[djangojazz]

Okay quick run up on how XP boots Boot.ini file loads windows. Most experienced users know the way to check a boot path is the msconfig option from run that is on every windows except win 2000. Start>Run>msconfig>boot.ini. You can change some boot options here and get rid of os's that were deleted with their boot path. But you know what not so on Vista, it uses a whole new system called bcdedit.exe I believe that boot.ini doesn't even see or acknowledge. So to bring you up to speed here's what happened:

I was on the release candidates with build 2600 I tried to install it to my 2nd spindled drive. A totally seperate physical drive I labeled as F:. It wouldn't work it would give the black screen of death with no blinking cursor, no nothing, just my monitor looking at me saying "I'm glowing amber on my led what are you going to do?". Obviously install Norton Partition Magic and make room for it on the main drive.

So now I stretch out room on my C: for two more partitions. Another Primary I label G: and an extended volume I label as H:. Guess what Vista RC1 build 2600 works great! I get a dual boot option after the motherboard logo goes away and it will default to Vista but I can also choose Vista...... for about 2 weeks then the same pill looking icon Windows says to install for protection starts causing problems, I think the thing was PC Chillin or something like that. I uninstall it, RC1 kind of works but inevitably something is hogging memory and who cares I tried for a while I give up uninstall.

Now I recently think: "you know I'm sick of seeing this dual boot screen let's uninstall Vista." Well as I have heard now I shouldn't have just deleted the partition under Partition magic. Now the OS is gone but guess what Bcdedit.exe is still there asking if I want to boot to an OS that isn't there. I search online and most people are like yep to uninstall the Bcdedit.exe you have to point to boot.ini from VISTA. But how did I know that? There is nothing I have read on dual boots with Vista other than blah, blah, blah Vista is so great. It's so great if you boot from disk on Vista it gives you the nice amazing graphics curtains with no options to reformat partitions like XP disc does.

So to bring up to speed I tried to install Vista again and got a lot of blank screens since upon reformatting a new partition. Vista's disc is like a POS from my position since if it sees vista file it does nothing but sit still showing you a pretty curtain of blue and aqua. So wham, boot from Win XP Pro, delete ALL Partitions reformat, stop install, delete partition just made up, reformat a 2nd time to be sure, Make up 3 partitions and I'm sorry but I don't know if Windows by default makes all 3 primaries or 2 primaries and one extended.

I install XP pro, it runs great and super fast like a new reformatted drive should. I am sick of Vista's crap with my PC so I install Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. I install Vista on a virtual machine and guess what, it's so slow it's funny to even try to use it. It's like going back to Win 95 days with a processor just fast enough to run win 95. So I'm thinking "Should I dare go through this stuff again just to use Win Vista?". I don't know so 2 things for anyone that has delved the depths further than me:

1. Should Vista always be first on the actual physical disk, the spindle, and associated with C: and if you choose XP or an earlier system put that one further down the line?

2. If I choose to go up against the cruel path that is the dual boot of bcdedit.exe and boot.ini on the same machine. Is there a way to access from a command prompt to get to one or the other if things go south? Going to XP Pro command prompt and going dir bcdedit.exe from the root of the drive or even other drives was pointless it was not there and when trying to make unhidden it wasn't there.

A point in the right way would be great. As far as my limited understanding is thinking is that I should go Vista first and then everything else after. But I'm not ready for Vista to be my main OS, especially considering it's disc doesn't seem to be bootable except to say: "Yep Vista is here, (blank screen with a nice curtain background)".

