Vista - Problems with Dual Boot in RC1

I have been running an XP/Vista dual boot for sometime, and today I installed
the latest RC1 release.

Install went ok, but when I rebooted it went straight to Vista - no bootup
choices for XP. I have two physical drives - Drive 0 has two partitions for
XP and Vista. Drive 1 is just for data. Prior to the RC1 update when booting
to Vista, it correctly assigned letter C for the main drive, D for the
(logical) XP drive, and G for the data drive.

Now, however, it insists on assigning the data drive as drive D, and
apparently the dual boot manager only scans drives C and D to try and find
Window versions. Thus, it never looks at the XP partition and therefore boots
directly to Vista.

I have tried to change the drive letter in Vista under disk management, but
it won't let me reassign drive D as it calls it a "system" disk. If I
physically disconnect the data drive, everything works and I can get the dual
boot options as usual.

I have booted with the data drive disconnected, and then connected the drive
when I get to the boot choice screen. Vista then assigns that data drive as
drive G. But if I reboot, it's back to direct boot to Vista.

Other things I have tried

1. Reinstalling Vista with the data drive disconnected. It works, but once
the drive gets reconnected, same old problems.

2. Removing the bootmgr files from the data drive - doesn't work, I get an
error message saying that Bootmgr file is missing.

3. Using Vista "repair start" option from the install disc fails to even see
XP.

Any solutions to this? Vista has an application called bcdedit, but it won't
run from the command line. How do I get Vista to stop looking at the data
drive as a system drive, or otherwise get the boot manager to recognize the
presence of XP?

It has nothing to do with drive letters. Download VistaBoot Pro and use it
to add your XP boot back in. It uses a graphical interface so it is not all
that painful.

"dandrewk" <dandrewk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1D05A148-6328-43C8-9216-3C4E405C2A67@microsoft.com...
>I have been running an XP/Vista dual boot for sometime, and today I
>installed
> the latest RC1 release.
>
> Install went ok, but when I rebooted it went straight to Vista - no bootup
> choices for XP. I have two physical drives - Drive 0 has two partitions
> for
> XP and Vista. Drive 1 is just for data. Prior to the RC1 update when
> booting
> to Vista, it correctly assigned letter C for the main drive, D for the
> (logical) XP drive, and G for the data drive.
>
> Now, however, it insists on assigning the data drive as drive D, and
> apparently the dual boot manager only scans drives C and D to try and find
> Window versions. Thus, it never looks at the XP partition and therefore
> boots
> directly to Vista.
>
> I have tried to change the drive letter in Vista under disk management,
> but
> it won't let me reassign drive D as it calls it a "system" disk. If I
> physically disconnect the data drive, everything works and I can get the
> dual
> boot options as usual.
>
> I have booted with the data drive disconnected, and then connected the
> drive
> when I get to the boot choice screen. Vista then assigns that data drive
> as
> drive G. But if I reboot, it's back to direct boot to Vista.
>
> Other things I have tried
>
> 1. Reinstalling Vista with the data drive disconnected. It works, but once
> the drive gets reconnected, same old problems.
>
> 2. Removing the bootmgr files from the data drive - doesn't work, I get an
> error message saying that Bootmgr file is missing.
>
> 3. Using Vista "repair start" option from the install disc fails to even
> see
> XP.
>
> Any solutions to this? Vista has an application called bcdedit, but it
> won't
> run from the command line. How do I get Vista to stop looking at the data
> drive as a system drive, or otherwise get the boot manager to recognize
> the
> presence of XP?

You need to change the boot priority in the BIOS so that your drive 0 is the
first hard drive in boot priority.


"dandrewk" <dandrewk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1D05A148-6328-43C8-9216-3C4E405C2A67@microsoft.com...
>I have been running an XP/Vista dual boot for sometime, and today I
>installed
> the latest RC1 release.
>
> Install went ok, but when I rebooted it went straight to Vista - no bootup
> choices for XP. I have two physical drives - Drive 0 has two partitions
> for
> XP and Vista. Drive 1 is just for data. Prior to the RC1 update when
> booting
> to Vista, it correctly assigned letter C for the main drive, D for the
> (logical) XP drive, and G for the data drive.
>
> Now, however, it insists on assigning the data drive as drive D, and
> apparently the dual boot manager only scans drives C and D to try and find
> Window versions. Thus, it never looks at the XP partition and therefore
> boots
> directly to Vista.
>
> I have tried to change the drive letter in Vista under disk management,
> but
> it won't let me reassign drive D as it calls it a "system" disk. If I
> physically disconnect the data drive, everything works and I can get the
> dual
> boot options as usual.
>
> I have booted with the data drive disconnected, and then connected the
> drive
> when I get to the boot choice screen. Vista then assigns that data drive
> as
> drive G. But if I reboot, it's back to direct boot to Vista.
>
> Other things I have tried
>
> 1. Reinstalling Vista with the data drive disconnected. It works, but once
> the drive gets reconnected, same old problems.
>
> 2. Removing the bootmgr files from the data drive - doesn't work, I get an
> error message saying that Bootmgr file is missing.
>
> 3. Using Vista "repair start" option from the install disc fails to even
> see
> XP.
>
> Any solutions to this? Vista has an application called bcdedit, but it
> won't
> run from the command line. How do I get Vista to stop looking at the data
> drive as a system drive, or otherwise get the boot manager to recognize
> the
> presence of XP?

