Re: Multiple Vista boot options

It's working! Here's what I did.

You will recall that it would not boot up from the HD after time-out of the "Press any key to boot from CD" message during installation of XP. To get something on the screen again I booted from the Vista installation DVD and selected Repair to Vista, selecting the Startup option therein. This allowed Vista to boot off the HD. There was no 2nd boot option offered.

Once Vista booted I opened the Disk manager and changed the partion on which I had installed XP to Active.

Then I ran VistaBootPro and did Diagnostics. That resulted in an "earlier version of Windows" to appear on the Manage OS Entries dialog. I changed the name to "XP Pro" and clicked Apply.

Then I rebooted, and got the boot menue offering Vista or XP Pro. I selected Xp Pro. It then booted from the HD and asked me to put the XP installation CD back in. It then went on to finish loading all the other stuff for XP and the other initial setup stuff. It worked!

I really don't know if it was setting the partion Active, running diagnostic, or both that did the trick.

Only problem now is the XP installation process didn't identify some of my hardware, such as the onboard network interface. I'll have to work on that, perhaps digging out some installation CDs or whatever. Then comes loading my software that doesn't work well with Vista.... bigger job I expect.

Thanks for all the help.

Ed





"John Barnett MVP" <freelance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:uw%23FEkrOJHA.3748@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When you install an operating system and the system needs to reboot a message comes up on screen saying 'press any key to boot from CD (or DVD).' You only do this once, that is when you first start the installation. The second time around you ignore the 'press any key' and let windows continue. If you press any key on the second reboot then, yes, the operating system, will start installing all over again. If you ignore the 'press any key' then the installation continues. The only time you take the CD out of the drive is when installation has completely finished; at which time you should see the XP desktop on your screen.

In VistaBootPro on the 'manage OS entries' tab have you tried 'adding' the operating system? Have you also checked the drive you installed XP to to see if there is actually operating system files on it?

I've just installed the pre-beta release of Windows 7 on a separate partition and that installed went without issue.


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John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
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"Ed Sowell" <jag_man__REM0VE__653@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:A11A9797-0258-4B61-A46B-5076A217C36C@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
John,

Ran into a problem. My goal was to install XP Pro on Drive 1 rather than Drive 0. Since Drive 1 was already formattted as D: with some data on it I used the Vista Disk manager to shrink D: by 40Gb and create a new simple partition, unformatted. I then booted from the Xp Pro installation CD and installed XP into that partition, allowing the installer to format it. When it got to the point where it needed to reboot, I removed the CD. However, it would not boot from the HD. Apparently, it could not find the XP MBR.

The only thing I can think of that I may have done wrong was to remove the XP installation CD when it wanted to reboot after copying all the files etc. However, if I leave it in I assume it would want to go through the installation process again from the beginning.

To recover I booted from the Vista Ultimate installation DVD and did a Startup repair. There was no damage to anything. However, when I run VistaBootPro it shows only Vista... no XP.


Any ideas on where to go from here?

Ed

"John Barnett MVP" <freelance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%2368h%23DfOJHA.3580@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yes, Ed. Just make sure you point the installation to your second hard drive. As I rarely use XP nowadays I have actually installed mine using virtual machine software (I use VMware Workstation which is quite expensive, but Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 is free) This actually allows me to run both operating systems at the same time. Obviously you need 2GB or more of memory to run both. Again, for more information, see this link from my website:

http://vistasupport.mvps.org/creating_a_virtual_machine_with_vmware.htm

The link refers to VMware Workstation but most VM's are basically the same. I use VMware because it supports USB; Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 doesn't, although there are a couple of free VMs that do support USB.


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John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..


"Ed Sowell" <jag_man__REM0VE__653@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:72C842BA-CBE0-42C4-AFE4-A2A93F935276@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Great! That's really neat. Since I have a second HD D: with more free space can I install Xp on it instead of on C:?

Ed

"John Barnett MVP" <freelance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:u1CVoIeOJHA.4256@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ed there is an option to add the Vista bootloader in VistaBootPro. If you want to install XP then this link from my website will help: http://vistasupport.mvps.org/install_windows_xp_on_machine_running_vista.htm


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--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..


"Ed Sowell" <jag_man__REM0VE__653@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:54A56564-021F-48C0-BDB7-EE486D7F4F83@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks, John. That worked.

Can VistaBootPro also be used to fix the problem that arises when XP Pro is added as a second boot option on a machine that already has Vista Ultimate installed? I've been thinking about doing that, and have read http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529, but it seems like an unnecessarily awkward procedure.

Ed


"John Barnett MVP" <freelance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%23R930%23UOJHA.1144@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You can do but BCDedit isn't very user friendly. Instead download VistaBootPro (free) and install it to your machine. Run VistaBootPro and click on the Manage OS tab. You can then remove the second versions entry from there. VistaBootPro certainly beats having to use command lines to edit BCDedit.

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--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..


"Ed Sowell" <jag_man__REM0VE__653@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:43D72773-A9F0-4201-A7F1-7B74BC707357@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
As I was stumbling around installing Vista Ultimate 32 I made some mistakes causing me to start over. The second installation went fine and the machine is runnin great. The only problem, really just an iritation, is when it boots up there is a multi-boot screen offering me two Vistas to choose from. Fortunately, the first one seems to be the good one so it will go ahead and boot without intervention. However, I'd like to get rid of the second boot option, and also delete the windows.old.000 directory.

From some investigation I've done on multiboot I know that Vista has a new boot sequence and there is an editor called BCDEdit that can be used. Can I use this tool to get rid of the 2nd Vista?

TIA

Ed





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