Guide for dummies Vista & XP 2 drives ?

B

bj33813

Member
I was running a dual boot Vista and XP on the same partitioned HD,and it worked fine once I got it to boot both partitions ok (which took me some time LOL). Then a friend who is vastly more knowledgable than I about computers warned me it would cause me grief in the long run, and suggested I put XP on a new HD and remove XP from the original HD.

I removed XP from that original HD and then pulled the Vista HD from pc, and put the new HD in the SATA0 slot and did my install of XP. It works fine, no trouble.

Now however, with the original Vista HD in that SATA0 slot, and the XP HD in the SATA1 slot, all I can do is boot Vista, tho at startup, I DO have the option to boot XP, but it never boots, just various error messages.
Can I get a step by step for dummies on what I need to do to get XP to boot also ? I have Vista Boot Pro 3.3, but I think w/o instruction I may just screw everything up.
 

My Computer

System One

bj33813 said:
I was running a dual boot Vista and XP on the same partitioned HD,and it worked fine once I got it to boot both partitions ok (which took me some time LOL). Then a friend who is vastly more knowledgable than I about computers warned me it would cause me grief in the long run, and suggested I put XP on a new HD and remove XP from the original HD.

I removed XP from that original HD and then pulled the Vista HD from pc, and put the new HD in the SATA0 slot and did my install of XP. It works fine, no trouble.

Now however, with the original Vista HD in that SATA0 slot, and the XP HD in the SATA1 slot, all I can do is boot Vista, tho at startup, I DO have the option to boot XP, but it never boots, just various error messages.
Can I get a step by step for dummies on what I need to do to get XP to boot also ? I have Vista Boot Pro 3.3, but I think w/o instruction I may just screw everything up.
Click to expand...

Hey bj
I would personaly remove one hdd and install Vista, then remove the vista drive and install XP on the other.
Place both drives back in the computer Go into Bios and set up the default drive.
When this is done the default drive will automatically boot on start up, if you want to start the other drive this can be done by pressing for example F8, when the start up screen is being shown, this will give you a drop down menu so that you can choose the boot medium. you just have to check in your mobo manual which key you need to press for this menu.

Hope this helps

Pooch
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self build
    CPU
    Phenom II x4 Black Edition 940-Arctic-Cooling Freezer Xtreme
    Motherboard
    Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe
    Memory
    8 gig Samsung PC800 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVidia 9600gt
    Sound Card
    AD1988b
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" TFT-MONITOR WIDESCREEN mit VGA/DVI 17" Video7 TFT
    Screen Resolution
    1680 : 1050 1280 : 1024
    Hard Drives
    Drive #1 - SAMSUNG HD252HJ (250 GB)
    Drive #2 - Hitachi HDT721010SLA360 (1000 GB)
    Drive #3 - SAMSUNG HD250HJ (250 GB)
    Drive #4 - SAMSUNG HD103UJ (1000 GB) External eSATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake Toughpower Cable Management 750W
    Case
    Enermax Chakra
    Cooling
    2x 120mm Front and Back 1x 250mm Side
    Keyboard
    Standard
    Mouse
    Easy Line Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    16000
    Other Info
    I have also used Fedora, Suse, Ubuntu Linux
    And all other Windows from 95 to date except ME
While I didn't reload Vista and XP, as both were done independently of the other with no other drive being in the pc while they were installed, and each boots fine on its own, Vista is set as the default drive. I tried using each of the F keys, and 2 worked only for additional options in loading Vista, but with XP highlighted at start-up so IT would be the default drive, none of those F keys did a thing, sad to say.
Guess I can always just leave the side cover off and swap the SATA cables for the drive I want to use.
Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

