[stearmandriver]

Trying to make this as condensed as possible:

I'm attempting to setup a dual boot with Vista and XP on an HP Presario V6000 laptop that came with Vista pre-installed. I've installed XP into a new partition, and the computer booted to XP. Following instructions found somewhere on the net, I used VistaBootPRO to re-create the Vista bootloader, and it did. I then booted to Vista, and couldn't figure out how to get a dual boot. If, while in Vista, I used VistaBootPRO to create a bootloader for XP, I then booted into XP with no Vista choice. I think I understand now what I should have done (changed the drive the XP bootloader pointed to to /C:, since that's where the XP boot files went even though the install is on /D:), but at the time I got frustrated and did something dumb: used a BCD restore file I (you guessed it) found on the internet. Well guess what that did? Wiped out BOTH bootloaders. I was able to reinstall XP, and I can now boot into XP. Neither VistaBootPRO nor EasyBCD can sucessfully recreate my Vista bootloader for some reason. I tried VistaBootPRO first and rebooted, and was stuck again with no valid bootloader. Reinstalled XP AGAIN, and tried EasyBCD. It claims it re-wrote the Vista bootloader ("The MBR has been re-written, changes will take place upon restart", but when I click "view settings" in EasyBCD, I get: "Error! No valid entries found!"

I've also tried the "Rescue my System" option in EasyBCD. When I ask it to "re-create missing / deleted boot files" I get a dialogue asking the boot drive of Vista. I tell it C:\, and it responds: "The directory is not empty", followed by: "No valid entries found!"

I have not tried to reboot since supposedly re-writing the MBR with EasyBCD. I have a feeling I'm gonna end up in the same jam I did after supposedly re-writing the Vista bootloader with VistaBootPRO - I won't be able to boot to anything, and I'll have to install XP AGAIN. I do not have a full Vista disk, just the recovery discs for the laptop, and I think they'll just reformat everything and I'll have to start all over again. Since I'd rather not do that, here's the question:

Is there any way to manually create / repair a bootloader for Vista while I'm booted into XP? Or does anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks much for any help!!!
Joe

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when dual booting, the following is recommended (abreviated general guidlines):
1)start with a clean system (as in formated hard drive. If its not clean, then the install process will prompt you to do this as part of it's own steps.

2)always start with the oldest operating system. In this case xp.

3)once os is installed and all drivers are taken care of proceed to the next os

4)install vista

Because you have an hp, all you probably got with it was the factory restoration cd's and not the actuall os install media. This means you can't properly setup a dual boot system like you want.

All the utilities you downloaded should come with a big flashing disclaimer: USER BEWARE, user at your own risk.

So I have to ask, why do you want to dual boot?

[starjax]

when dual booting, the following is recommended (abreviated general guidlines):
1)start with a clean system (as in formated hard drive. If its not clean, then the install process will prompt you to do this as part of it's own steps.

2)always start with the oldest operating system. In this case xp.

3)once os is installed and all drivers are taken care of proceed to the next os

4)install vista

Because you have an hp, all you probably got with it was the factory restoration cd's and not the actuall os install media. This means you can't properly setup a dual boot system like you want.

All the utilities you downloaded should come with a big flashing disclaimer: USER BEWARE, user at your own risk.

So I have to ask, why do you want to dual boot?

[stearmandriver]

I need a dual boot because of different VPN clients I need to run for work: one has no Vista support (and apparently won't for a long time) and the other is about to go exlusively Vista. Yes, I know it's dumb. This is what I have to work with. ;-) And no, their IT folks won't help, since it's up to me to try and gain connectivity from home. Basically, I need access to different parts of the network (or maybe different networks altogether) whose IT folks, near as I can tell, have never talked to each other. I'm apparently the first person to want access to both.

So then, as you said, I don't have the option to install Vista second. After messing with this and reading the experiences of others, I'm convinced it can be done and I was almost there. (I DO have both OS's installed, it's just a matter of creating boot records for both now.) All I need now is to recreate the Vista MBR and bootloader. Since the programs designed to do it automatically won't, I'm gonna have to do it by hand (if at all possible). If it's NOT possible, I can always run my Vista restore disks and start over from scratch, but that will involve reinstalling more than just XP, so I'd like to avoid it if possible.

I can access the Vista folders from my XP boot, so if I can just manually reinstall whatever files are missing I'll be in good shape. I have no idea how to do this though. If anyone could help, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks guys, great forum you have here...
Joe

Edited by stearmandriver, 08 August 2007 - 09:48 AM.

[starjax]

you should have a single boot.ini file that specifies the operating system to boot to. If you could attach your boot.ini file that would be great. Also I need to know the install paths for vista and xp.

[stearmandriver]

You bet.. thanks for your help.

Ok... I can't upload any files. Keep getting the error "you are not permitted to upload this type of file." Boot.ini reads as follows:

"[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect"

Also, the contents of my Vista "Boot" folder (minus nested folders) is as follows:
bcd
bcd.txt
bcd.LOG1
bcd.LOG2
bootfix.bin
bootstat.dat
etfsboot.exe
memtest.exe

I was hoping you could take a look at those as I wonder if I'm missing some files there. I really don't know what I'm doing, but it seems like, if all we had to do was create a Vista bootloader entry in the boot.ini, VistaBootPRO or EasyBCD should have been able to do that??

As far as install paths, Vista is in C:\ and XP is in D:\. Strangely enough though, the XP boot files (ntldr, NTDETECT etc.) were installed in C:\. That's where I think I could have got this thing to dual boot, back when both OS's were working. I should have created a boot entry for XP pointing to C:\ instead of D:\. I've found references to that in a few different spots on the web... seems to be an idiosycracy of Vista.

But anyhow, priority one is to get Vista to boot again. I'll worry about XP afterwards.

Thanks for any help!!!
Joe