[hamy_jamy]

Hi, I have a problem with my toshiba laptop. I had vista running on it and after i had installed daemon tools on it one day and did the restart to finish the installation i got an error telling me it was missing 'winload', so i installed xp onto it on a seperate virtual hdd and now the computer loads xp everytime without giving me a dual boot option even though i know all the vista stuff is there, i would like to know how i can get vista working again and make the computer load vista on boot. I would keep xp but the toshiba laptop was based on vista so i really couldnt be bothered fixing up the drivers and wireless card and such. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Hi hamy_jamy,

See if VistaBootPro can find the Vista install and restore the boot option.
You can find the program here:
http://www.vistabootpro.org/

[Metallica]

Hi hamy_jamy,

See if VistaBootPro can find the Vista install and restore the boot option.
You can find the program here:
http://www.vistabootpro.org/

[hamy_jamy]

Thank you for the response, i downloaded that program and got .net framework as well as it was needed to run the program, i put them onto a disc and ran it on my laptop, i wasnt sure how to find the .bcd file for the 'bcd registry backup/restore center' tab of the program but it seemed to have found my vista os in the 'view settings' tab and the 'manage os entries' tab, also it had an error stating that it couldnt find vista installed as it loaded the program initially. I set vista to be the default os and restarted but with no avail.

The winload error i was getting when i just had vista installed on the laptop before i installed XP was:

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the
cause. . .

File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Status:0xc000000f
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is
missing or corrupt.

I bought the laptop with vista pre-installed so i cant just run a repair from the disc which is a pity , any other suggestions?? i have no clue. Also i should state that i have XP installed on the F drive of my computer and Vista installed on the C drive, i can access everything on the C drive including all of the windows files, if that helps...

[Metallica]

Before I do some more research, can you tell me if there are any USB devices attached to the laptop?
Even a mouse could be the cause.
If so try replacing any necessary equipment and unhook all you can spare.
Then try booting to Vista. Let us know if that works.

All other solutions I explored sofar needed the DVD
And for completeness sake can you do a Find-Files for winload.exe
Have XP look on the C: drive for it.

Further click Start > Run > cmd > OK
and in the Command prompt that will open use these commands (you can copy & paste or type them):

cd\
C:\Windows\System32\bcdedit.exe /enum > F:\bcdeditresult.txt
notepad F:\bcdeditresult.txt

Post the content of the textfile F:\bcdeditresult.txt

[hamy_jamy]

Hey thanks for the reply again, I have nothing connected to the laptop, i have the winload file there so im presuming that it must be corrupt and the command line you gave me didnt work as it didnt find the bcdedit.exe. Also i just noticed in disk management that there is three partitions named toshiba system volume, c (system) which is vista and f(boot) which is xp, is there anything that info could be of help?, like maybe that toshiba system volume is a recovery partition? its only 1.46gb in size, or could i change the option on what parition is the boot within disk management?

[Metallica]

is three partitions named toshiba system volume

Hmm. If bcdedit is actually missing then the whole install might be corrupt. The third partition you found is indeed the system restore partition. It contains the image of your OS (Vista) and any programs and drivers you got upon your first boot (out of the box)

Let me ask one of the resident techs if and how you can use it to get your Vista running again without destroying the XP install.

[hamy_jamy]

*deleted*

Edited by hamy_jamy, 24 February 2008 - 06:59 AM.

[hamy_jamy]

thank you so much, also my important files are on the vista partition so i could care less what happens to the xp partition, i only installed xp so i could get a look into the vista directory

[happyrock]

first thing to do before trying any fix is to backup any data you can't live without...external usb hard drive and burn the data to cd/dvds make sure you can read them..
then try the recovery partition...
The system recovery program offers two recovery options: Standard Recovery (non- destructive) or Full System Recovery (destructive).

Try the non-destructive recovery, which recovers factory- shipped programs, drivers, and the operating system without affecting any data files that you may have created since purchasing this PC. Some data files may be difficult to find after the system recovery, so it is best to back up all hard disk files before performing a system recovery.