vistabootpro does not work

[José]

I can multiboot Vista and XP by starting the BIOS setup program and
selecting the Hard disk which should be the boot device, but this is a
bit inconvenient.

So I downloaded www.pro-networks.org/vistabootpro to multiboot between
XP and Vista. I installed the program under Vista.

When I boot the computer from the Vista disk, the multiboot menu
appears. If I select Vista, Vista starts. However, if I select XP,
the computer reboots.

 

[Mark Dietz]

This is because you have Vista and XP isolated. If you had setup the computer so
that Vista could see XP when it was installing, you would not experience this
issue. Another user that posted here and also at PROnetworks, had this exact
same problem where XP was invisible to Vista during setup.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

If you install Vista second and do not disable the XP drive during
installation you will get a proper boot options screen and functionality.

I think that if you had the XP drive disabled during Vista setup then the
Boot Configuration Data store would not have been written to the XP drive,
allowing multibooting via a boot options screen.

 

[José]

If you had setup the computer so
that Vista could see XP when it was installing, you would not experience this
issue.

Well, XP is on NTFS, and Vista can read NTFS.

After installing Vista, I could see all my XP files. So why would
Vista not see them during installation?

 

[José]

If you install Vista second and do not disable the XP drive during
installation you will get a proper boot options screen and functionality.

I think that if you had the XP drive disabled during Vista setup then the
Boot Configuration Data store would not have been written to the XP drive,
allowing multibooting via a boot options screen.

I never disabled anything.

Many years ago I had a computer with two hard disks and a hardware
switch to select one of them. (I never tried what happened if I
toggled the switch while the computer was active.) Of course either
disk was unable to see the other one.

But my Vista is certainly able to see the entire XP installation and
nothing has been disabled.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

So when you installed VistaBootPro on the Vista drive you got nothing in
VistaBootPro? If the BCD store did not get written on the XP root, then it
had to be written on the Vista drive. Something is certainly amiss here.

 

[Roy Coorne]

Well, XP is on NTFS, and Vista can read NTFS.

After installing Vista, I could see all my XP files. So why would
Vista not see them during installation?

Because Vista is not you! You use the explorer in Vista to see your XP
files - but when Vista is being installed, the explorer is not yet
there; Vista is installing itself from DVD in a predefined routine
which asks *you* for additional drivers (via F6) or other input.

rOy

 

[milleron]

I never disabled anything.

Many years ago I had a computer with two hard disks and a hardware
switch to select one of them. (I never tried what happened if I
toggled the switch while the computer was active.) Of course either
disk was unable to see the other one.

But my Vista is certainly able to see the entire XP installation and
nothing has been disabled.

Jose,
You will get the situation you describe without disabling anything if:
1 -- you boot the computer from the Vista DVD and
2 -- install Vista on a separate partition.

To get Vista's Boot Configuration Data store written on the XP drive,
you must boot to XP and then launch the Vista Setup program from
within XP. If you boot from the Vista DVD, you leave the boot sector
on the XP partition unchanged, and you write a bootsector on the Vista
partition that directs the boot process to the BCD store on the Vista
partition only when that drive is specified as "first" in BIOS.

I think that the easiest way for you to correct this problem is to
simply reinstall Vista from within XP. What I cannot tell you is
whether you need to delete the Vista partition (in order to get rid of
its MBR and boot sector) before doing so. To be sure that the second
installation goes right, though, I'd do that.

 

[José]

Jose,
You will get the situation you describe without disabling anything if:
1 -- you boot the computer from the Vista DVD and
2 -- install Vista on a separate partition.

Yes, that's exactly what I did. It's the normal way to install an
operating system, isn't it.

 

[milleron]

Yes, that's exactly what I did. It's the normal way to install an
operating system, isn't it.

Yes, it is, but with Vista, it puts your BCD store on a drive you
probably never intended. It may be a feature or it may be a bug. I'm
not sure. Nevertheless, the result you got was exactly what happened
to everyone else who intended to dual boot but installed from the DVD
directly instead of launching Vista Setup from XP.

It's costing you and many others a lot of extra effort. Give MS some
negative feedback on this problem. Setup should be smart enough to
see the XP installation and ask if you want to dual boot, no matter
how you launch it. Unfortunately, it's not that smar.

 

[Steve]

Yes, it is, but with Vista, it puts your BCD store on a drive you
probably never intended. It may be a feature or it may be a bug. I'm
not sure. Nevertheless, the result you got was exactly what happened
to everyone else who intended to dual boot but installed from the DVD
directly instead of launching Vista Setup from XP.

It's costing you and many others a lot of extra effort. Give MS some
negative feedback on this problem. Setup should be smart enough to
see the XP installation and ask if you want to dual boot, no matter
how you launch it. Unfortunately, it's not that smar.

Interesting, I booted from the DVD, clean install to a new partition,
Vista saw my exsisting XP Pro install and offered me a dual boot option.
Now running no probs with XP Pro as the default boot.

Vista x86

--
Steve

A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you
don't need it.
- Bob Hope

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

It is not a bug. Vista does not use boot.ini. There is a lot of new
technology in this area and MS is moving forward. Essentially, it should
not matter whether or not you start Setup from the desktop or from a hard
boot. You should get a boot options scenario either way. The technology
can take into account the existance of the other Windows installations in
the system.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Exacly, Steve. There is a misperception spreading that you have to start
Setup from the desktop to get a multiboot scenario. What do they think
would happen in a system that already dual-booted (say, XP Home and XP Pro)?
After all, they could only start Setup from one or the other.