I WAS just about to start the upgrade from Beta2 to RC1 .
I have VBPro on there now- will I have to reinstall it?

Also ... do I have to install the
Vista upgrade to RC1 32 before doing Vista RC1 64 ?
( the 32 bit before 64 bit order - does it matter in this case ?)
Thanks
Bobb


"Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com> wrote in message
news:%23d51OxV1GHA.4972@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> It has nothing to do with drive letters. Download VistaBoot Pro and
> use it to add your XP boot back in. It uses a graphical interface so
> it is not all that painful.
>
> "dandrewk" <dandrewk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:1D05A148-6328-43C8-9216-3C4E405C2A67@microsoft.com...
>>I have been running an XP/Vista dual boot for sometime, and today I
>>installed
>> the latest RC1 release.
>>
>> Install went ok, but when I rebooted it went straight to Vista - no
>> bootup
>> choices for XP. I have two physical drives - Drive 0 has two
>> partitions for
>> XP and Vista. Drive 1 is just for data. Prior to the RC1 update when
>> booting
>> to Vista, it correctly assigned letter C for the main drive, D for
>> the
>> (logical) XP drive, and G for the data drive.
>>
>> Now, however, it insists on assigning the data drive as drive D, and
>> apparently the dual boot manager only scans drives C and D to try and
>> find
>> Window versions. Thus, it never looks at the XP partition and
>> therefore boots
>> directly to Vista.
>>
>> I have tried to change the drive letter in Vista under disk
>> management, but
>> it won't let me reassign drive D as it calls it a "system" disk. If I
>> physically disconnect the data drive, everything works and I can get
>> the dual
>> boot options as usual.
>>
>> I have booted with the data drive disconnected, and then connected
>> the drive
>> when I get to the boot choice screen. Vista then assigns that data
>> drive as
>> drive G. But if I reboot, it's back to direct boot to Vista.
>>
>> Other things I have tried
>>
>> 1. Reinstalling Vista with the data drive disconnected. It works, but
>> once
>> the drive gets reconnected, same old problems.
>>
>> 2. Removing the bootmgr files from the data drive - doesn't work, I
>> get an
>> error message saying that Bootmgr file is missing.
>>
>> 3. Using Vista "repair start" option from the install disc fails to
>> even see
>> XP.
>>
>> Any solutions to this? Vista has an application called bcdedit, but
>> it won't
>> run from the command line. How do I get Vista to stop looking at the
>> data
>> drive as a system drive, or otherwise get the boot manager to
>> recognize the
>> presence of XP?
================
> Andre ,
>
> Should I take that Nutrislim ad banner personally ?
>
> To confirm, to NOT wipe out my previous install, I'll start RC1 from
> x64 Vista Beta2 and then it will reboot.
> Can I then leave ( and have it finish on its own) or do I need to
> answer any questions ?
> I read :
> " my clean install of Vista took around 42 minutes (others have
> reported 20 to 30 mins), while the upgrade took a lot more, nearly 5
> hours. " ( for XP)
>
> Can I expect it to be 5 hours to go from Beta 2 to RC1 ( in which case
> I cannot put off yard work!) or if not what's typical for just this
> upgrade from Beta 2 - any feedback from those that have done it ?
>
> Thanks for the help
> Bobb
>
>
>
> "Andre Da Costa [Extended64]" <andred25@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%239v0AL50GHA.4972@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Here is a Visual Tutorial:
>> http://activewin.com/articles/2006/16.shtml
>> --
>> Andre
>> Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
>> Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
>> http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
>
>
>
>
>> "Larry Hodges" <2larry2@2maximizesoftware2.com> wrote in message
>> news:JrmdnQmjgd2iMJzYnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d@comcast.com...
>>> Just an update...
>>>
>>> I upgraded from Beta2 x64 to RC1 x64 without issue. The upgrade has
>>> to be started from within Beta2, not from the CD. And your Beta2
>>> key will be needed, so don't forget to print out that email before
>>> you start! Like I didn't. Who keeps a hard copy anymore?
>>>
>>> Still no Adaptec 39320 RAID drivers, however. Also no DAT support
>>> in Backup.
>>>
>>> -Larry

I would download the latest version of VistaBoot Pro after you have upgraded
to RC1.

You cannot upgrade between x86 and x64 platforms.

If you are presently using Vista Beta 2 x86 and want to run Vista RC1 x64
instead, you must use custom install.

If you are running Vista Beta 2 x64 then you can upgrade to Vista RC1 x64.

If you want to dual boot Vista x86 and x64 then it will not matter which
version you install first.

If you are also multibooting with XP then XP does need to be installed
before any version of Vista.

