[lpchris85]

I got a new toshiba laptop preloaded with windows 7 home premium 64 bit. i wanted to install XP on a separate partition to run some of my old nancy drew games on. I sectioned off 50GB for my unpartitioned space, and put my xp disc in and rebooted, then selected the unpartitioned space for my XP install. all went well and I am happy with my games on XP... but when i reboot my laptop it boots automatically into XP and does not prompt me a choice of booting in 7 or XP, it seems I am stuck. I hit F12 to open up the boot menu but that did no good as well. Am I stuck? or am I missing something?

Also, when i go to "My Computer" I am still able to see the other 200GB for my windows 7 install and I am able to get my files from it... i just cant boot into windows 7. please help, thanks.

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When booted into Windows XP, place the Windows 7 DVD in the optical drive and open a command prompt. Type the following command and reboot.

d:\boot\ bootsect.exe /nt60 all

Substitute D: for the drive letter of your DVD drive if necessary.

Edited by DaffyKantReed, 21 April 2010 - 05:12 AM.

[DaffyKantReed]

When booted into Windows XP, place the Windows 7 DVD in the optical drive and open a command prompt. Type the following command and reboot.

d:\boot\ bootsect.exe /nt60 all

Substitute D: for the drive letter of your DVD drive if necessary.

Edited by DaffyKantReed, 21 April 2010 - 05:12 AM.

[lpchris85]

thanks for the quick response, Daffy. By doing that will I have to insert the windows 7 disc each time i want to boot back onto windows 7 from XP?

[DaffyKantReed]

Nope, just the once to repair the bootloader. The reboot is just to make sure it works. Please post back with your results.

[DaffyKantReed]

"Lian-Li Rocketfish"

Wow! Couldn't find a larger case, eh?

[lpchris85]

haha, nope, and im using a micro-atx mobo so cooling isn't much of an issue. also i have another follow-up question, I only have the recovery disk made from my laptop, would this work as my windows 7 disk? I also have a windows 7 ultimate 32 bit disk if that would work.

Edited by lpchris85, 21 April 2010 - 08:24 PM.

[DaffyKantReed]

I believe either DVD should work for this little chore.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529

[lpchris85]

I tried the command prompt solution, however my XP install isn't recognizing my disk drive (this is a new laptop made for windows 7), thus any drive label I input it kicks back "the system cannot find the drive specified".

[DaffyKantReed]

Does the optical drive show up in Device Manager?

[lpchris85]

yes the optical drive does show up in device manager

[DaffyKantReed]

Whilst working in Windows XP, Device Manager sees the optical drive, yet you can not access it from within XP. Is this correct?

If so, follow this link and instructions.
http://www.dougknox...._cd_dvd_fix.htm

[lpchris85]

results: opened command prompt: entered the code form above and the results showed:

bootsect.exe updates the master boot code for hard disk partitions in order to swicth between BOOTMGR and NTLDR. you can use this tool to restore the boot sector on your computer. run "bootsect /help" for detailed usage instructions.

from this point i rebooted, but it still doesnt give me the choice to boot between OS's. so unfortunately I am stuck again

[DaffyKantReed]

We'll use bootrec.exe

With the Windows 7 DVD inserted as above type the following two commands at the command prompt, each followed by Enter:

bootrec.exe /fixboot

bootrec.exe /fixmbr

Eject the DVD and reboot.

[lpchris85]

i typed both, it said neither was an internal demand

[DaffyKantReed]

Refer to the following article.

http://www.nirmaltv....7-installation/

Boot from DVD. Choose "Repair Your Computer". Choose the installation in the list, if any. Click next.

It will take a while, so go make coffee.

This method has worked for me several times in the past with problems similar to the one you're having.

Edited by DaffyKantReed, 24 April 2010 - 07:43 AM.