Hello everyone,
I'm a nubee to a lot of this so please bear with me. I am trying to set up a dual boot on my Vista laptop adding XP. I got most of the way and was able to at least get back to a Vista boot up. When I try to install VBP I get an error. It says that there is an unhandled exception??? It basically reads like this:
"System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: item"

In addition, I am not seeing either OS in the setup.
I'm pretty certain that something simple was missed. I have tried many different things that did not help and left me unable to boot at all. I was able to get back to booting Vista by using Paragon and refreshing the MBR or resetting the active partition.

I have read the guide and I'm not sure wether the Boot.ini,ntldr and ntdetect file fix is the problem but, (being a little slow on the uptake) I am wondering where the copied files are to be pasted. I can make many assumptions. Thanks all.[/img]

JRinBoise,

Sorry about the delay in response and I will be happy to help you out. This error means that your BCD Registry is completely missing. However, it is very simple to get back. The first thing and only thing you need to do is reboot to the Vista DVD, Select "Rpair Options" on the Install screen, and then select "Startup Repair". This will loop through each drive and find all the operation systems installed on the system and add them back to the BCD Registry.

Let me know if this does not work as there could be more wrong with the system. Hopefully not.

Jason

Thanks for the reply. The only issue I have is that I only have the recovery disk that i created. It came on another partition with the computer which is common. Anyway, The options are different and I am reluctant to fly blind.
Are you familiar with this version of restore?
There is a BCD file on the disk. Is there a way to copy and paste to where it needs to be? Thanks.

What type of computer do you have? Also, does the BCD file have an extension of .bcd? Or does it just say BCD?

Thanks to your earlier reply I looked into the BCD file and did some checking into the subject.

I can now boot to either OS no problem.
BTW to answer your last question I have a Compaq C714 laptop dual core w/2gb ram.
The only remaining issue is to finish getting all the drivers I need. I have the graphics and sound but I'm still struggling with the Wlan.
Thanks for the help. I'll keep looking at the postings and see if I can pass on what I learned.


Reference to software based on code stolen from PROnetworks removed by Grav!ty