I'm trying to do a dual-boot on a test machine. The reason why it's a
test machine is because I am testing to see if I can figure out how to
dual-boot XP and Vista with Vista installed first. My computer has Vista on
it, and I've been thinking about dual-booting it with XP, but I don't want
to do it if I have to wipe my hard drives and start over, so I decided I
would test it out on a test PC first.

Okay, so I went ahead and installed XP on another partition from Vista.
As expected, Vista would no longer boot, so I did a repair for the booting
of Vista. I now managed to get Vista to boot. I installed a 3rd party
boot-loader utility to create the XP boot entry. That's fine, but when I
try to boot XP, it says NTLDR is missing. As expected, if I do a repair
install on XP, then Vista won't boot any more, then if I fix Vista's boot
loader, then XP won't boot anymore. I'm kind of stuck in an endless loop.
Any suggestions? Thanks.

Travis King wrote:
> I'm trying to do a dual-boot on a test machine. The reason why
> it's a test machine is because I am testing to see if I can figure
> out how to dual-boot XP and Vista with Vista installed first. My
> computer has Vista on it, and I've been thinking about dual-booting
> it with XP, but I don't want to do it if I have to wipe my hard
> drives and start over, so I decided I would test it out on a test PC
> first.
> Okay, so I went ahead and installed XP on another partition from
> Vista. As expected, Vista would no longer boot, so I did a repair for
> the booting of Vista. I now managed to get Vista to boot. I
> installed a 3rd party boot-loader utility to create the XP boot
> entry. That's fine, but when I try to boot XP, it says NTLDR is
> missing. As expected, if I do a repair install on XP, then Vista
> won't boot any more, then if I fix Vista's boot loader, then XP won't
> boot anymore. I'm kind of stuck in an endless loop. Any suggestions?
> Thanks.
=====================
Maybe the following links will offer some ideas:

How to dual boot Vista and
XP (with Vista installed first)
-- the step-by-step guide
http://www.apcstart.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

VistaBootPRO
http://www.vistabootpro.org/index.php
(scroll down to the download link)

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

Actually, the website you had for instructions on dual-booting was the exact
website I was at to do this dual-booting. Also, I tried Vista Boot Pro and
the utility the website mentioned. Thanks.
"John Inzer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Travis King wrote:
>> I'm trying to do a dual-boot on a test machine. The reason why
>> it's a test machine is because I am testing to see if I can figure
>> out how to dual-boot XP and Vista with Vista installed first. My
>> computer has Vista on it, and I've been thinking about dual-booting
>> it with XP, but I don't want to do it if I have to wipe my hard
>> drives and start over, so I decided I would test it out on a test PC
>> first.
>> Okay, so I went ahead and installed XP on another partition from
>> Vista. As expected, Vista would no longer boot, so I did a repair for
>> the booting of Vista. I now managed to get Vista to boot. I
>> installed a 3rd party boot-loader utility to create the XP boot
>> entry. That's fine, but when I try to boot XP, it says NTLDR is
>> missing. As expected, if I do a repair install on XP, then Vista
>> won't boot any more, then if I fix Vista's boot loader, then XP won't
>> boot anymore. I'm kind of stuck in an endless loop. Any suggestions?
>> Thanks.
> =====================
> Maybe the following links will offer some ideas:
>
> How to dual boot Vista and
> XP (with Vista installed first)
> -- the step-by-step guide
> http://www.apcstart.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp
>
> VistaBootPRO
> http://www.vistabootpro.org/index.php
> (scroll down to the download link)
>
> --
>
> John Inzer
> MS Picture It! -
> Digital Image MVP
>
> Digital Image
> Highlights and FAQs
> http://tinyurl.com/aczzp
>
> Notice
> This is not tech support
> I am a volunteer
>
> Solutions that work for
> me may not work for you
>
> Proceed at your own risk
>

