Dual boot XP and Vista problem

N

NJMMM

Have XP on larger partition, then installed Vista on too small partition
(single hard drive), able to dual boot. AOK. Kept getting Low Disk Space
error message in Vista. From Computer Management, Storage (in Vista) wanted
to extend the Vista partition by creating a third partition from the XP
partition, thought I could extend the Vista partition but couldn't. Then
decided to put the unallocated partition back in XP partition (same session).
When I re-booted got "Missing MBR" error message. Able to get Vista to boot
again from off the install CD. But no more dual boot possible. AM able to
see XP partition in Vista. How can I get back to being able to have the dual
boot option? Thanks for help!
 
N

NJMMM

Vista won't let me boot from the XP CD! The BIOS is ok - it asks to press
any key to boot from the CD, but when I do, only Vista starts up. Any idea
why? ANd what else to try?
 
M

Mark L. Ferguson

No, I don't know that. Any system that can't boot to CD is pretty well
broken beyond fixing, as far as Windows goes. You should get a CD boot if
there was no hard drive at all.
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Mark L. Ferguson
..

NJMMM said:
Vista won't let me boot from the XP CD! The BIOS is ok - it asks to press
any key to boot from the CD, but when I do, only Vista starts up. Any
idea
why? ANd what else to try?
Click to expand...
 
N

NJMMM

--
NJMMM


Mark L. Ferguson said:
No, I don't know that. Any system that can't boot to CD is pretty well
broken beyond fixing, as far as Windows goes. You should get a CD boot if
there was no hard drive at all.
--
Was this helpful? Then click the Ratings button. Voting helps the web
interface.
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Mark L. Ferguson
.
Click to expand...
So my next question is - how to get rid of the XP partition and have Vista
solely on the hard drive? Can I use DISKPART or something else? Or can I
still use some software to resurrect the XP partition for dual booting? What
about VistaBootPro? Would that help to get me back to dual booting?
 
L

Len

What Mark is telling you is true - you should be able to boot from the XP CD
without any issues as the OS has not even been accessed at that point.
Either there is a problem with your CD drive or the acutal XP cd you are
using. Try another CD as it should boot up without a problem to a point
were your can enter recovery console.

Len

NJMMM said:
Vista won't let me boot from the XP CD! The BIOS is ok - it asks to press
any key to boot from the CD, but when I do, only Vista starts up. Any
idea
why? ANd what else to try?
Click to expand...
 
N

NJMMM

Thanks-- I did use another XP installation CD, which did boot. However, this
time the problem was that it said it did not recognize any hard drive and
said I had to exit! Now what?
NJMMM
 
G

guesses

If you are using a Sata disk XP will not have the built in drivers so you
will have to create an xp install with the correct drivers using nlite as
here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...d-disk-drives-during-windows-xp-installation/

However there is probably a boot manager that will do the same job. How
about this?
http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_vista_and_xp_with_vista_installed_first__the_stepbystep_guide.htm

guessed


NJMMM said:
Thanks-- I did use another XP installation CD, which did boot. However,
this
time the problem was that it said it did not recognize any hard drive and
said I had to exit! Now what?
NJMMM
Click to expand...
 
N

NJMMM

My hard drive is a Fujitsu MHV21008BH PL ATA. Before I try the
slip-streaming process from the geek website, could you please tell me if I
would be wasting my time - since I do not have a SATA HD.
Thanks,
 
N

NJMMM

Update - I WAS able to resurrect my XP partition from another CD. Now I have
the dual boot option message and can boot XP. However, I cannot boot Vista
now. Is there a diskpart command I can use to fix the boot info for my Vista
partition (as Mark recommended for the XP partition)? When I boot from the
Vista CD it will not do the repair option, although it does recognize the HD.
Could I try to reinstall Vista and see if it keeps the XP on its partition
and lets the dual boot option work again? Since there was not enough space on
the Vista partition to do system restore points, that is not an option
either. My goal is to increase the Vista partition size, keep the dual boot
feature for a while, then delete XP. Any tips?
Thanks,
 
C

Carey Frisch [MVP]

Download and install VistaBootPro:
http://www.vistabootpro.org/

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows System & Performance

---------------------------------------------------------------

:

Update - I WAS able to resurrect my XP partition from another CD. Now I have
the dual boot option message and can boot XP. However, I cannot boot Vista
now. Is there a diskpart command I can use to fix the boot info for my Vista
partition (as Mark recommended for the XP partition)? When I boot from the
Vista CD it will not do the repair option, although it does recognize the HD.
Could I try to reinstall Vista and see if it keeps the XP on its partition
and lets the dual boot option work again? Since there was not enough space on
the Vista partition to do system restore points, that is not an option
either. My goal is to increase the Vista partition size, keep the dual boot
feature for a while, then delete XP. Any tips?
Thanks,
 
M

Mark L. Ferguson

How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to
troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows Vista:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
(the above may fail, it's just precautionary)

bootrec /RebuildBcd

(this will set up the boot to do XP and Vista together)
--
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Mark L. Ferguson
..
 

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