Hey bj :(
It was worth a try

Pooch
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self build
    CPU
    Phenom II x4 Black Edition 940-Arctic-Cooling Freezer Xtreme
    Motherboard
    Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe
    Memory
    8 gig Samsung PC800 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVidia 9600gt
    Sound Card
    AD1988b
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" TFT-MONITOR WIDESCREEN mit VGA/DVI 17" Video7 TFT
    Screen Resolution
    1680 : 1050 1280 : 1024
    Hard Drives
    Drive #1 - SAMSUNG HD252HJ (250 GB)
    Drive #2 - Hitachi HDT721010SLA360 (1000 GB)
    Drive #3 - SAMSUNG HD250HJ (250 GB)
    Drive #4 - SAMSUNG HD103UJ (1000 GB) External eSATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake Toughpower Cable Management 750W
    Case
    Enermax Chakra
    Cooling
    2x 120mm Front and Back 1x 250mm Side
    Keyboard
    Standard
    Mouse
    Easy Line Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    16000
    Other Info
    I have also used Fedora, Suse, Ubuntu Linux
    And all other Windows from 95 to date except ME

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro x64 Latest Release Preview
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer G276HL 27", (DVi) + Samsung 39" HDTV (HDMI)
    Screen Resolution
    2 x 1920x1080 @50Hz
  • Manufacturer/Model
    Real World Computers (Custom by Me)
    CPU
    AMD FX8350 Vishera 8 Core @4GHz
    Motherboard
    Asus M5A78L-M USB3
    Memory
    32GB [4x8GB] DDR3 1600 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Asus nVidia GTX750TI-OC-2GD5 (2GB DDR5)
    Sound Card
    ASUS Xoner DG + SPDIF to 5.1 System + HDMI
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 32" TV
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Internal
    Crucial CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SSD,
    Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH1 2TB,

    External (USB3)
    Seagate Backup+ Hub BK SCSI Disk 8TB
    2.5/3.5 Hot Swap Cradle, USB3 + eSata (client HDDs)
    NAS 4TB
    PSU
    Aerocool Templarius Imperator 750W 80+ Silver
    Case
    AeroCool X-Warrior Red Devil Tower
    Cooling
    Hyper103 CPU, Rear 120mm, Front 2x120mm, Side 2x120mm
    Internet Speed
    68 MB Down 18.5 MB Up
    Other Info
    Six Sensor Auto / Manual Digital cooling (Fan) control with Touch control Panel
Thanks, I will ck that out. Was thinking (always bad thing to do), that maybe I should try setting the XP drive as default, and then use the Vista start repair to get the Vista drive going...maybe I've been going at this backwards.
Busy tonight, but will try tomorrow and post back if I am lucky :)
 

My Computer

System One

Couldn't wait to try this, but my pc sure doesn't like XP being the default drive and me trying to use Vista start repair. :(
Easy bcd says my Vista BCD etc is fine as is .
back to square 1 LOL
 

My Computer

System One

Hi BJ,

the basic problem that you'll have is that XP doesn't recognise vista, (vista didn't exist when the XP code was written), you have to use a boot loader that recognises both operating systems. With XP and Vista the easiest is the vista loader, and EasyBCD just lets you control it better than the built in tools.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro x64 Latest Release Preview
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer G276HL 27", (DVi) + Samsung 39" HDTV (HDMI)
    Screen Resolution
    2 x 1920x1080 @50Hz
  • Manufacturer/Model
    Real World Computers (Custom by Me)
    CPU
    AMD FX8350 Vishera 8 Core @4GHz
    Motherboard
    Asus M5A78L-M USB3
    Memory
    32GB [4x8GB] DDR3 1600 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Asus nVidia GTX750TI-OC-2GD5 (2GB DDR5)
    Sound Card
    ASUS Xoner DG + SPDIF to 5.1 System + HDMI
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 32" TV
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Internal
    Crucial CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SSD,
    Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH1 2TB,

