Hello,

I have been multibooting Vista in varioius builds with XP Pro SP2. I haven't had any problems with booting in either OS but there are phantom entries in the Vista Boot Loader that neither the Vista DVD repair function or VistaBootPRO 2.1 have been able to resolve.

Configuration: P4 with two 120GB WD PATA drives. All installations done on the primary master in NTFS and XP boot loader. It is partitioned and set up as follows:

Primary Active: C: XP SP2
Extended Partiton: D: Programs for C: drive XP installation
I: Parallel XP SP2 install
L: Vista RC1 5600 as an upgrade from XP SP2
M: Vista RC1 5600 Clean install

I have been doing numerous installs of various builds of Vista on the L: and M: volumes. Prior to Beta2 I had two installations going, one of the latest build and one of the previous build. When installing the new build I format the volume for the older install, and install the newer build clean. Vista would rewrite the Boot loader to reflect the new install, and remove the old one. Each was labelled the generic Microsoft Vista (or something similar), so tthere were three entries in the Vista Boot Loader - one for XP and two for Vista (Not counting the recovery console entry)

After Beta 2 I started doing upgrades of XP OS on the L: volume with a clean install of the same build on the M: volume.

Somewhere along the way, and I don't know after which build but before RC1, duplicate entries appeared in the Vista Boot Loader. There were two entries for each Vista install, grouped together. One for each install (the first in the list for that install) worked but trying to load the second jumped to an error screen saying there was a problem with that installation and to run the repair.

I booted from one of the Vista DVD builds and ran the repair. It seemed to work, removing the non working entries for each install.

This past weekend I installed RC1. as a clean install and as an upgrade. Again the phantom duplicate entries. I downloaded and ran VistaBootPro 2.1 and saw 5 entries, one for the Legacy XP installations, and the four for the Vista installs with two duplicates, one for each Vista install. I used the Configure option and deleted the two duplicates. On booting back up it showed three Vista entries. The working upgrade install and two for the Clean install, one of which is a phantom and won't boot.

Going back to VistaBootPro it showed only three entries: for XP, and one for each Vista Install. The phantom wasn't there. I booted from the RC1 install DVD and ran the repair again. It confirmed there was a problem and supposedly repaired it.

Rebooting, the Vista Boot Loader showed again 5 entries: One for XP, and four for Vista, two being phantom duplicates, one for each install. I went back into VistaBootPro and it showed the same five entries. I deleted the two duplicates from Configure, and rebooted.

The Vista Boot Loader still shows one phantom. One was removed but the other still shows. I have not run the Reinstall the Vista Boot Loader feature of VistaBootPro yet. I wanted to get some advice.

I can certainly live with the phantoms and don't want to mess up what so far has been a well working multi boot system.

I appreciate any advice.

Hello and welcome to PROnetworks Rockster!! Glad to have you here; please stop by our Introduction Area so we can give you a proper welcome and get to know you better.

Please be patient as our members stop in and assess your issue; remember we are all volunteers here and thanks for choosing PRO! Enjoy the site!

EDIT: After reading your entire post.......... yeah, I might consider uninstalling the Vista bootloader and reinstalling. BUT, before you do that, you might also consider deleting the extra/duplicate entries (Of course after you backup your BCD registry) and restarting.

Welcome to PROneTworks Rockster!!!

When you get a change could you possibly post a display of your BCD Store. You can do this by going into VBP 2.1 under View Settings and right clicking in the Textbox and selecting all and then copy. This will allow us to help you a little better if we can see what you are talking about.

The first thing before, doing anything is to backup. Next, I would remove all Vista entries out of my BCD store by going into the Manage Entries screen and deleting them out of the OS list. Then I would go back in to that same screen and add the OS's with the correct drives. It may be whoo of you to reboot after deleting them and going into XP to do the rest. This way you can make sure "all" of them were deleted.

HTH,
Jason

jbullard wrote:

Welcome to PROneTworks Rockster!!! When you get a change could you possibly post a display of your BCD Store. <snip< HTH, Jason

Thanks of the fast reply Jason. Here is what's in the BCD store.

