Dual booting XP & Vista trouble

BopNiblets

I thought I'd try and dual boot them, XP is installed already, so I install Vista (Home Premium) and it reboots the first time but then it doesn't get past that stage, after POST and the memory test I get a
"Error cannot read disc" message and it just sits there.

And it also messes the Master Boot Table up for XP, because the only way I get XP working again is to format the partition I put Vista on, put in the XP disc and do a Repair thing with FIXMBR command!

And I know it's doing something because this appears in my XPs boot.ini file:

;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;

Any thoughts?
I know I can go Vista completely but I'd like to get it working just once!

ethernet

Can you boot from the Vista DVD and enter recovery mode to allow it to create a new boot.ini?

I wouldn't know about editing it manually.

Install XP first then Vista [on primary partitions].

8T8

Like ethernet said check to make sure you have a primary partition or a second HD you are installing Vista onto.

How far does the installer get to see this guide for reference does it go as far as step 20 ?


Note you can also use a boot manager like Vista Boot Pro to manage the new boot entries within Vista.

BopNiblets

ethernet: I think I tried that once already and it hit an error again...

It gets to step 17 there for sure (doesn't get to 18) and after that I think it only got past that once (I tried the Vista Repair feature like the XP one, it was some sort of boot fixing thing, that's where my knowledge fails me)

I had created a blank primary partition with Acronis Partiton Expert and when that didn't work I just left some unnassigned space and let Vista do it, but hit the same problem.
I have VistaBoot Pro downloaded, but no OS to put it in yet!

BopNiblets

Ok, I got Vista to install and work and it's all pretty and everything, now we're getting somewhere...

BUT WOE!
I entered XP into the Vista Boot Pro program, and it appears as an option to boot into, but it doesn't work! It will boot into Vista fine, but it restarts the PC as if I hit reset when I select to boot into XP!

To get Vista to work I set the partition it's on to Active (which incidentally, switched around my XP partition drive letter to "G:" and the Vista partition drive letter to "C:".
But it appears only one of the two Primary partitions I have now, can be set to Active, (which would make sense), with Acronis Partition Expert and Vistas built-in one too.

Here are the details from VBPro (simple and more detailed):

There is currently 2 OS(s) installed in the boot manager.
Current timeout before default boots: 30
Default OS: Windows Vista

Entry # 1

---

Name: Windows XP Pro
BCD ID: {8509eea6-e0a0-11db-aaf8-001109610322}
Boot Drive: G:
Windows Drive:
System Bootloader: \ntldr
Windows Directory:

Entry # 2

---

Name: Windows Vista
BCD ID: {current}
Boot Drive: C:
Windows Drive: C:
System Bootloader: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

Windows Boot Manager

---

identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {default}
resumeobject {0b5d1a75-e0e6-11db-acb5-c26aec351f29}
displayorder {default}
{current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30

Windows Legacy OS Loader

---

identifier {default}
device partition=G:
path \ntldr
description Windows XP Pro
custom:47000005 301989892
6

Windows Boot Loader

---

identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
bootdebug No
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {0b5d1a75-e0e6-11db-acb5-c26aec351f29}
nx OptIn
pae ForceDisable
nointegritychecks No
vga No
quietboot No
sos Yes
debug No
custom:47000005 301989892
3

So, I'm getting somewhere, but I need another nudge in the right direction, how do I fix XPs boot?

Ginger

How did you actually do the dual boot. Did you create a seperate vista partition or just install it with XP on the same partition because that wont really work..

I have a dual boot XP and Vista system using the Vista bootloader to load Windows XP..

You should take a look at this post (shameful pimp!) http://blogs.mobhaile.ie/nolonger/archive/2007/03/02/121451.aspx

BopNiblets

Seperate partition of course, I'm not a complete n00b...
Anyway, I got it working last night, stayed up late as I usually do, doing battle with the older and younger evil spawn of MS!
I was going to post on boards but it never seems to work after 2am... heh.

Anyway, I got it working by changing the drive letter in the Vista Boot Pro thing, it seems Vista and XP had differnt ideas o which drive letters have what stuff on them...
In XP, Vista is on my "I:" partition, and XP is on "C:", but in Vista, XP is on the "D:" partition and Vista is on "C:"... confusing!

And everytime I change a file on one of the other drives, one of them does a CHKDSK because it's file tables are messed up, which in turn causes the other OS to do the same next time it boots, it's like watching two brothers fight over stuff, haha!

So, I have a Windows Experience Index of 4.3 now and I'm happy enough.

Thanks guys.