This is a short add on guide for trouble shooting your dual boot with Vista running and XP installed.

Software required for this guide: VistaBootPro

Below is how to locate the ntldr, NTDETECT, and boot.ini while in Vista.

1. Open My Computer
2. Click on "Organize" and then click on "Folder and Search Options"
3. Then click on the "View" tab
4. In the list under "Advanced Settings" you need to find "Hide protected operating system files" and uncheck it and then click "Ok"

5. Once back into My Computer open your XP (or Vista) drive and you will now see more "protected" files
6. Select the three files in question and right click and then select "Copy"
7. Go back and open your Vista (or XP) drive and right click and then select paste

VistaBootPRO v.3.1 Method
8. Open VistaBootPRO and go to the "System Bootloader" screen
9. Select to "Reinstall the Vista Bootloader" and then click on Install Bootloader
End v.3.1

VistaBootPRO v.3.3 Method
8. Open VistaBootPRO and go to the "System Bootloader" screen
9. Select "Windows Vista Bootloader"
10. Select "All Drives"

Note: Before continuing quit any I/O sensitive applications.

11. Select Force Install and then click on "Install Bootloader"
End v.3.3

10. Once done exit VistaBootPRO and reboot your system

Drive letters were not included due to the different configurations.



If it is still not booting then your boot.ini can be incorrect. Below is a typical boot.ini.

Code:

[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT

The major components of the boot.ini are rdisk(#) and partition(#). Do not change disk(#) unless you are running SCSI drives. When you open Disk Manager, you will see your hard drives listed a Disk 0, Disk 1 and so on depending on how many hard drives you have. The boot.ini rdisk(#) should point to the disk with XP on it associated with the Disk Manager. The boot.ini partition(#) should point to the partition XP is on. The first section of a hard drive is partition 1 and so on. Remember; rdisk(#) can have a 0 such as rdisk(0). On the other hand, partition(#) will always have a 1 or greater. Below you will see my hard drive configuration.




Thanks to "jbullard" for all his input with this guide.

can any1 tells me wad do u mean by "select 3 files in question" in step 6
and oso i should paste to where??

marcusth wrote:

can any1 tells me wad do u mean by "select 3 files in question" in step 6 and oso i should paste to where??

Boot.ini, ntldr, and NTDETECT are the three files........

I am still having problems:

Here were my defaults:
1. Windows Vista installed in Drive c:
2. HP Back up Manager is installed in Drive d: (disk 0):

Here is what I did afterwards:
1. I installed Windows XP on a another partion (Drive f on disk 0
2. I lost the ability to boot to Windows Vista.
3. I installed VistaBoot 3.3
4. I went to the Sytem Bootloader and put a check on the following:
- Windows Vista
- All Drives
- Force Bootloader Install (said I will notice changes when I reboot)
5. I reboot PC and only see "Windows Vista" and "HP Recovery Manager"
6. Next, I copy all three files from the C: drive (Vista drive) into the F: drive (where XP is installed) and rebooted. Still the same options.
7. I opened up boot.ini from Legacy Editor on VistaBoot and it shows the following:
- disk (0) rdisk (0) partition (2)
I don't know if that information is correct........

Note: if I select install Legacy, then I go directly to windows XP

I just figured it out....

My biggest problem was that I never had the xp showing up during the boot sequence. so I did the following: Manage OS Entries tab and select “Add new operating system entry”...here is where my problem lies, I selected drive f: as the os drive for xp, but it couldn't find the three files (boot, ntdetect, ntldr). So after viewing the link below, I change the location of xp to c: ;eventhough it is installed in drive f: ....I guess that's because that is where the three files are.

See link below for more info:
http://www.pronetworks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=84455

I modified my XP-Vista
setup but couldn't get dualbooting to work.
One Sata-drive, installed Vista on the first primary partition.
Then I activated the third primary partition and installed XP.
By doing so, XP as well as Vista call their systempartition drive C:\.
All Vista bootfiles are in Vistas own partition located,
all XP bootfiles in XPs partition.
In order to boot Vista, the first primary partition has to be activated,
to boot XP, the third primary partition must be activated.

VistaBootPRO v.3.3 Method, as described above, doesn't work.
After selecting XP in Vistas bootscreen, the PC reboots instantly.
Has anybody an idea, whether in this case a dualbooting setup is possible?

Hi,
I have Vista on partition c:, XP on partition d: on the same phisical drive.
Vista was the 2nd to instal, so that is my "default".
Installed VistaBootPro3.3, followed the above instructions, but still only boots Vista.
I went into disc management and changed d: (XP) to active partition, then it booted XP, no boot menu.
What am I doing wrong? How could I get the bootmanager running?
Thanks,
IZ

Quote:

I modified my XP-Vista setup but couldn't get dualbooting to work. One Sata-drive, installed Vista on the first primary partition. Then I activated the third primary partition and installed XP. By doing so, XP as well as Vista call their systempartition drive C:\. All Vista bootfiles are in Vistas own partition located, all XP bootfiles in XPs partition. In order to boot Vista, the first primary partition has to be activated, to boot XP, the third primary partition must be activated. VistaBootPRO v.3.3 Method, as described above, doesn't work. After selecting XP in Vistas bootscreen, the PC reboots instantly. Has anybody an idea, whether in this case a dualbooting setup is possible?

i have the exact problem, i need to fix this

Exact same problem here too... Selecting XP from the boot menu reboots the system. Working on it.

Folks, the basic principle is that all the boot system files for both operating system need to be on the drive/partition tagged "System" in Disk Management (right click My Computer or Computer>Manage). The boot system files for Vista are the folder Boot (and contents) and bootmgr and for XP NTDETECT.COM, ntldr and boot.ini. Boot.ini needs to be pointing to the correct drive/partition. It doesn't hurt to have all these files on both operating system root drive/partitions as this has been known to fix the issue for some or other reason.

Once you have those all on the "System" drive/partition you can Install the Vista bootloader from the System Bootloader page of VistaBootPRO, or run Diagnostics from the Diagnostics menu item and then go to the Manage OS Entries page and if the entries there don't look right and don't work when you reboot and test them, then either the boot.ini is incorrect or the drive letter assigned to the entries is incorrect.

Do not change the drive letters in Computer or Disk Management as that will more than likely cause your systme to be unbootable for that OS.

You can also run a Startup repair by booting to the Vista DVD and selecting Repair my computer at the Install now setup screen.

If all else fails then try to rebuild the BCD by running these commands from the command prompt after booting to the Vista DVD and selecting the command prompt at the same place you would run a startup repair:

Bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

The /RebuildBcd option scans all disks for installations that are compatible with Windows Vista. Additionally, this option lets you select the installations that you want to add to the BCD store. Use this option when you must completely rebuild the BCD.

Note If rebuilding the BCD does not resolve the startup issue, you can export and delete the BCD, and then run this option again. By doing this, you make sure that the BCD is completely rebuilt. To do this, type the following commands at the command prompt:

• bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
• c:
• cd boot
• attrib bcd -s -h -r
• ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
• bootrec /RebuildBcd