    External (USB3)
    Seagate Backup+ Hub BK SCSI Disk 8TB
    2.5/3.5 Hot Swap Cradle, USB3 + eSata (client HDDs)
    NAS 4TB
    PSU
    Aerocool Templarius Imperator 750W 80+ Silver
    Case
    AeroCool X-Warrior Red Devil Tower
    Cooling
    Hyper103 CPU, Rear 120mm, Front 2x120mm, Side 2x120mm
    Internet Speed
    68 MB Down 18.5 MB Up
    Other Info
    Six Sensor Auto / Manual Digital cooling (Fan) control with Touch control Panel
Check your motherboard manual (assuming a self/custom built, and not off-the-shelf computer) and see if there is F key (usually F8) that is used to bring up the boot menu. You need to hit it while the computer is on the bios loading screen. If there is using that will allow you to boot to either drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Me
    CPU
    Athlon x2 7750 BE
    Motherboard
    Asus M4A78 Pro
    Memory
    2x2gb Kingston
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire HD 4830
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Xtreme Music
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer P221w and Acer 1916w
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050 and 1440x900
    Hard Drives
    2x80 GB Seagate 7200.10 in RAID0, 500 GB Seagate 7200.12
    PSU
    Antec Earthwatts 500W
    Case
    Antec Sonata III
    Cooling
    AC Freezer 64 Pro and a couple of 120 mm case fans
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 v2
    Internet Speed
    10000/1000
Hi.
Hope this helps. On my other computer I have two different OS, on two separate drives.
F11 brings up the boot menu. You do have to be quick with it.
I don't think swapping cables over all the time is a good idea.
Brian
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    ME
    CPU
    AMD 64 X2 5200+
    Motherboard
    ASUS M2N-E SLI
    Memory
    4 GB CORSAIR CM2X 6400 C5 800MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    PNY Geforce 980GTX+ 512MB DDR3
    Sound Card
    AUDIGY 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic VA2216w 22" wide screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 X SAMSUNG SATA 500GB
    1 external usb 500GB
    PSU
    650 WATT
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Mouse
    IntellieMouse Optical
    Internet Speed
    2mb
barman58 said:
Hi BJ,

the basic problem that you'll have is that XP doesn't recognise vista, (vista didn't exist when the XP code was written), you have to use a boot loader that recognises both operating systems. With XP and Vista the easiest is the vista loader, and EasyBCD just lets you control it better than the built in tools.
Click to expand...

EasyBCD told me that my Vista boot was set properly, so I have no idea of how to pursue anything further in that proggie without really mucking things up, and of course, it only works on Vista, not XP in case that is faulty somehow :(

stormy13 said:
Check your motherboard manual (assuming a self/custom built, and not off-the-shelf computer) and see if there is F key (usually F8) that is used to bring up the boot menu. You need to hit it while the computer is on the bios loading screen. If there is using that will allow you to boot to either drive.
Click to expand...
Pooch gave me the same advice in an earlier post here. PC is a Dell Vostro 200, new in July this year. With Vista highlighted in boot option screen at bootup, I tried every F key 1-12, and 2 of them gave me additional options for booting Vista, ie safe mode etc. If I highlighted XP at the boot choice screen (since Vista is the default drive), none of those F keys would do anything at all :(
added ps: I did retry this while still on BIOS screen, still nada


skylab2000 said:
Hi.
Hope this helps. On my other computer I have two different OS, on two separate drives.
F11 brings up the boot menu. You do have to be quick with it.
I don't think swapping cables over all the time is a good idea.
Brian
Click to expand...
same answer as above, and I agree about the cables, besides, that would be a cop-out fix :cry:

When I select XP at the boot option screen, I get
"windows could not start because file is missing or corrupt:
windows root> \system32\hal.dll
please reinstall a copy of the above file"

Did some searching for that problem, and tried 2 things:
1. a boot ini repair in XP recovery mode, but nothing changed when I retried booting XP from the boot choice screen, same error message.:confused:
2. Then tried repairing/reloading the hal.dll file in XP recovery, and after repeated attempts, best response was unable to find file/directory.:sa:

