Win7 dual boot prob

markk · 19 Mar 2009 at 01:06

I have XP and Win7 dual boot installed on different drives and having a problem with XP not seeing the Win7 install.

I can only boot into Win7 by using the install DVD, so is there anyway I can amend the XP boot.ini to see Win7?

XP boot.ini

Code:

[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

I have googled and this guy seems to be having the same problem http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/176-63-windows-booting-issue-machine

I have also tried easyBCD, which did not work.

Any ideas?

linktoinsanity · 19 Mar 2009 at 09:49

The XP boot.ini cannot boot the newer OS as far as I know, however I've been having problems with getting Windows 7 to see and boot xp partitions, unless I triple boot with Vista, which seems to then fix the issue. Try using Easy BCD to create a Vista/longhorn boot option and install a new bootloader. The Vista bars will come up instead of 7s but it should do the trick.

The way I fixed XP & 7 issues was to run 7 setup from within XP. Give that a go actually, before using EasyBCD to do as I described above as this may well be a better fix.

Only an idea, hope it helps

markk · 19 Mar 2009 at 10:57

I should have said, I have XP 32bit and Win7 64bit so I could not install Win7 from within XP. I did have a working 32bit dual boot of both but I wanted to try and use my full 4gb in the 64bit version.

Maybe it would be easier to go back to the 32bit version until release? But I did read someone having a working dual boot of both the 32bit XP and 64bit Win7 but I cannot remember where I read that.

I'll give the vista/longhorn boot option a go when I get home from work tonight, thanks.

m4rshmul3 · 19 Mar 2009 at 12:45

I have XP 32bit and Windows7 64bit running in dual boot from the same disk. But I created an image and installed to another partition staright from the CD. Then I used Easy BCD to enable me to chose which OS to boot as WIN7 was always loading and i didnt have the option to boot to XP.

markk · 20 Mar 2009 at 11:25

Well I had another play with easyBCD and managed to fix it somehow! No idea what I did but it works now

Darg · 20 Mar 2009 at 11:42

I'm having the same problem. Got Windows 7 64bit on a spare 40GB IDE drive and winXP 32bit on an 80GB IDE drive.

It worked for the first bootup but after that it either cannot find winload.exe or Hal.dll.

I've tried VistaBootPro but can't figure it out.

I'll try easyBCD.

Can you tell me how you did it mark?

Tripnologist · 21 Mar 2009 at 00:20

I have XP on one drive and another install of XP and Win7 on another drive and it boots fine.
Installed both copies of XP and got them dual booting and then installed Win7 and used EasyBCD. I ran into a problem where it would only give me the option of Win7 or XP when I had the Win7 disk in (without the disk in, it would just boot directly to the dual XP screen). It ended up being the boot order of my SATA drives. Changed them around and has worked fine ever since.

markk · 21 Mar 2009 at 14:20

All I did was reinstall easyBCD, make sure the OS's were on the correct drives, saved the settings and it worked. I had done this last time and it did not work so I don't know why it worked this time...

...well until today, tried to boot into XP and when I select the option the computer just restarts. I can boot into Win7 fine but not XP. I can read the data fine on the XP drive so I don't think its a drive problem.

Going to try a repair off a XP disc.

Darg · 24 Mar 2009 at 14:49

Managed to get Win7 to atleast the startup logo, the bar goes across twice then the machine restarts. I think it's a case of just removing the XP drive and reinstalling Win7 on the other harddrive if I really want to get it working. I'm not that pushed. Found out that it won't work after august anyway.