Hi...I'm a knowledgeable computer tech, for over 40 years, but still trying to learn. It seems to get harder every day! I've loaded Vista 5728, dual boot w/WinXP Pro. Everything is working great, except for boot problems. I had a corrupted HDD where Vista was loaded, and had to reformat that partition.(Didn't know about BCDEdit at that time) I reloaded Vista, and when I tried to use VistaBootPro (to rename the entries and delete the old entry for the program that wasn't there), I got the infamous 'count error'.

Things went from bad to worse. I reinstalled Vista, from WinXP, hoping to get the dual boot menu on start-up...no go. Both programs still working fine, but I have to 'Reinstall the Vista Bootloader' (from XP) and reboot to get to Vista, with no boot menu. To Return to XP, I have to 'uninstall the Vista Bootloader' (from Vista) and reboot to get to XP. I'd like to 'clean out' the store, and get everything back to normal. I've read the nice instruction post, but I'm afraid it's not quite 'step-by-step' enough for me.

The following is from my XP /enum all:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>bcdedit /enum ALL

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {default}
displayorder {ntldr}
{default}
{50c73d4f-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 5

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {50c73d4f-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
device unknown
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista (Beta 2)
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice unknown
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {50c73d50-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
nx OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {default}
device partition=F:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice partition=F:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {eb1dfb47-4d9e-11db-9e65-85eac9c990bf}
nx OptIn
custom:47000005 301989892
3

Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier {50c73d50-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
device unknown
path \Windows\system32\winresume.exe
description Windows Resume Application
locale en-US
inherit {resumeloadersettings}
filepath \hiberfil.sys
pae No
debugoptionenabled No

Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier {eb1dfb47-4d9e-11db-9e65-85eac9c990bf}
device partition=F:
path \Windows\system32\winresume.exe
description Windows Resume Application
locale en-US
inherit {resumeloadersettings}
filepath \hiberfil.sys
pae No
debugoptionenabled No

Windows Memory Tester
---------------------
identifier {memdiag}
device partition=C:
path \boot\memtest.exe
description Windows Memory Diagnostic
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
badmemoryaccess Yes

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {50c73d4e-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
device partition=C:
path \ntldr
description Earlier version of Windows

EMS Settings
------------
identifier {emssettings}
bootems Yes

Debugger Settings
-----------------
identifier {dbgsettings}
debugtype Serial
debugport 1
baudrate 115200

RAM Defects
-----------
identifier {badmemory}

Global Settings
---------------
identifier {globalsettings}
inherit {dbgsettings}
{emssettings}
{badmemory}

Boot Loader Settings
--------------------
identifier {bootloadersettings}
inherit {globalsettings}

Resume Loader Settings
----------------------
identifier {resumeloadersettings}
inherit {globalsettings}


Obviously 'beyond' messed up...can you help?

First off, hello and welcome to PROnetworks joniliff!! Great to have you here; please be patient as our members stop in and check out your specific issue.

Right offhand, I would say you have some rogue entries in your BCD registry, but please wait for our experts to verify and give further assistance; enjoy the site!

Hi joniliff and welcome to PROnetworks. According to the info you posted from bcdedit, the following is a rogue entry:

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {50c73d4f-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
device unknown
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista (Beta 2)
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice unknown
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {50c73d50-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
nx OptIn

You can delete this by booting into Windows XP and installing VistaBootPRO. Ignore the count error for now and from the VistaBootPRO program folder copy bcdedit.exe and paste it to the XP installations Windows\system32 folder and then run the following commands:

CD\ and press Enter

bcdedit /delete {50c73d4f-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216} /f /cleanup

Once that is done you should be able to use VistaBootPRO as usual

Thanks, Grav!ty...I'll give it a shot. But, only ONE rogue entry?? It sure seems like there's a lot more there than need be.

John

If you run the command bcdedit instead of bcdedit /enum all you'll avoid seeing all the entries which are not directly related to the boot menu choices

OK...been there, done that...cleaned up the store quite a bit, and now I still have the same problem...ie, similar. I still have to run VBP to enable boot loader to get to Vista from XP. While in Vista, I have to run VBP to enable ntldr to get back to XP...but at least, I can run VBP!

What editing do I have to do, to get back to my start-up boot menu, to select Vista or XP on boot-up?


