[Quantium]

Hey
As said in the topic, I can't start windows Vista, because I don't get up any boot options, the computer just boots into XP no matter what.
I have tried using easyBCD, followed http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBC...ing+Windows+XP troubleshooting, but everything seems right. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I have tried a lot of things, but none seem to work. I have a fresh install of XP, but old Vista.

In advance, thank you.

[johnebadbak]

you have changed the MBR master boot record, by reinstalling xp.
vista should be the first sys in-stalled then xp this allows the correct MBR to be written.so a boot menu is available. You will need to edit the boot.ini file in vista to allow dual boot. By searching google you may fine a copy of a dual boot menu to see how it is written.
john.

[johnebadbak]

edit your boot.ini file to suit...your systems use notepad to edit the file bootini

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003" /fastdetect

[Quantium]

This did not work iether. I have tried:

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Vista" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer

and changing the vista thing to partition 0. None of them work, but partition 0 says it cant find hal.dll (i suspect more files as well), and when i try to use partition 2 i just get a black screen when i try to boot vista.

[managed]

You need to restore the Vista bootloader.

This is what you should do :-

Setting up the Dual-Boot

Once Windows XP setup has finished, it'll automatically boot you into the newly installed copy of Windows XP – note that you will not be able to boot into Vista at this point, nor will you see a boot menu option for it.
Once in Windows XP, download and install the Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework.
Download and install the latest version of EasyBCD.
Once in EasyBCD, go to the "Manage Bootloader" page, and select "Reinstall the Vista Bootloader" then "Write MBR" to get the Vista bootloader back.
Once that's done, head on to the "Add/Remove Entries" page and select "Windows NT/2k/XP/2003" from the drop-down list, give it a name, then press "Add Entry" to finish.
Reboot.

Source :- http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBC...XP+After+Vista

[Quantium]

Sorry, but I've done that multiple times already.

[tony oh]

I did this too...re-installed XP... and found to my surprise that the dual boot list was gone and I couldn't access Vista.

In the end I just re-installed vista too nightmare

It took about and hour or so to update and then another 15 min for sp1.

[managed]

Did you followe those steps in my link ? It's a different link than the one in your first post.

Have you installed each OS into a different partition on the same hard drive or onto seperate hard drives ?

[Quantium]

whop, double post..

[Quantium]

tony oh:I feel your pain.. I am doing the same as we speak.. no one seem to know a fix for my problem, so I'll just clean install everything.

managed: Same HDD, diffrent partitions. Yes, followed your steps.

[DaveA]

The answer that you need is in post #5 posted by managed, listed above.

[Quantium]

As I've said, I have done everything you guys have told me to, plus followed countless of other guides. There is no use, so I'm reinstalling both vista and XP.

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by Quantium

As I've said, I have done everything you guys have told me to, plus followed countless of other guides. There is no use, so I'm reinstalling both vista and XP.

And you are going to be in the same boat again. The XP install is wiping out the REQUIRED Vista boot files. You need to follow the instructions provided. Until YOU know what you are doing do NOT install XP.

[tony oh]

Won't he be OK if he installs XP first and then Vista?

That got me back up.

[DaveA]

Not if he has to use "System Recover" to get back to factory settings for the Vista OS.