Maybe I just need to get a bigger desk and park my old pc there too :sarc:
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Me
    CPU
    Athlon x2 7750 BE
    Motherboard
    Asus M4A78 Pro
    Memory
    2x2gb Kingston
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire HD 4830
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Xtreme Music
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer P221w and Acer 1916w
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050 and 1440x900
    Hard Drives
    2x80 GB Seagate 7200.10 in RAID0, 500 GB Seagate 7200.12
    PSU
    Antec Earthwatts 500W
    Case
    Antec Sonata III
    Cooling
    AC Freezer 64 Pro and a couple of 120 mm case fans
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 v2
    Internet Speed
    10000/1000
OK< reviewed the how-to above, and I've done those procedures. I went back to EasyBCD1.7.2, and when i started it, I got this:

Unfortunately, EasyBCD could not automatically detect the drive letter of your boot device. This can be caused by a non-standard MBR, use of a 3rd-party bootloader, or a failed Windows Vista install.
To proceed, please enter the letter of your boot drive below. The boot drive is identified by the presence of special files and folders like boot.ini, ntldr, and bootmgr. If you continue to see this error message, please run "Reset BCD storage" from the Diagnostics section.

Went to View settings, and it shows both Vista and XP as both being in C drive..which is wrong, as XP is on D drive.
Went to the change setting screen and highlighted XP and corrected the drive setting to D, then did a "Reset BCD storage" from the Diagnostics section.
Now, View settings only shows Vista, no XP at all. ???

Did a reboot of pc, and now it starts up with Vista and i do not get the boot option screen at all.
 

My Computer

System One

I ran across this doing a google for dual boot on 2 drives:

You can run the commands in the following procedure by using the command prompt. If you run these commands in Windows Vista, run them at a command prompt that has elevated user rights. To do this, click Start, click Accessories, right-click the command-prompt shortcut, and then click Run as Administrator.
1. Use Bootsect.exe to restore the Windows Vista MBR and the boot code that transfers control to the Windows Boot Manager program. To do this, type the following command at a command prompt:
G:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All
(In this command, G is the drive where the Windows Vista installation media is located)
Use Bcdedit.exe to manually create an entry in the BCD Boot.ini file for the earlier version of the Windows operating system. To do this, type the following commands at a command prompt.
2. C:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /create {ntldr} /d "Windows XP Home Edition"
3. C:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=C:
4. C:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \ntldr
5. C:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} /addlast
Restart the computer.

Did this, and now EasyBCD1.7.2 shows:
there are a total of 2 entries listed in the Vista bootloader.
Bootloader timeout 10 seconds
default OS: Windows Vista
Entry #1
Name: Windows Vista
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows directory: \windows
Entry #2
Name: earlier version of windows
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Drive: D:\
Bootloader path: \ntldr

So I again have the boot selection screen upon restarting the pc, but still get that missing or corrupted hal.dll message when I select XP

Maybe this will point out my errors to someone ??:rolleyes:
 

My Computer

System One

Hi BJ,

This error is Possibly caused by an incorrect entry in the Boot.INI file on the XP install caused by the setting / resetting of the boot drive, rather than the file actually being corrupt or missing. can you copy the contents of this file and post it (it's a small text file so should not be a problem)

There should be a line something like this...
Code: 
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional"  /fastdetect

you may have to adjust the Disk(x) entry to get it to work (basically if it errors with a 0 set it to 1 or vice-versa
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro x64 Latest Release Preview
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer G276HL 27", (DVi) + Samsung 39" HDTV (HDMI)
    Screen Resolution
    2 x 1920x1080 @50Hz
  • Manufacturer/Model
    Real World Computers (Custom by Me)
    CPU
    AMD FX8350 Vishera 8 Core @4GHz
    Motherboard
    Asus M5A78L-M USB3
    Memory
    32GB [4x8GB] DDR3 1600 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Asus nVidia GTX750TI-OC-2GD5 (2GB DDR5)
    Sound Card
    ASUS Xoner DG + SPDIF to 5.1 System + HDMI
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 32" TV
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Internal
    Crucial CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SSD,
    Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH1 2TB,

