I'm asking about VB2.0 Refresh because it now lists 3 OS's. It lists the following.

There are a total of 3 OSes installed into the boot manager.
Current timeout before default boots: 30 seconds.
Default OS: Microsoft Windows

Entry #1
-------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Microsoft Windows
BCD ID: {current}
Boot Drive: C:
Windows Drive: C:
System Bootloader: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

Entry #2
-------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Earlier Version of Windows
BCD ID: {eeff91e3-1481-11db-bd60-0015f21436a5}
Boot Drive: D:
Windows Drive:
System Bootloader: \ntldr
Windows Directory:

Entry #3
-------------------------------------------------------------
Name: XP
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Boot Drive: D:
Windows Drive:
System Bootloader: \ntldr
Windows Directory:

Obviously, entry #3 was the one just recently created after doing jrfree1 suggestion. I already had VBP installed and XP already showed up in the boot menu, but if I selected XP...an error message would appear and just keep me frozen on a blank screen. (sorry, can't remember the error message ATM)
So, if I'm not supposed to use VBP and its already installed, what do I do? (I haven't tried getting into XP yet, kinda worried having 3 entries in VBP and being told not to use VBP when its already installed and in control of my OS choices.)

Tati

Sorry for the confusion there Tati, I just didn't want you to change anything Via VBP before seeing if XP would boot using that entry when you rebooted.

When you rebooted, did you have three entries in your boot list? Vista, Earlier Version of Windows, and XP ?

I would say that unless you DO have 2 "older legacy OS's" that the \ntldr entries are identical/copies. That in and of itself will not prevent you from accessing XP; during some of the testing, multiple Vista and "legacy" entries were added, some being copies of exising OS entries.

Based on your last post, you CAN access Vista (Called Microsoft Windows using \winload.exe); I don't know if you have tried this, but what can it hurt? (Don't answer........lol)

Ok, I DID have a similar problem accessing XP during VBPro testing; here is what I did to get back XP (Which was my system drive on C: originally before any Vista OS's):
-Boot the XP CD to the recovery console and use fixboot, then exit; system will restart
-Once in XP (You have now basically killed the Vista bootloader) you should install VBPro 2.0beta (Don't run it yet!!)
-Restart the computer with the Vista DVD; at the Install Now screen, select the Advanced Startup Repair option and follow the prompts/instructions; when finished successfully, it should reboot
- You should now have the Vista bootloader with XP and Vista (Although sometimes I've seen XP missing using the DVD boot media)
- Azzuming you have XP to select from, try it. If not, go into Vista, run VBPro 2.0, uninstall the Vista bootloader (Program will exit), run VBPro again and reinstall the Vista Bootloader.
- If this does not pull XP into the Vista Bootloader, exit/restart the system
- Boot to XP (Using the procedure I described above with the XP CD)
- NOW once you've booted back to XP, run VBPro 2.0beta, uninstall the Vista bootloader and reinstall it.

If this does NOT find your XP entry, the only thing I can think of is that there is some unknown corruption going on in the BCD and Vista may have to be reinstalled.

Have you taken a look at our Vista Beta 2 Installation Guide?

Ok, I tried both entries for XP and recieved the same error both times

Invalid boot.ini
Booting from C:\Windows\

After the error message the screen goes blank, monitor stays on but nothing happens.
To be clear, that happens with both entries, "Earlier version of windows" and the "XP" entry we just created.

Tati

Ok, that eliminates any possibility of the BCD entry being wrong, or being pointed wrong. So now we have to figure out how to get your boot.ini completely corrected. I know you have been editing and trying different configurations, can you look and see if you have a boot.ini in your Boot Directory -the boot directory will probably be on the root of your system drive - probably D:\Boot in your case, if it isn't there check for C:\Boot. If there is a boot.ini file there, could you compare it to the one you have been editing and see if there are any differences?

This is the only boot.ini file I have, its located in the root drive of D: (Windows XP)


[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="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /FASTDETECT

Tati

If you go into disk management in Vista (right click on my computer, select manage, and in the window that opens click on Disk management), you should have a couple of disks listed there and should be able to tell which one is the disk Vista is on, and which one contains your RAID array - what are the disk numbers for each?

This is how my disks are setup, both realistically and in Disk Management.

RAID (XP) is disk #0, but listed as D:
Vista is disk #1, and listed as C:
The letters are backwards, but weren't with the original install of Vista.

Tati

Tatiania wrote:

This is how my disks are setup, both realistically and in Disk Management. RAID (XP) is disk #0, but listed as D: Vista is disk #1, and listed as C: The letters are backwards, but weren't with the original install of Vista. Tati

Looking at that, unless something is different in the bios, your boot.ini appears correct. One thing that you can try at this point which certainly can't hurt anything is to locate the winload.exe file from within Vista - it should be in C:\Windows\System32\ folder, and copy it to your XP - D:\Windows\System32\ folder.

Then change your boot.ini to the following:

[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT/ usenewloader

If that doesn't work, the other thing is to just try different rdisk numbers - I take it that D is the first partition on your Disk 0?

As for the letters, when Vista is installed via DVD it will always see itself as C: - the letters really don't matter as they do not change the physical place on the disks - as a matter of fact, the letters can be seen differently from XP, Vista, and the recovery environment depending upon your setup. If the letters are changed by a user from any OS, it will usually mess up the other OS.

K, tried that and no go. It listed the exact same Windows version OS's as before, Microsoft Windows, Earlier Version of Windows, and XP. I thought that by changing the boot.ini that the name of my choice of OS's would change also...or at least one would change. Another question, since I'm not using VBP, but have it installed...should I uninstall it or will that hurt Vista? VBP BETA2 is installed on XP too, should I and is it possible to uninstall that? The beta(not the refresh) is where my problems started.
Well, I'm lost...but I'm certainly glad you guys have been so supportive.

Tati