"- Bobb -" <bobb@noemail.123> wrote in message
news:eRtcsHa1GHA.480@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>I WAS just about to start the upgrade from Beta2 to RC1 .
> I have VBPro on there now- will I have to reinstall it?
>
> Also ... do I have to install the
> Vista upgrade to RC1 32 before doing Vista RC1 64 ?
> ( the 32 bit before 64 bit order - does it matter in this case ?)
> Thanks
> Bobb
>
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com> wrote in message
> news:%23d51OxV1GHA.4972@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> It has nothing to do with drive letters. Download VistaBoot Pro and use
>> it to add your XP boot back in. It uses a graphical interface so it is
>> not all that painful.
>>
>> "dandrewk" <dandrewk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:1D05A148-6328-43C8-9216-3C4E405C2A67@microsoft.com...
>>>I have been running an XP/Vista dual boot for sometime, and today I
>>>installed
>>> the latest RC1 release.
>>>
>>> Install went ok, but when I rebooted it went straight to Vista - no
>>> bootup
>>> choices for XP. I have two physical drives - Drive 0 has two partitions
>>> for
>>> XP and Vista. Drive 1 is just for data. Prior to the RC1 update when
>>> booting
>>> to Vista, it correctly assigned letter C for the main drive, D for the
>>> (logical) XP drive, and G for the data drive.
>>>
>>> Now, however, it insists on assigning the data drive as drive D, and
>>> apparently the dual boot manager only scans drives C and D to try and
>>> find
>>> Window versions. Thus, it never looks at the XP partition and therefore
>>> boots
>>> directly to Vista.
>>>
>>> I have tried to change the drive letter in Vista under disk management,
>>> but
>>> it won't let me reassign drive D as it calls it a "system" disk. If I
>>> physically disconnect the data drive, everything works and I can get the
>>> dual
>>> boot options as usual.
>>>
>>> I have booted with the data drive disconnected, and then connected the
>>> drive
>>> when I get to the boot choice screen. Vista then assigns that data drive
>>> as
>>> drive G. But if I reboot, it's back to direct boot to Vista.
>>>
>>> Other things I have tried
>>>
>>> 1. Reinstalling Vista with the data drive disconnected. It works, but
>>> once
>>> the drive gets reconnected, same old problems.
>>>
>>> 2. Removing the bootmgr files from the data drive - doesn't work, I get
>>> an
>>> error message saying that Bootmgr file is missing.
>>>
>>> 3. Using Vista "repair start" option from the install disc fails to even
>>> see
>>> XP.
>>>
>>> Any solutions to this? Vista has an application called bcdedit, but it
>>> won't
>>> run from the command line. How do I get Vista to stop looking at the
>>> data
>>> drive as a system drive, or otherwise get the boot manager to recognize
>>> the
>>> presence of XP?
> ================
>> Andre ,
>>
>> Should I take that Nutrislim ad banner personally ?
>>
>> To confirm, to NOT wipe out my previous install, I'll start RC1 from x64
>> Vista Beta2 and then it will reboot.
>> Can I then leave ( and have it finish on its own) or do I need to answer
>> any questions ?
>> I read :
>> " my clean install of Vista took around 42 minutes (others have reported
>> 20 to 30 mins), while the upgrade took a lot more, nearly 5 hours. " (
>> for XP)
>>
>> Can I expect it to be 5 hours to go from Beta 2 to RC1 ( in which case I
>> cannot put off yard work!) or if not what's typical for just this upgrade
>> from Beta 2 - any feedback from those that have done it ?
>>
>> Thanks for the help
>> Bobb
>>
>>
>>
>> "Andre Da Costa [Extended64]" <andred25@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:%239v0AL50GHA.4972@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>> Here is a Visual Tutorial:
>>> http://activewin.com/articles/2006/16.shtml
>>> --
>>> Andre
>>> Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
>>> Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
>>> http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> "Larry Hodges" <2larry2@2maximizesoftware2.com> wrote in message
>>> news:JrmdnQmjgd2iMJzYnZ2dnUVZ_rOdnZ2d@comcast.com...
>>>> Just an update...
>>>>
>>>> I upgraded from Beta2 x64 to RC1 x64 without issue. The upgrade has to
>>>> be started from within Beta2, not from the CD. And your Beta2 key will
>>>> be needed, so don't forget to print out that email before you start!
>>>> Like I didn't. Who keeps a hard copy anymore?
>>>>
>>>> Still no Adaptec 39320 RAID drivers, however. Also no DAT support in
>>>> Backup.
>>>>
>>>> -Larry
>
>

John - yes, I discovered that myself. Seemed so simple, really, after a few
hours of trying many different things. Just had to switch boot drive
priority. Duh.

Oh well, spinning wheels on this one gave me knowledge on Vista bootups and
VB Pro, so all (most... some) is not lost. Best of all, it works now, and
Vista is awesoeme!

Thanks.


Dave

"John Barnes" wrote:

> You need to change the boot priority in the BIOS so that your drive 0 is the
> first hard drive in boot priority.
>
>
>