This was the BCDEdit from Vista, after I changed to enable ntldr, with the changes noted after I got to XP and changed to boot mgr:


Windows Boot Manager Changed!
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current} {default}
displayorder {ntldr}
{current} {default}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}

timeout 5

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
description Windows XP Pro

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current} {default}
device partition=F:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice partition=F:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {eb1dfb47-4d9e-11db-9e65-85eac9c990bf}
nx OptIn
custom:47000005 301989892
3


And the current BCDEdit /enum:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>bcdedit /enum all

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {default}
displayorder {ntldr}
{default}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 5

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {default}
device partition=F:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice partition=F:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {eb1dfb47-4d9e-11db-9e65-85eac9c990bf}
nx OptIn
custom:47000005 301989892
3

Resume from Hibernate
---------------------
identifier {eb1dfb47-4d9e-11db-9e65-85eac9c990bf}
device partition=F:
path \Windows\system32\winresume.exe
description Windows Resume Application
locale en-US
inherit {resumeloadersettings}
filepath \hiberfil.sys
pae No
debugoptionenabled No

Windows Memory Tester
---------------------
identifier {memdiag}
device partition=C:
path \boot\memtest.exe
description Windows Memory Diagnostic
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
badmemoryaccess Yes

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
description Windows XP Pro

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {50c73d4e-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
device partition=C:
path \ntldr
description Earlier version of Windows

EMS Settings
------------
identifier {emssettings}
bootems Yes

Debugger Settings
-----------------
identifier {dbgsettings}
debugtype Serial
debugport 1
baudrate 115200

RAM Defects
-----------
identifier {badmemory}

Global Settings
---------------
identifier {globalsettings}
inherit {dbgsettings}
{emssettings}
{badmemory}

Boot Loader Settings
--------------------
identifier {bootloadersettings}
inherit {globalsettings}

Resume Loader Settings
----------------------
identifier {resumeloadersettings}
inherit {globalsettings}


Does any of this help you, help me? I MIGHT understand this, after it's all working

Go to the Bootloader tab in VistaBootPRO and Reinstall the Vista bootloader. That should pull both operating systems into the boot menu.

Perhaps you should just make sure that you have the boot systems files of both operating systems on the root of the system drive partition which normally would be your C drive on which XP is installed.

The most important one's are:

Boot (folder)
bootmgr
boot.ini
NTDETECT.COM
ntldr

OK...all of those entries are in C:, but no go. I still have to change, in VistaBootPro, to restore BootMgr, or restore ntldr, to go back and forth from XP to Vista, and vice versa. Both systems still running great, but no dual boot. What and How do I change??

Hi joniliff

The problem you are having is due to these two entries:

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
description Windows XP Pro

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {50c73d4e-e6b3-11da-bc73-d30cdb1ce216}
device partition=C:
path \ntldr
description Earlier version of Windows


The way that the Vista Boot manager works when it comes to booting legacy entries is that it always uses the path supplied to the {ntldr} entry to find ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini. In your case, the {ntldr} entry is incomplete (the other entry is redundant and won't matter because the {ntldr} entry is bad. The best thing to do delete these two entries, then recreate the {ntldr} entry to point to the correct partition for your legacy operating system. Once you have deleted these entries, you should be able to use VistaBootPRO to recreate the correct {ntldr} entry. Once you have done that, run a bcdedit /enum all to check and make sure that there is a correct {ntldr} entry in the BCD store.

[quote="jrfree1"]Hi joniliff

...the {ntldr} entry is incomplete (the other entry is redundant and won't matter because the {ntldr} entry is bad. The best thing to do delete these two entries, then recreate the {ntldr} entry to point to the correct partition for your legacy operating system. Once you have deleted these entries, you should be able to use VistaBootPRO to recreate the correct {ntldr} entry. Once you have done that, run a bcdedit /enum all to check and make sure that there is a correct {ntldr} entry in the BCD store.[/quote]

Thanks for the reply...d*mn, I feel like one of my newbies in trying to edit/delete/configure, etc. Please bear with me:
1. "Delete the entries"...where is this accomplished?
2. "Recreate tne {ntldr} entry"...please be more specific

Is it as simple as go to VistaBootPRO "Manage Entries", select 'Windows XP Pro', 'delete', then 'Add an Entry' as 'Legacy OS' select Drive Letter (C, name it Winows XP and click add? Will this create the required 'ntldr' entry and that's it??

Sorry to be so dense, but everything is working, albeit with problems in booting, and I don't want to lose what I have in XP or Vista. I'm considering reformatting F: to eliminate Vista, removing traces of Vista on C:, (BootMgr?) and reinstalling Vista...at least that goes quick and easy. But, I'd like to proceed with your guidance and fix it first!