Try this method

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vi...n2k-after.html

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Travis King" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm trying to do a dual-boot on a test machine. The reason why it's a
> test machine is because I am testing to see if I can figure out how to
> dual-boot XP and Vista with Vista installed first. My computer has Vista
> on it, and I've been thinking about dual-booting it with XP, but I don't
> want to do it if I have to wipe my hard drives and start over, so I
> decided I would test it out on a test PC first.
>
> Okay, so I went ahead and installed XP on another partition from Vista.
> As expected, Vista would no longer boot, so I did a repair for the booting
> of Vista. I now managed to get Vista to boot. I installed a 3rd party
> boot-loader utility to create the XP boot entry. That's fine, but when I
> try to boot XP, it says NTLDR is missing. As expected, if I do a repair
> install on XP, then Vista won't boot any more, then if I fix Vista's boot
> loader, then XP won't boot anymore. I'm kind of stuck in an endless loop.
> Any suggestions? Thanks.

Travis King wrote:
> Actually, the website you had for instructions on dual-booting was
> the exact website I was at to do this dual-booting. Also, I tried
> Vista Boot Pro and the utility the website mentioned. Thanks.
===========
Sorry...for wasting your time.

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

It's okay... You were only trying to help.
"John Inzer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%23ADX$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Travis King wrote:
>> Actually, the website you had for instructions on dual-booting was
>> the exact website I was at to do this dual-booting. Also, I tried
>> Vista Boot Pro and the utility the website mentioned. Thanks.
> ===========
> Sorry...for wasting your time.
>
> --
>
> John Inzer
> MS Picture It! -
> Digital Image MVP
>
> Digital Image
> Highlights and FAQs
> http://tinyurl.com/aczzp
>
> Notice
> This is not tech support
> I am a volunteer
>
> Solutions that work for
> me may not work for you
>
> Proceed at your own risk
>

What about running XP in a virtual machine on your Vista box? I realize it's
not quite the same as dual booting, but if you can't figure out the dual
booting thing to your satisfaction, virtualization is an option.
There are several virtualization products, including one made by MS itself,
that are free.



"Travis King" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm trying to do a dual-boot on a test machine. The reason why it's a
> test machine is because I am testing to see if I can figure out how to
> dual-boot XP and Vista with Vista installed first. My computer has Vista
> on it, and I've been thinking about dual-booting it with XP, but I don't
> want to do it if I have to wipe my hard drives and start over, so I
> decided I would test it out on a test PC first.
>
> Okay, so I went ahead and installed XP on another partition from Vista.
> As expected, Vista would no longer boot, so I did a repair for the booting
> of Vista. I now managed to get Vista to boot. I installed a 3rd party
> boot-loader utility to create the XP boot entry. That's fine, but when I
> try to boot XP, it says NTLDR is missing. As expected, if I do a repair
> install on XP, then Vista won't boot any more, then if I fix Vista's boot
> loader, then XP won't boot anymore. I'm kind of stuck in an endless loop.
> Any suggestions? Thanks.

The manual command prompt work did the same thing. Vista will boot fine,
but XP says that NTLDR is corrupt or missing, so Windows XP can't start. I
guess they aren't kidding when they say you should install the OS before the
new OS. When I beta tested Vista, I had XP first then Vista, so that worked
fine, but the other way around is nothing but headaches. Thanks.
"Kerry Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)*a*m> wrote in message
news1E36B4C-74D9-4EEB-BF4C-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Try this method
>
> http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vi...n2k-after.html
>
> --
> Kerry Brown
> Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
> http://www.vistahelp.ca
>
>
> "Travis King" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I'm trying to do a dual-boot on a test machine. The reason why it's a
>> test machine is because I am testing to see if I can figure out how to
>> dual-boot XP and Vista with Vista installed first. My computer has Vista
>> on it, and I've been thinking about dual-booting it with XP, but I don't
>> want to do it if I have to wipe my hard drives and start over, so I
>> decided I would test it out on a test PC first.
>>
>> Okay, so I went ahead and installed XP on another partition from
>> Vista. As expected, Vista would no longer boot, so I did a repair for the
>> booting of Vista. I now managed to get Vista to boot. I installed a 3rd
>> party boot-loader utility to create the XP boot entry. That's fine, but
>> when I try to boot XP, it says NTLDR is missing. As expected, if I do a
>> repair install on XP, then Vista won't boot any more, then if I fix
>> Vista's boot loader, then XP won't boot anymore. I'm kind of stuck in an
>> endless loop. Any suggestions? Thanks.
>

