Hello. I recently downloaded and installed Windows Vista RC1.

I have a working Windows XP installation on my secondary SATA drive (F
while I installed Vista on primary SATA drive (C

I have been experimenting with EasyBCD and Vista Boot Pro to make an
entry in the BCD for my Windows XP installation. However, when I try to
boot my WinXP installation, I only get a message saying that .\NTLDR is
missing.

I started the recovery console from the WinXP CD and typed "fixboot" and
"fixmbr", however this does not seem to fix the problem.

I should probably tell you that the secondary SATA drive shows up as D:
in the recovery console, while it shows up as F: in Vista and WinXP. (I
have tried to change the drive letter of the secondary SATA drive to D:
and re-run "fixboot" and "fixmbr" from the WinXP recovery console, but
it does not seem to matter...)

I even tried to copy the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files from the WinXP CD
to the root of the F:\ drive. Now the message disappears, but my PC
instantly reboots when I try to boot the WinXP installation.

However, I found out that when choosing "Boot from secondary SATA drive"
in the BIOS menu, I am able to boot my old XP installation fine.

How do I configure the Vista bootloader to be able to detect and boot
from my old XP installation on drive F:?

Below is output of bcdedit /enum

--cut--

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {856e4599-66ef-11db-9ba6-a22c3d2dc6c3}
displayorder {current}
{a4749f90-66a5-11db-841f-001060a5f409}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {856e4599-66ef-11db-9ba6-a22c3d2dc6c3}
nx OptIn

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {a4749f90-66a5-11db-841f-001060a5f409}
device partition=F:
path \ntldr
description Microsoft Windows XP

--cut--

Any hints will be deeply appreciated .
Thank you!

--
Øystein Skotheim
Scientist, Optical Measurement Systems and Data Analysis
SINTEF ICT [http://www.sintef.com/omd]

usasma wrote:

> It appears (to me) that devices are being enumerated by the boot loader that
> aren't recognized by the BIOS.
>
> I'd suggest changing the entry in BCDEdit for the legacy OS to read D:
> instead of F: I don't have Vista up and running at this time, so I'm unable
> to verify this.

Hello John. Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I already tried
this and it doesn't help :-/

Regards,

--
Øystein Skotheim
Scientist, Optical Measurement Systems and Data Analysis
SINTEF ICT [http://www.sintef.com/omd]

It appears (to me) that devices are being enumerated by the boot loader that
aren't recognized by the BIOS.

I'd suggest changing the entry in BCDEdit for the legacy OS to read D:
instead of F: I don't have Vista up and running at this time, so I'm unable
to verify this.

- John

"Øystein Skotheim" wrote:

> Hello. I recently downloaded and installed Windows Vista RC1.
>
> I have a working Windows XP installation on my secondary SATA drive (F
> while I installed Vista on primary SATA drive (C
>
> I have been experimenting with EasyBCD and Vista Boot Pro to make an
> entry in the BCD for my Windows XP installation. However, when I try to
> boot my WinXP installation, I only get a message saying that .\NTLDR is
> missing.
>
> I started the recovery console from the WinXP CD and typed "fixboot" and
> "fixmbr", however this does not seem to fix the problem.
>
> I should probably tell you that the secondary SATA drive shows up as D:
> in the recovery console, while it shows up as F: in Vista and WinXP. (I
> have tried to change the drive letter of the secondary SATA drive to D:
> and re-run "fixboot" and "fixmbr" from the WinXP recovery console, but
> it does not seem to matter...)
>
> I even tried to copy the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files from the WinXP CD
> to the root of the F:\ drive. Now the message disappears, but my PC
> instantly reboots when I try to boot the WinXP installation.
>
> However, I found out that when choosing "Boot from secondary SATA drive"
> in the BIOS menu, I am able to boot my old XP installation fine.
>
> How do I configure the Vista bootloader to be able to detect and boot
> from my old XP installation on drive F:?
>
> Below is output of bcdedit /enum
>
> --cut--
>
> Windows Boot Manager
> --------------------
> identifier {bootmgr}
> device partition=C:
> description Windows Boot Manager
> locale en-US
> inherit {globalsettings}
> default {current}
> resumeobject {856e4599-66ef-11db-9ba6-a22c3d2dc6c3}
> displayorder {current}
> {a4749f90-66a5-11db-841f-001060a5f409}
> toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
> timeout 30
>
> Windows Boot Loader
> -------------------
> identifier {current}
> device partition=C:
> path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
> description Microsoft Windows Vista
> locale en-US
> inherit {bootloadersettings}
> osdevice partition=C:
> systemroot \Windows
> resumeobject {856e4599-66ef-11db-9ba6-a22c3d2dc6c3}
> nx OptIn
>
> Windows Legacy OS Loader
> ------------------------
> identifier {a4749f90-66a5-11db-841f-001060a5f409}
> device partition=F:
> path \ntldr
> description Microsoft Windows XP
>
> --cut--
>
> Any hints will be deeply appreciated .
> Thank you!
>
> --
> Øystein Skotheim
> Scientist, Optical Measurement Systems and Data Analysis
> SINTEF ICT [http://www.sintef.com/omd]
>

This might solve something:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing.../diskdirector/
This program is called Acronis Disk Director suite. this program can create
a bootdisk. if you boot from it, you can see if all drive letters are
correct, and change them if neccesary.

"Øystein Skotheim" wrote:

> usasma wrote:
>
> > It appears (to me) that devices are being enumerated by the boot loader that
> > aren't recognized by the BIOS.
> >
> > I'd suggest changing the entry in BCDEdit for the legacy OS to read D:
> > instead of F: I don't have Vista up and running at this time, so I'm unable
> > to verify this.
>
> Hello John. Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I already tried
> this and it doesn't help :-/
>
> Regards,
>
> --
> Øystein Skotheim
> Scientist, Optical Measurement Systems and Data Analysis
> SINTEF ICT [http://www.sintef.com/omd]
>