Problem while making a dual boot system

Hi,

I was trying to make a dual boot system and came across this problem. Hope someone could help.

I have two HDDs, one with Win XP in it and other in which I am trying to load Win 7. I made a primary partition (NTFS) through Win XP in the second HDD (labelled it I) and started loading Win 7 through a bootable pendrive. Things went fine till the installation was complete. Then, when I restarted the system, there was no Boot manager screen, Win 7 just started booting the system ! When I looked into the file system, the partition in which Win7 was installed (I: ) was labelled to C (whereas C was the name of the partition in which Win XP is installed !).

I have two queries:

1. Is it possible to install Win 7 in drive labelled I only (I understand that physically it is the same drive in which I had intended to install it). That's because a small sys. reserved folder is getting created which (most probably) is storing the swap data.

2. How to get the boot manager screen option ie. get the selection screen in the beginning to select b/w XP and 7.


Thanks,
Emma Good

There are two ways you could handle this. The first is to use a command prompt to manually edit the BCD Store. If you go this way, we can help.

Or, you could download EasyBCD, version 2 or later, to let it set up the Dual boot. EasyBCD is free for home use.

Pls tell me the command prompt technique

Thanks for reply,
Emma

OK, but some references:

Boot Configuration Data Editor Frequently Asked Questions

You will also need to take a snipping tool picture of your Disk Management Window, expanded so we can see the partitions, and attach using the paperclip on advanced replies.

In case you do not know, bcdedit is a utility for manipulating entries in the Windows 7 Boot system, more specifically the BCD Store. You can see the entries by opening an Administrative command prompt and typing bcdedit

If you type bcdedit /? it will show the options that can be used to change entries.

The ID, noted by the curly brackets, is very important to make sure any operations are completed on the section you want to change.

So first, create a backup of your BCD Store by typing bcdedit /export C:\whateverBCD so you can import the old one if necessary.

But you will need to enter these commands, one at a time and see if they complete. Something about a command window is you can paste items copied from other sources. Just right click and select paste and the item will be inserted wherever the cursor is. You can also copy items in the command window by right clicking and selecting Mark then highlight what needs to be copies and hit enter.

Bcdedit /create {legacy} /d "Description" <-- Your own Description but leave quotes.

Bcdedit /set {legacy} device boot

Bcdedit /set {legacy} path \ntldr

Bcdedit /displayorder {legacy} /addlast

If all of these work, you should be able to boot into XP. But things do pop-up sometimes where the correct path or partition is not noted correctly, which is why I may need the Disk Management picture.

These changes, by themselves, will not affect your Windows 7 boot. If the XP option does not work, we can change it so it does.

OK, so with these steps I will get back Win XP in the startup option. But will this also ensure that Win XP and Win7 will stay installed in separate drives ie. when I load win 7 will it show I: drive only or show its primary directory as I: (refer: original post.)

Thanks,
Emma.

Originally Posted by emmagood

OK, so with these steps I will get back Win XP in the startup option. But will this also ensure that Win XP and Win7 will stay installed in separate drives ie. when I load win 7 will it show I: drive only or show its primary directory as I: (refer: original post.)

Thanks,
Emma.

I was playing and trying to understand why the Windows 7 install did not pickup the XP install. You did not bring it up, but it appears you must have separate active partitions on your system so you can boot either OS independently. One thing that could be seen with the Disk Management picture.

If you do have separate installs, I suggest you leave it like that and just select which drive you want to boot to with a boot device menu key on your system.

If you do not want to leave it like it is, you can add the XP entry to the Windows 7 boot partition by doing the following

Copy the files ntdetect.com and ntldr to the Windows 7 System partition. Then copy the boot.ini file from the XP boot partition to your desktop. Edit it (Both entries) and change the rdisk (0) entry to rdisk (1). Then copy it to the Windows 7 System partition. These files are hidden System files and that option has to be set in the Explorer Organize menu, folder and search options.

Also, the earlier command bcdedit /set {legacy} device boot should be changed to bcdedit /set {legacy} device partition=C:


I will now wait to see the Disk Management picture before further instructions are given. It would probably be best to see the picture before you even do anything.

Well, since I was having this problem during selection of OS during booting, I simply removed Win 7 from the second HDD. Presently I only have a WinXP system with 2 HDDs in it. So, basically, I will be doing a fresh installation for the third time!

Just a clarification from your last post.


Copy the files ntdetect.com and ntldr to the Windows 7 System partition.


These files have to be copied from WinXP to Win 7 after the installation ? What will be the exact location ?

Thanks,
Emma

No luck with the Disk Management picture?

As I understand the bdcedit options are for win 7. As of now Win 7 is not installed in my system. I remove it when I saw its installation folder taken the name C:. So just wanted to know the steps to ensure that it gets installed in I: and that WinXP option comes up in boot manager.

Regards,
Emma

Just like to add; in any dual/multi boot situation, whatever OS is booted to it will always show as C:\ and will never change no matter what letter you assign it.
The best way to a dual boot IMO is leaving your XP installed and running good, then leave the second drive unallocated, reboot the PC with the Windows 7 DVD in and install to the unallocated drive letting the install do it's thing, once completed and rebooted to Windows 7, you should have the boot menu available at that point.
That's the quickest way to go, that's how I've been doing it for years with no issue.

Hope this helps

Don