    External (USB3)
    Seagate Backup+ Hub BK SCSI Disk 8TB
    2.5/3.5 Hot Swap Cradle, USB3 + eSata (client HDDs)
    NAS 4TB
    PSU
    Aerocool Templarius Imperator 750W 80+ Silver
    Case
    AeroCool X-Warrior Red Devil Tower
    Cooling
    Hyper103 CPU, Rear 120mm, Front 2x120mm, Side 2x120mm
    Internet Speed
    68 MB Down 18.5 MB Up
    Other Info
    Six Sensor Auto / Manual Digital cooling (Fan) control with Touch control Panel
Hi Nigel:

this is the XP boot.ini:

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Appreciate the help too ! :)
 

My Computer

System One

Hi BJ,

You may want to edit it to look like this [RED highlights] ...

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

and see if that helps

It may also need the items I've marked in blue changed to 1s also but try the red bits first :D
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro x64 Latest Release Preview
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer G276HL 27", (DVi) + Samsung 39" HDTV (HDMI)
    Screen Resolution
    2 x 1920x1080 @50Hz
  • Manufacturer/Model
    Real World Computers (Custom by Me)
    CPU
    AMD FX8350 Vishera 8 Core @4GHz
    Motherboard
    Asus M5A78L-M USB3
    Memory
    32GB [4x8GB] DDR3 1600 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Asus nVidia GTX750TI-OC-2GD5 (2GB DDR5)
    Sound Card
    ASUS Xoner DG + SPDIF to 5.1 System + HDMI
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 32" TV
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Internal
    Crucial CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SSD,
    Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH1 2TB,

    External (USB3)
    Seagate Backup+ Hub BK SCSI Disk 8TB
    2.5/3.5 Hot Swap Cradle, USB3 + eSata (client HDDs)
    NAS 4TB
    PSU
    Aerocool Templarius Imperator 750W 80+ Silver
    Case
    AeroCool X-Warrior Red Devil Tower
    Cooling
    Hyper103 CPU, Rear 120mm, Front 2x120mm, Side 2x120mm
    Internet Speed
    68 MB Down 18.5 MB Up
    Other Info
    Six Sensor Auto / Manual Digital cooling (Fan) control with Touch control Panel
ok BJ

lets try this one ...
set the default to the Vista Drive as first boot drive

set boot .ini to ...

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

see if that does it

By the way EasyBCD does work on XP so it may be possible to use that to fix the bootloader if you can get XP to run by using BIOS or physical cable switching

Just for your info the full details of what you are trying to do is here ...

Windows XP - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

what you have is so close to being right that hopefully this will be the variation we need
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro x64 Latest Release Preview
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer G276HL 27", (DVi) + Samsung 39" HDTV (HDMI)
    Screen Resolution
    2 x 1920x1080 @50Hz
  • Manufacturer/Model
    Real World Computers (Custom by Me)
    CPU
    AMD FX8350 Vishera 8 Core @4GHz
    Motherboard
    Asus M5A78L-M USB3
    Memory
    32GB [4x8GB] DDR3 1600 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Asus nVidia GTX750TI-OC-2GD5 (2GB DDR5)
    Sound Card
    ASUS Xoner DG + SPDIF to 5.1 System + HDMI
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 32" TV
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Internal
    Crucial CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SSD,
    Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH1 2TB,

    External (USB3)
    Seagate Backup+ Hub BK SCSI Disk 8TB
    2.5/3.5 Hot Swap Cradle, USB3 + eSata (client HDDs)
    NAS 4TB
    PSU
    Aerocool Templarius Imperator 750W 80+ Silver
    Case
    AeroCool X-Warrior Red Devil Tower
    Cooling
    Hyper103 CPU, Rear 120mm, Front 2x120mm, Side 2x120mm
    Internet Speed
    68 MB Down 18.5 MB Up
    Other Info
    Six Sensor Auto / Manual Digital cooling (Fan) control with Touch control Panel
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top