[dnutter]

ok got a new hp laptop with dual 120 gig hard drives in it 1st drive came pre-installed vista home premium on it. i installed xp home on 2nd drive, booted up no vista crashed vista had to be reinstall. downloaded acronis disk director 10 trial and os selector
not working with vista as 1st os microsoft say use veritual pc 2007 free , but must run business ver of vista , or xp pro which you can't run on a vista pre-installed system

[Elvandil]

Originally Posted by djangojazz

Okay quick run up on how XP boots Boot.ini file loads windows. Most experienced users know the way to check a boot path is the msconfig option from run that is on every windows except win 2000. Start>Run>msconfig>boot.ini. You can change some boot options here and get rid of os's that were deleted with their boot path. But you know what not so on Vista, it uses a whole new system called bcdedit.exe I believe that boot.ini doesn't even see or acknowledge. So to bring you up to speed here's what happened:

I was on the release candidates with build 2600 I tried to install it to my 2nd spindled drive. A totally seperate physical drive I labeled as F:. It wouldn't work it would give the black screen of death with no blinking cursor, no nothing, just my monitor looking at me saying "I'm glowing amber on my led what are you going to do?". Obviously install Norton Partition Magic and make room for it on the main drive.

So now I stretch out room on my C: for two more partitions. Another Primary I label G: and an extended volume I label as H:. Guess what Vista RC1 build 2600 works great! I get a dual boot option after the motherboard logo goes away and it will default to Vista but I can also choose Vista...... for about 2 weeks then the same pill looking icon Windows says to install for protection starts causing problems, I think the thing was PC Chillin or something like that. I uninstall it, RC1 kind of works but inevitably something is hogging memory and who cares I tried for a while I give up uninstall.

Now I recently think: "you know I'm sick of seeing this dual boot screen let's uninstall Vista." Well as I have heard now I shouldn't have just deleted the partition under Partition magic. Now the OS is gone but guess what Bcdedit.exe is still there asking if I want to boot to an OS that isn't there. I search online and most people are like yep to uninstall the Bcdedit.exe you have to point to boot.ini from VISTA. But how did I know that? There is nothing I have read on dual boots with Vista other than blah, blah, blah Vista is so great. It's so great if you boot from disk on Vista it gives you the nice amazing graphics curtains with no options to reformat partitions like XP disc does.

It all works pretty flawlessly if you do it correctly. Get your XP running and then install Vista. It doesn't matter where on the drive.

Vista, as the newest OS, then controls the boot process. There are many apps available to help with bcdedit if you don't like the command line, but you have complete control over it.

Once Vista is installed, msconfig run in XP does not have anything to do with the boot process which is then controlled by Vista and settings there will only make for trouble if changed.

[techy689]

Below is the way I installed XP on my computer, after Vista was already installed... creating a dual boot.

First find the drivers for your network components, wireless card or nic, and save them to an external device such as a floppy disk or flash drive.

Then you will need to go into the BIOS on your computer startup. Scroll to the System Configuration tab and go down to the SATA Native Support and change its setting to Disabled. Then hit F10 to Save and Exit.

Next, insert your Windows XP CD and create the partition you wish to install XP on. After the installation is complete you should boot automatically into XP.

Now you need to move some files. First, make sure you have set your folder options to see hidden files and to show protected operating system files. Then open Windows Explorer and go to the drive where Vista is installed. Copy the folder Boot, and the files bootmgr, boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM and ntldr and paste them to the root of your XP drive.

Then download Vista Boot Pro and save it to your desktop or somewhere else that you can easily access. Unless you already have .Net Framework (v2.0 at least) it will redirect you to a Microsoft page where you can download this necessary component.

Install and run Vista Boot Pro and open the "Bootloader" tab. Select "Reinstall the Vista bootloader" and press Apply. Then go to the Manage OS Entries tab and select "Add new operating system entry" and make sure you select "Windows Legacy". Give the new entry a name (ie: Windows XP) and select the drive letter you have XP on and then select Apply. You can also choose which entry you would like as the default the system will boot to.

The links will not work because I copied this out of my original post:

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vi...ter-vista.html

And now you should be able to dual boot between Vista and a previous OS.

[djangojazz]

Originally Posted by Elvandil

It all works pretty flawlessly if you do it correctly. Get your XP running and then install Vista. It doesn't matter where on the drive.

Did not work on 2nd physical unit, how does what you said help?
Did not work on 2nd primary partition on main cable selected drive, how does that help?