 

[milleron]

Interesting, I booted from the DVD, clean install to a new partition,
Vista saw my exsisting XP Pro install and offered me a dual boot option.
Now running no probs with XP Pro as the default boot.

Vista x86

That's interesting, too. This forum is rife with posts about getting
the BCD store on a drive other than the intended one, just like OP
here. In all these instances, the user was not given any options
about dual booting. The common denominator seems to have been the
method of launching Setup. I'm not sure what causes this variability
in experience, but I wonder if it might have something to do with the
format of the partitions and logical drives on which the original
(usually XP) installation was located -- i.e., could mixing FAT32 and
NTFS partitions cause some of the mixups? Did you have XP on an NTFS
volume?
How about Jose?

 

[milleron]

Exacly, Steve. There is a misperception spreading that you have to start
Setup from the desktop to get a multiboot scenario. What do they think
would happen in a system that already dual-booted (say, XP Home and XP Pro)?
After all, they could only start Setup from one or the other.

I know that the number of posts here is getting so large that
searching is difficult, but Jose's experience is anything but unique.
There have been many people reporting the same thing that Jose did.
I'm not at all sure that Setup always "sees" all the existing
operating systems if it's launched from a booted DVD.

 

[milleron]

It is not a bug. Vista does not use boot.ini. There is a lot of new
technology in this area and MS is moving forward. Essentially, it should
not matter whether or not you start Setup from the desktop or from a hard
boot. You should get a boot options scenario either way. The technology
can take into account the existance of the other Windows installations in
the system.

Absent a bug, then, how do you account for the large number of people
reporting botched dual-boot installations? I think I've reviewed all
or almost all of these posts. There are many people reporting that
they're BCD stores have been installed on the Vista partition rather
than on the partition with the original OS, and I don't recall any of
them stating that Setup offered them any options about setting up dual
booting.

 

[msnews.microsoft.com]

Absent a bug, then, how do you account for the large number of people
reporting botched dual-boot installations? I think I've reviewed all
or almost all of these posts. There are many people reporting that
they're BCD stores have been installed on the Vista partition rather
than on the partition with the original OS, and I don't recall any of
them stating that Setup offered them any options about setting up dual
booting.


milleron:
FYI:

My setup:
Not using any 3rd party boot mgrs
Installed Vista beta2 via DVD boot
Vista was the last op system installed

Hard disk layouts:
Disk 0:
Primary partition (is 1 vol)
Extended partition with 5 vols
2 op systems installed in separate vols
XP Home is in Primary partition
XP Pro is in a vol in the extended partition

Disk 1:
(no Primary partition)
Extended partition with 9 vols
4 op systems installed in separate vols
Includes XP Pro and two Win2k3 server installs
Vista is in the last vol

Per Vista:
Previous C: is now "Local Disc D:"
Has \Boot folder (BCD store)
Vista vol is now drive C:

Per XP:
Vista vol is drive Q:

Comments:
(I have installed Vista twice into same vol)
All vols use NTFS

No dialogs re: dual booting were displayed during Vista install
BCD store is on the non-Vista view drive C: (has XP Home)

All op systems are usable via the Vista boot mgr
The default via the Vista boot menu is Vista
The XP boot.ini menu is used for the non-Vista op systems

Following was added to boot.ini file via Vista install:
;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;

 

[Guest]

Absent a bug, then, how do you account for the large number of people
reporting botched dual-boot installations? I think I've reviewed all
or almost all of these posts. There are many people reporting that
they're BCD stores have been installed on the Vista partition rather
than on the partition with the original OS, and I don't recall any of
them stating that Setup offered them any options about setting up dual
booting.


milleron:
FYI:

My setup:
Not using any 3rd party boot mgrs
Installed Vista beta2 via DVD boot
Vista was the last op system installed

Hard disk layouts:
Disk 0:
Primary partition (is 1 vol)
Extended partition with 5 vols
2 op systems installed in separate vols
XP Home is in Primary partition
XP Pro is in a vol in the extended partition

Disk 1:
(no Primary partition)
Extended partition with 9 vols
4 op systems installed in separate vols
Includes XP Pro and two Win2k3 server installs
Vista is in the last vol

Per Vista:
Previous C: is now "Local Disc D:"
Has \Boot folder (BCD store)
Vista vol is now drive C:

Per XP:
Vista vol is drive Q:

Comments:
(I have installed Vista twice into same vol)
All vols use NTFS

No dialogs re: dual booting were displayed during Vista install
BCD store is on the non-Vista view drive C: (has XP Home)

All op systems are usable via the Vista boot mgr
The default via the Vista boot menu is Vista
The XP boot.ini menu is used for the non-Vista op systems

Following was added to boot.ini file via Vista install:
;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;

 

[Guest]

I'm having the same issues this is what I did please someone tell me what I
did wrong because I'm very confused.

I installed XP first fresh install and partitioned off my first Hard drive.
I then installed vista which saw the partition for XP, I then installed it
on my second hard drive.

but it never gave me an option for duel boot at all what am I doing wrong?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You say you did a fresh install of XP and then partitioned your first hard
drive. What do you mean by "partitioned off my first hard drive"? What did
you use to do that? Second you say you installed Vista on your second hard
drive. What was the purpose of partitioning the first hard drive if you
were going to install Vista on the second? I'm just trying to get a picture
of how you proceeded. Finally, please give the details of your computer.