Fixboot \ Fixmbr Question

[Mark W Scheidell]

Want to remove Vista and started through the process of Fixboot and Fixmbr
but now I have questions before proceeding.

I have XP x64 on C, Vista on D, files on E.

1. Logged on to XP after taking the Restore option.
2. When I typed in fixboot, it came back and asked me if I was sure I
wanted to create a boot record on E. This threw me for a loop, I figured it
would put the boot on C.
3. Is this normal and will fixmbr put the boot back on my C drive?

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

When Vista installs it will usually change the disk letters and put itself on
C but if you boot to XP it might appear to be on C as well. This can be very
confusing. It is best to give each partition a name (for example 'Vista')
because the installation process will not change the names, only the letters.
Once you have Vista installed download VistBootPro to help you decide the
boot order and what appears on the screen during the boot process. Vista
instals a 2nd boot tier which always appears first (for example you get a
choice between 'Microsoft Windows Vista' and 'Earlier Installations')
clicking on 'Earlier' takes you to the boot.ini file you are already familiar
with. Colin

 

[Mark W Scheidell]

My drives are named, C is named C, D is named D and E is named E.

At this point I just want to remove Vista as some of my most commonly used
programs aren't running great under Vista - these are mostly video and audio
type apps.

Don't see how VistBootPro is going to help me during the fixboot \ fixmbr
process.

 

[John Barnes]

fixboot will default to your system partition if you don't specify. Your
fixmbr from the Recovery Console should restore your XP boot process. Your
problem is you need to make the drive with your XP boot files on it your
active partition.
Do not refer to drive letters. They are irrelevant. I am assuming that you
are talking about 1 drive (drive 0) and three partitions (1,2,3)
After you fix the MBR, you need to have the ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini
files on the root of the active partition and you need to have the boot.ini
point to your XP partition to boot XP.
As a matter of information you have a boot record on each volume you create,
so you have one on partitions 1,2,3 to see the proper format to fix a boot
record, run fixboot /?

 

[Mark W Scheidell]

Thanks, I finally figured out that I needed to run fixboot with a parameter.
All is working well now.