Please give me something more specific than "It worked for me."

Originally Posted by Elvandil

Vista, as the newest OS, then controls the boot process. There are many apps available to help with bcdedit if you don't like the command line, but you have complete control over it.

??? example

I have tried 7 times to install Vista it worked once. There are tons of things out there of how hard things are to get to work the way they are meant with Vista. As an moderator surely you can appreciate that not everyone has the same exact hardware and that when a person asks for where common commands or bootlogs are you might offer something better than a vague "There's stuff out there".

I found something I'm going to try someone else told me. I'll share it for others if they may want to know to delete the bcdedit.exe:

1. Boot your computer in to Windows XP.
2. Ensure you have the Vista DVD image emulated or in the DVD drive.
3. Go to “Start” and “Run”. Type in “e:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force” (without quotes, and replacing e: with the drive letter of your Vista DVD).
4. Restart the computer, and you will notice the boot selection menu is gone.
5. Format the partition/drive where you had Vista installed.
6. Remove two files (Boot.BAK & Bootsect.BAK) on your XP drive’s root folder (C, these were backup files of your previous bootloader, now no longer useful.
7. Optional: Restart to ensure it still works.
8. Use your partition software to merge your partitions together

http://www.istartedsomething.com/200...-boot-with-xp/

I'm going to try it later. So far the virtual PC just can't seem that good for really using Vista.

[tssells]

FYI Virtual PC is very slow for virtualization.

Try using VMware workstation. You get a lot better response from Vista (We use it for testing our software applications at work for Vista compatibility).

One difference is Aero is disabled.

[downtime]

When I got this machine it had Vista preinstalled. I didn't want to mess with it, so I added another 160g hard drive, disconnected the 200 vista is on, installed XP on a 50g ntfs Partition. Connected them both back up and played with vista bootpro and another. No joy, so I went back to what I've been using to boot anything I wanted for years. XOSL.
Created a 50meg fat32 partition after the 50g XP partition on the second hard disk, installed xosl to it, configured xosl for vista and xp, set in the bios to boot from the second disk, and have a stable dual boot. I'll add one of the linux distros soon, by installing lilo to the superblock of the root partition, and add an entry in xosl for it too..

[djangojazz]

Originally Posted by s4baz

Below is the way I installed XP on my computer, after Vista was already installed... creating a dual boot.

First find the drivers for your network components, wireless card or nic, and save them to an external device such as a floppy disk or flash drive.

Then you will need to go into the BIOS on your computer startup. Scroll to the System Configuration tab and go down to the SATA Native Support and change its setting to Disabled. Then hit F10 to Save and Exit.

Next, insert your Windows XP CD and create the partition you wish to install XP on. After the installation is complete you should boot automatically into XP.

Now you need to move some files. First, make sure you have set your folder options to see hidden files and to show protected operating system files. Then open Windows Explorer and go to the drive where Vista is installed. Copy the folder Boot, and the files bootmgr, boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM and ntldr and paste them to the root of your XP drive.

Then download Vista Boot Pro and save it to your desktop or somewhere else that you can easily access. Unless you already have .Net Framework (v2.0 at least) it will redirect you to a Microsoft page where you can download this necessary component.

Install and run Vista Boot Pro and open the "Bootloader" tab. Select "Reinstall the Vista bootloader" and press Apply. Then go to the Manage OS Entries tab and select "Add new operating system entry" and make sure you select "Windows Legacy". Give the new entry a name (ie: Windows XP) and select the drive letter you have XP on and then select Apply. You can also choose which entry you would like as the default the system will boot to.

The links will not work because I copied this out of my original post:

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vi...ter-vista.html

And now you should be able to dual boot between Vista and a previous OS.

Thanks a lot but I am going older to newer so the boot.ini file is already there and working. I was told by a lot of people they actually had more trouble going Vista then XP instead of vice, it's hard both ways believe me though.

I was curious if anyone knew because seriously I'm new to the whole drivers saved to floppy or flash. Could my external hard drive work as well? It's hooks up via USB 2.0 just the same. I could just label a folder Vista Drivers that way. Thanks for the help.

