Windows 7 boot.ini file

Hi

I also have a similar problem, I hope very much you can help with. I have 2 separate physical hard drives. On HD1 I have Windows Vista installed, I then decided to shift to Windows 7 so I installed it as a separate operating system on my second hard drive HD2. It made a boot list where I could choose to boot from Vista or 7, this worked fine. But now I want to get rid of the Vista installation and reuse the hard disk in a nas box after I copied all the data from Vista a need to save. Problem is when I remove the HD1(Vista) the computer cant boot on HD2, it says that its not possible to boot from HD2. I suspect that the MBR that is used for booting was located on HD1(Vista). How can I make it boot on the HD2 without HD1 present, can I create a new mbr on that drive? I tried with the Windows 7 installation disc but no luck.

Please explain how I can do this and what commands I should use, I don't normally do this. and it seems changes has been made in windows 7, it seems it has no boot.ini that I can edit in directly.

Thankx a bunch.

I had Xp installed on my computer. Then i installed Win 7 on a sepereta hdd. And i was using as a dual boot. Then to take gain some space deleted all the Xp files from the hdd. Then formatted the hdd which Xp installed. And when i restart my computer ' bang ' win7 wont boot from the hdd.
As a solution i try to remove hdd which xp installed on my computer then i select the hdd which installed Win7 on it to boot it sats. There is no NTLDR file on this boot.

What can i do now ?

Thnx & Regards.

Originally Posted by ozZ the Mage

I had Xp installed on my computer. Then i installed Win 7 on a sepereta hdd. And i was using as a dual boot. Then to take gain some space deleted all the Xp files from the hdd. Then formatted the hdd which Xp installed. And when i restart my computer ' bang ' win7 wont boot from the hdd.
As a solution i try to remove hdd which xp installed on my computer then i select the hdd which installed Win7 on it to boot it sats. There is no NTLDR file on this boot.

What can i do now ?

Thnx & Regards.

your simplest solution is download a windows 7 repair disc from neosmart and run it from boot to fix your installation

Originally Posted by ickymay

your simplest solution is download a windows 7 repair disc from neosmart and run it from boot to fix your installation

It worked great. Thank you very much :]

duplicate post

My Turn:

1. I installed one Win7 on an SSD that is my main OS.
2. I then installed one XP on a separate internal HD as a backup install for older games
3. I can stay in or get back into Win7 no problem even if I mess up the boot file (by using the repair function on the Win7 DVD).
4. I cannot get back into XP. I've tried using all the functions within EasyBCD via Win7 but nothing has fixed it. It can never find the boot file when I select XP, even if I make it the default or sole OS selection and point it to the correct drive.

How can I set it so that even when it sees both OS options, it can actually start up into either one when given the choice?

Thanks in advance.
Brooks

EasyBCD, if you are using the latest version, can set up your boot. The fact you installed XP after Win 7 may be causing problems since the XP install could overwrite the Win 7 boot files. Depending if you installed XP separately and which drive was primary.

You may want to start a new thread, but attaching a snipping tool picture of your disk management window might help and label which partitions are which OS. Also, post the boot.ini file. This thread should explain how it all works, but if you still have problems, we will try to help.

Hi

Use EasyBCD to remove the unwanted operating system from your boot list before you remove the operating system.

Otherwise you will probably find that your computer will not boot at all.

EasyBCD - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

This is the best tool I have found for making changes and adjustments to your boot set up.
EasyBCD should be able to create a boot file that includes XP.

I haven't found any games that I need to run in XP even my old Tomb Raider games from the 90s run in W7.

Mike

I guess I wasn't at the end of the string when I posted, any way I reiterate what Saltgrass has said. LOL

I had windows 7 Ultimate first,,
i installed Xp(in a diffrent drive than windows 7 Ultimate) and i assumed dat my windows 7 boot file was replaced..
I then installed windows 7 Enterprise over Xp i.e i upgraded it.. then, deleted Windows.old(xp).
LAter, during boot i saw dat randomly my old windows 7 Ultimate was recovered (howeva i realised d truth now )and was present in OS choices menu.
So, i formatted my partition containing the new windows 7 Enterprise.

The problem i am facing now is my windows 7 Ultimate is not genuine any longer.. and most importantly during my OS choices screen the old windows 7 is still the default choice, and it opens in 2 seconds and gives an error, i want to remove that choice and get my windows 7 Ultimate Genuine.

It wud b great if anyone can help.
Thanks in advance

Regards
Amit

If what Mike is suggesting does not help, perhaps you have confused your system. If you messed up the activation process, you may have to reactivate, but perhaps someone else will know. If not, there are some other threads about activation problems in some of the forums.

You seem to state you now have one Win 7 Ultimate installation. If you open MSconfig.exe, it will show your boot options on the boot tab. You can set as default or remove one of the OS choices. Just make sure you know which one is which.

If you have two drives installed, you might disconnect one, or at least make sure the primary drive shows as first priority in the bios.

If you can get into your Win 7 installation, you always have the option to do a repair install.

Again, attaching a snipping tool picture of your disk management window might help, if you label the partitions.