There are a total of 3 OSes installed into the boot manager.
Current timeout before default boots: 15 seconds.
Default OS: Vista RC1 Upgrade from XP

Entry # 1

Name: XP Installations
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Boot Drive: C:
Windows Drive:
System Bootloader: \ntldr
Windows Directory:

Entry # 2

Name: Vista RC1 Upgrade from XP
BCD ID: {default}
Boot Drive: L:
Windows Drive: L:
System Bootloader: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

Entry # 3

Name: Vista RC1 Clean Install
BCD ID: {4abd446a-3b22-11db-b088-c4fba5dfeb33}
Boot Drive: M:
Windows Drive: M:
System Bootloader: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

When booting the computer this is what is displayed on the Vista Boot Loader Screen:

XP Installations
Vista RC1 Upgrade from XP
Vista RC1 Clean Install
Vista RC1 Clean Install

Note there are two entries for Vista RC1 Clean install but only one is visible in the BCD data store per VistaBootPro.

I mispoke in my last post. It turns out both the listings for "Vista RC1 Clean Install" are active and boot into the same install on the M: drive. Previously when the duplicates showed up the second one gave an error when clicking on it saying there was a problem. Since it happened several times that way before I assumed one of these was also a bad, or as I called it, phantom entry.

Clicking on Vista RC1 Upgrade from XP boots into the F: volume installation.

I'll try your suggestion to delete the Vista entries, reboot, and add them back with their correct drives; I'll get back with the results. I have backed up the store.

Thanks

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, and sorry for the original post being so long. I wanted to make sure it was clear.

I did delete the duplicate entries before making the original post. I have resonded to Jason's post with the info he asked for.

Thanks for you're help.

Yeah. When creating entries the thing about the bcdedit.exe method is that it will automatically list a drive for an OS for the {deault} OS if it is Vista. I think that makes sense.

Basically, if I add a new Vista entry and try to do a drive that is not present, then it will automatically insert the drive where Vista is.

Actually after looking at your setup I think I see the problem. Your "Vista RC1 Upgrade from XP" is your {default} Vista OS. If the steps I told you to take don't work try this.

1. Remove the "Vista RC1 Upgrade from XP"
2. (Re)Install the Vista bootloader
3. Reboot and see if the phantom entries are there

I could be wrong, but I think what is happening is that since the RC1 was upgraded from XP and it was not a DVD Boot install is that you actually have a BCD Store entry from RC1 Upgrade from XP and an entry from Vista RC1 Clean Install. Now, this is possible because the Vista RC1 Clean Install would make an entry for C: drive which it will automatically change the drive letters around so it can boot. However, the Vista RC1 Upgrade was installed from an upgrade so it put another entry in there for Vista RC1 Clean Install because it did not show that OS on C:. I don't know but this is very interesting cause there could be a million probabilities.

Jason

Hello Jason,

Your advice worked. Removing the two Vista entries and rebooting actually removed all three Vista entries on the Vista Boot Loader screen. I then added the two installations back. Now the data in VistaBootPro matches the Vista Loader screen with two Vista entries. It will probably get all munged up again when I blow out a partition and do another clean install or upgrade in the near future but I know now how to fix it.

I am digesting what you said, and I think I understand it. I did notice that the clean install assigned C: as the drive letter for the Vista installation when viewed in Explorer inside Vista and re-abeled the active partition where XP is. For the upgrade the Vista install kept it's drive letter of L.

What is confusing is why at one time a duplicate was created for both Vista installs and neither of the duplicates worked. The message that's given when you click on a link in the Vista Boot Loader that is bad is as follows:

"Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your windows installation disc and restart your computer
2. Choose your language settings and then cick "Next".
3. Click "Repair your computer".

If you do not have the disc contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.

File:\windows\system32\winload.exe
Stauts 0xc000000f

Info: The selective entry could not be located because the application is missing or corrupt. "

For some reason those orignal two duplicates were looking in the wrong volume for winload.exe. Not sure why that happened in the first place.

But in any event all is sorted out now, and I have learned something to boot (no pun intended at first but it does seem appropriate...lol)

Thanks again.

Glad to hear it is working.

I think there are still some boot bugs they are working out, and I don't think that they have actually fixed a multi-boot environment with just Vista OS's. I really can see where the problem would come in, for people with your setup.

Jason

Great to hear it's working! Enjoy Vista!