[Elvandil]

It doesn't matter where you save the drivers. DoubleDriver or other free apps will help.

As you can see, there are many ways of accomplishing your goal, many of them relatively easy to carry out. But it is easier to do it right than to undo things later on, as you have discovered.

[djangojazz]

Originally Posted by downtime

When I got this machine it had Vista preinstalled. I didn't want to mess with it, so I added another 160g hard drive, disconnected the 200 vista is on, installed XP on a 50g ntfs Partition. Connected them both back up and played with vista bootpro and another. No joy, so I went back to what I've been using to boot anything I wanted for years. XOSL.
Created a 50meg fat32 partition after the 50g XP partition on the second hard disk, installed xosl to it, configured xosl for vista and xp, set in the bios to boot from the second disk, and have a stable dual boot. I'll add one of the linux distros soon, by installing lilo to the superblock of the root partition, and add an entry in xosl for it too..

That sounds like a good idea as well, although I'm still intermediate in understanding the boot process. If XOSL has documentation for what to put where I'm sure I would be fine. I'll give that a shot.

Also another quick question the Vista DVD can't boot for options really can it? Once Vista is installed it just kind of sit's there right? I'm asking because lately when I had the problems with getting Vista to work on the dual boot I went into BIOS selected "Boot From my CD/DVD Drive" and restarted. It showed the curtains display with nothing else and I let it sit for 10 minutes. ??? Is this common for everyone or did I possibly get a partial install disc that has no real diagnostics on the disc to help? Win XP When Booting gives you option for a new install, a repair wizard, and a formatting tool which if you don't have a reformatting tool like partition magic is your only option.

Vista for all it's greatness seems to offer nothing when I boot to it except to give you Vista and once it's there regardless if it works the disc just sits still like "Why aren't you using Vista?". What a step backwards if this is true, I hope it's just in my case for everyone else's sake and I just did something simple wrong.

[Elvandil]

Vista has extensive options on its boot menu, including Startup Repair, the ability to restore past restore points, a memory diagnostic, and a command prompt, just like the Recovery Console did. Something is wrong if those options don't appear.

[djangojazz]

Originally Posted by Elvandil

Vista has extensive options on its boot menu, including Startup Repair, the ability to restore past restore points, a memory diagnostic, and a command prompt, just like the Recovery Console did. Something is wrong if those options don't appear.

Hmmm all that happened with the bad stuff that happened before and now I'm thinking of reinstalling because without aero and the speed of an actual OS that at least is half the speed there is no real reason to have a virtual Vista it seems. I booted to the disc when I had deleted the partition reformatted and then tried to reinstall. Possibly the Boot file was hung up somewhere or not recognized on the disc properly. I got the disc from an ISO image. At this point I may try to reattain the image and reburn it versus try again.

But to get this straight from most people to sum up all most people agree is go to manufacturer's sites for drivers for sound, video, etc. But them on a drive that can be assessed while booting vista, a floppy or USB preferably. Install the drivers while installing and everything should be fine.

Generally the problem has occurred always on "Windows is getting ready to run for the first time". It has happened with 2 different physical discs of RC1 build 5600 and now on an ISO I burned of Vista Business. It loads fine to the virtual machine it's just as slow as anything, but in all fairness did speed up a little after updates and the virtual machine can't simulate aero really or does not have the drivers yet needed. One of my teachers suggested turning off fast indexing and searching to help but still at this point it's about 1/10th the speed of an actual OS and it's not much too look at.

One thing I would ask would be before if I do decide to install again is there any method to use to see if the disc is okay and completely intact? I think I may make the virtual machine boot from disk to see what options it gives. Thus far I have never seen the Vista disk give any diagnostics when booting from it.

[Elvandil]

There are quite a few CD/DVD checking softwares available, but most will cost. Infinadyne makes the best I have used.

The free CDCheck may be able to tell you if all sectors are readable.