The key is that you need to know which is the active partition, not where XP
is installed. It sounds like one of two things is happening. You have set XP
to boot from the XP partition not the active partition. The XP boot files
are on the active partition which is probably the Vista partition. The other
possibility is the boot.ini file is pointing to the wrong partition.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Travis King" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> The manual command prompt work did the same thing. Vista will boot fine,
> but XP says that NTLDR is corrupt or missing, so Windows XP can't start.
> I guess they aren't kidding when they say you should install the OS before
> the new OS. When I beta tested Vista, I had XP first then Vista, so that
> worked fine, but the other way around is nothing but headaches. Thanks.
> "Kerry Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)*a*m> wrote in message
> news1E36B4C-74D9-4EEB-BF4C-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Try this method
>>
>> http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vi...n2k-after.html
>>
>> --
>> Kerry Brown
>> Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
>> http://www.vistahelp.ca
>>
>>
>> "Travis King" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> I'm trying to do a dual-boot on a test machine. The reason why it's
>>> a test machine is because I am testing to see if I can figure out how to
>>> dual-boot XP and Vista with Vista installed first. My computer has
>>> Vista on it, and I've been thinking about dual-booting it with XP, but I
>>> don't want to do it if I have to wipe my hard drives and start over, so
>>> I decided I would test it out on a test PC first.
>>>
>>> Okay, so I went ahead and installed XP on another partition from
>>> Vista. As expected, Vista would no longer boot, so I did a repair for
>>> the booting of Vista. I now managed to get Vista to boot. I installed
>>> a 3rd party boot-loader utility to create the XP boot entry. That's
>>> fine, but when I try to boot XP, it says NTLDR is missing. As expected,
>>> if I do a repair install on XP, then Vista won't boot any more, then if
>>> I fix Vista's boot loader, then XP won't boot anymore. I'm kind of
>>> stuck in an endless loop. Any suggestions? Thanks.
>>
>

Would not having SP2 on XP have something to do with it by chance? It was a
fresh install of XP, and I didn't even bother putting SP2 on it yet if it
was going to end up messing up the data anyway. Secondly, would it be by
chance that in Vista, it uses the XP partition as drive D:, but XP uses it
as drive F:? Since I'm setting up the dual-boot in Vista, I'm setting it to
drive D:, so when XP boots, it tries to find data on drive D: instead of
F:... Is this a possibility?
"Travis King" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> The manual command prompt work did the same thing. Vista will boot fine,
> but XP says that NTLDR is corrupt or missing, so Windows XP can't start.
> I guess they aren't kidding when they say you should install the OS before
> the new OS. When I beta tested Vista, I had XP first then Vista, so that
> worked fine, but the other way around is nothing but headaches. Thanks.
> "Kerry Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)*a*m> wrote in message
> news1E36B4C-74D9-4EEB-BF4C-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Try this method
>>
>> http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vi...n2k-after.html
>>
>> --
>> Kerry Brown
>> Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
>> http://www.vistahelp.ca
>>
>>
>> "Travis King" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> I'm trying to do a dual-boot on a test machine. The reason why it's
>>> a test machine is because I am testing to see if I can figure out how to
>>> dual-boot XP and Vista with Vista installed first. My computer has
>>> Vista on it, and I've been thinking about dual-booting it with XP, but I
>>> don't want to do it if I have to wipe my hard drives and start over, so
>>> I decided I would test it out on a test PC first.
>>>
>>> Okay, so I went ahead and installed XP on another partition from
>>> Vista. As expected, Vista would no longer boot, so I did a repair for
>>> the booting of Vista. I now managed to get Vista to boot. I installed
>>> a 3rd party boot-loader utility to create the XP boot entry. That's
>>> fine, but when I try to boot XP, it says NTLDR is missing. As expected,
>>> if I do a repair install on XP, then Vista won't boot any more, then if
>>> I fix Vista's boot loader, then XP won't boot anymore. I'm kind of
>>> stuck in an endless loop. Any suggestions? Thanks.
>>
>