[Dual Boot] Vista with XP

On my PC I use the following disks in the following order:
C:/ - Raid 0, 2x WD Raptor X 74GB - Windows Vista
D:/ - 1x WD Caviar SE 160GB - DATA disk (for data)
F:/ - 1x Hitachi DeskStar 160GB - Windows XP

I first had Windows Vista installed on my "C:/" disk. After that I immediately installed Windows XP on my "F:/" disk. Remember that "F:/" is an whole other drive then the "C:/" drive! So all this went well without trouble.

But then, as soon as I rebooted my PC I couldn't boot into Windows Vista and only Windows XP worked. Guess what; The bootsector of Windows Vista was either damaged or missing, I restored it using the 'restore-bootfiles' function from the Windows Vista DVD.

After doing so, I restarted my PC again, now Windows Vista worked fine but Windows XP didn't. The reason for this is kinda logical, Windows Vista uses another BootLoader than Windows XP does. The BootLoader of Windows Vista recognizes Windows XP but that's not the same the other way around. So basically it should work with the needed configuration.

For (*trying to set up*) setting up a Dual Boot I used EasyBCD 1.7, but it simply isn't working.

I made the following entries:

There are a total of 5 entries listed in the Vista Bootloader.
Bootloader Timeout: 30 seconds.
Default OS: Microsoft Windows Vista

Entry #1

Name: Microsoft Windows XP
BCD ID: {2ef9a694-80c2-11dc-a9ed-0018f3a7a9ac}
Drive: Active Boot Partition
Bootloader Path: \NTLDR

Entry #2

Name: Microsoft Windows XP (D:\)
BCD ID: {2ef9a696-80c2-11dc-a9ed-0018f3a7a9ac}
Drive: Active Boot Partition
Bootloader Path: \NTLDR

Entry #3

Name: Microsoft Windows XP (F:\)
BCD ID: {2ef9a698-80c2-11dc-a9ed-0018f3a7a9ac}
Drive: Active Boot Partition
Bootloader Path: \NTLDR

Entry #4

Name: Microsoft Windows XP (B:\)
BCD ID: {2ef9a69a-80c2-11dc-a9ed-0018f3a7a9ac}
Drive: Active Boot Partition
Bootloader Path: \NTLDR

Entry #5

Name: Microsoft Windows Vista
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

When choosing any of the above standing entries in the boot manager they all give the same message: "\NTLDR missing". I browsed on the "F:/" disk searching for either "NTLDR" and "boot.ini", they both were present undamaged.

This is the boot.ini file on the "F:/" disk (Windows XP that is):

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

The boot.ini has probably nothing to do with all this because Windows Vista uses another kind of BootLoader. I'm completely lost and I don't know how to continue. So is there anyone that's able to help me?

EDIT:
I just noticed that in every Windows XP entry it says: "Active Boot Partition". While I'm 100% sure that I took all the available drive letters. The drive letters behind every "Windows XP" entry refer to the drive letter I took in EasyBCD. I also used VistaBootPRO, but as soon as I click "Run Diagnostics" there's only Windows Vista in the list. And that's what kinda bothers me because yesterday it also detected my Windows XP installation..

Wipe all the entries except the Vista entry (Which is working?).
Reboot
Launch the EasBcd and go to Add/Remove Entries.

Under “Add an Entry” and under the Windows tab and select in the Version drop-down list “Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3”.

Change the Drive to F:\ and the name to “Windows XP”, then click “Add Entry” and “Save”.

Reboot the system and you’ll have two entries in the Vista bootloader, and can boot into either operating system. BUT:

If you get a message about Missing NTLDR when you select Windows from the boot menu, download these files
( http://neosmart.net/wiki/download/attachments/196612/Boot+Files.zip ) and extract them to the root of the drive letter that EasyBCD shows Windows XP as booting from.

For instance, if EasyBCD's "View Settings" section says that Windows XP is set to boot from C:\ (note that this may or may not be the actual drive of Windows XP itself), extract the files NTDETECT.COM and NTLDR to C:\ then reboot. Note that the drive with NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM must be the active & primary partition on the drive!

uhaligani said:

Wipe all the entries except the Vista entry (Which is working?).
Reboot
Launch the EasBcd and go to Add/Remove Entries.

Under “Add an Entry” and under the Windows tab and select in the Version drop-down list “Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3”.

Change the Drive to F:\ and the name to “Windows XP”, then click “Add Entry” and “Save”.

Reboot the system and you’ll have two entries in the Vista bootloader, and can boot into either operating system. BUT:

If you get a message about Missing NTLDR when you select Windows from the boot menu, download these files
( http://neosmart.net/wiki/download/attachments/196612/Boot+Files.zip ) and extract them to the root of the drive letter that EasyBCD shows Windows XP as booting from.

For instance, if EasyBCD's "View Settings" section says that Windows XP is set to boot from C:\ (note that this may or may not be the actual drive of Windows XP itself), extract the files NTDETECT.COM and NTLDR to C:\ then reboot. Note that the drive with NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM must be the active & primary partition on the drive!

Click to expand...

I really can't thank you enough for (probably) posting a solve. But I already did the following:

I completely formatted my computer, including ALL harddrives. I firstly installed Windows XP on my Hitachi drive, after that I immediately installed Windows Vista on my Raid 0 disk setup. All this went smooth without any problems.

The only problem I'm facing now is that when I turn on my PC it automatically boots into Windows Vista. It doesn't even give me a choice whether to choose Windows XP or Windows Vista. With other words, it doesn't show me the Operating System selection screen.

Anyone an idea how to solve this?

I think you need some type of boot manager to do this with . Here is an article telling how to do it hopethis helps.(How to dual-boot Vista with XP - step-by-step guide with screenshots | APC Magazine )

colt1911 said:

I think you need some type of boot manager to do this with . Here is an article telling how to do it hopethis helps.(How to dual-boot Vista with XP - step-by-step guide with screenshots | APC Magazine )

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help but I already tried that one. I don't have Windows XP and Windows Vista installed on the same drive so there's nothing to shrink. So basically that tuturiol doesn't fit in with my configuration. Thanks anyway!

With VistaBootPRO I configured everything correctly via Windows Vista. I now can see the operating system selection screen again. But yet again, as soon as I choose Windows XP it gives me the warning that the boot.ini file is not correct. It also gives the message that it's trying to boot from "C:\WINDOWS" while (as far as I know) it should be "D:\WINDOWS". So with other words, it's just something wrong in the boot.ini file, is there anyone that knows how to edit it? Probably it's searching on the wrong disk if that's possible.

Current boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

I think your "rdisk" should say "1" so your boot.ini would look like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" /fastdetect

@uhaligani

Thanks, I tried it out and this is the exact result:
Invalid BOOT.INI file
Booting from C:\windows\
NTDETECT failed

I also tried partition(2) and partition(3) at both the [boot loader] and the [operating systems] part.

Any other ideas?

EDIT:
I just found out that every time I start VistaBootPRO it gives me the following message:

Any chance that this is the bottleneck?

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(0)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" /fastdetect
The "default" line is the default operating system that the boot.ini will load. If multiple operating systems are in the boot.ini, the default operating system will be automatically selected and used if the user does not specify a different operating system by the time the timeout value expires. So in the "default" line, the rdisk should also be "1"