How can I switch between different OS at boot menu ?

An old hard drive I have has about 3 OS on it.

Win 7, Xp, and maybe win 7 again


The hard drive is half full so I know the information is there.

Anyway

How can I

1) View OS choice at boot menu

2) Get information off this hard drive that cna be accessed by going through the other OS

3) The get rid of the other OS

Thanks

If is a triple boot system that has 3 BCDs in the bootmgr, you should be able to select from the 3 systems. If that is not the case, the other systems have no BCD in the bootmgr. What happens when you boot from that HDD and into which system does it boot.

Originally Posted by whs

If is a triple boot system that has 3 BCDs in the bootmgr, you should be able to select from the 3 systems. If that is not the case, the other systems have no BCD in the bootmgr. What happens when you boot from that HDD and into which system does it boot.

it boots one of them, win 7

I just know it has 3 Os installed on it and wnat to access the other 2

Then it is not configured as an actual, true triple-boot scenario. If, it were the 3 would be listed @ or before boot-up allowing selection of the OS desire @ that moment.

When you go into 7 & > Computer are the other 2 visible?

It's baffling how 3 OSs got on 1 HDD w/out a tri-boot. In multiple boot set ups the 1st OS installed has the boot & @ start-up all OSs are listed & get picked. Otherwise, if a tri-boot isn't really there, you won't get into anything but, 1 OS on 1 HDD.

Drew

Look into msconfig > Boot button whether it shows the other two. If not, their BCD is not in the bootmgr. That can be fixed, but not easily and only if you have an installation or repair disk for those systems.

I would have recommended EasyBCD from NeoSmart Technologies, but it is now a paid download. You might be able to get a prior release for free, but do not go below version 2.0 and get the latest one you can.

Other than that, there are some commands to add the second Win 7 install, but XP will need to be added manually using BCDedit. If you have a Windows install with the 100Mb system partition, it gets a little more complicated.

You might open an administrative command prompt and type bcdedit then take a picture using the snipping tool and attach using the paperclip in the advanced replies. If you want to edit it, you can use Paint.

Clark you are right. EasyBCD can fix it if the other systems have a BCD. But if they don't, you have to first create them with an installation disk.

Btw: I believe that EasyBCD is still free for non-commercial use. The so called 'trial version' does not seem to expire. At least mine did not in several months. I downloaded it from here.