and trying to repair it says it has done something but going back in yields same result (It does say it found 1 issue that the system partition does not exist but it never fixes it)

I am at the point that I need to get the bootrec /rebuilbcd command to be successful and then the Vista Startup Repair will fix the rest.
 
Bit stumped with this one.

Can you boot using a GParted live CD to make sure that the Vista partition is definitely active?

When you go into the recovery console, does the Vista partition come up as drive C?
 
Mattus said:
Bit stumped with this one.

Can you boot using a GParted live CD to make sure that the Vista partition is definitely active?

When you go into the recovery console, does the Vista partition come up as drive C?
Click to expand...

Cheers for the advice I will try this fix perhaps Boxing Day and update on progress :)
 
Make sure you have a backup of everything before working on it further. I had a similar issue the other day and tried all sort of things but in the end just could not get a bootable system with the Vista install and disks.

Had to reinstall Vista in the end (fortunately it was a HTPC so there was minimal software installed on the system other than the OS).
 
Oxlde said:
Doesnt exactly answer my dilemma. I need 'Removing XP from a dual boot Vista system when XP was installed first'
Click to expand...

You will need to run Point 1 from Resolution section of the article, adding /force at the end. E.g.

cd drive:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force

So your steps should have been

bootrec /fixmbr
cd drive:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force
del C:\boot\bcd
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

then reboot.
 
Nanobot said:
You will need to run Point 1 from Resolution section of the article, adding /force at the end. E.g.

cd drive:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force

So your steps should have been

bootrec /fixmbr
cd drive:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force
del C:\boot\bcd
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

then reboot.
Click to expand...

Thanks Nanobot but I tried that already, however...

Yippee, Clap, Joy-Joy I resolved it.

I unplugged all 3 SATA drives and then plugged the Vista HDD into SATA 0 position. Windows Recovery DVD then found a Vista installation which it repaired 4 times/reboots until it said it had fixed all issues but Vista still wouldnt boot (missing operating system message still)

At this point I ran the commands as Nanobot mentioned:
bootrec /fixmbr
cd drive:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force
del C:\boot\bcd
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

then reboot and voila Vista booted like nothing had happened :)

Then I was able to plug my other 2 HDD's in and all is good.

Thanks for all suggestions guys, they all helped me get there in the end :D
 
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