Can someone walk me through this set up please? - Tri-boot XP/Vista 32 & 64 Bit
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Please start your own topic for support with problems you experience. Even if it appears to be exactly the same as someone else's problem, system configurations differ significantly. Thank you.
It may take our support staff between 24-48 hours to respond to your problem. We are a small business and strive to answer your questions as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience.
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Can someone walk me through this set up please? - Tri-boot XP/Vista 32 & 64 Bit
Hi Everyone, I am triple booting on three seperate HDD's.
XP, Vista 32bit and Vista 64bit.
I have installed Vista Boot pro on the Vista 32bit ,
How do I have to have it set?
In a nutshell what do I have to do?
I know its some settings in the System Bootloader but I really don't know what!!
- eskimosound
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:06 am
Right well Im starting from scratch, I need to know the System Bootloader settings.
At the moment I am booting all HDD from BIOS!!
So I have installed Vista Boot Pro but I don't know how to configure it.
I just know its the System Bootloader that I need as i am dealing with individual Hard Drives and not Partitions on one drive.
At the moment I am booting all HDD from BIOS!!
So I have installed Vista Boot Pro but I don't know how to configure it.
I just know its the System Bootloader that I need as i am dealing with individual Hard Drives and not Partitions on one drive.
- eskimosound
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:06 am
Ok, here's some basics for starters. The best way to go about a tri-boot or dual boot with seperate hard drives for each OS is to have all the drives connected while installing the operating systems and to start with Windows XP in your case, followed by 32-Bit Vista and then 64-Bit Vista. That way, each OS is picked up by subsequent installs and a dual or tri boot is auto created during installation. However, since you have already installed all OS and I have no idea of in what order or with all drives connected, see below.
It's important to not then change the boot drive priority in the BIOS as doing so changes the drive which is "System" in Disk Management. All the boot system files (for the three operating systems in your case), are placed on that drive.
What I suggest you do is to use whichever drive you first installed an OS on - XP I guess - as the system drive. You then need to have the following boot system files on it - boot.ini, ntldr, and NTDETECT.COM of XP and the folder Boot and file bootmgr for Vista. For Vista you only need one instance of these files. You can locate those files on your hard drives by making sure you show hidden files and folders and do not hide protected operating system files in folder options. They need to be copied to the same location you find them but on the drive tagged system as per disk management.
Once they are there, make sure your boot.ini is still pointing to the correct location for XP and then with VistaBootPRO, go to the System Bootloader page and select Vista bootlaoder>All Drives>Install Bootloader.
Let us know how you go eskimosound. I've modified your topic title to reflect the issue you face.
It's important to not then change the boot drive priority in the BIOS as doing so changes the drive which is "System" in Disk Management. All the boot system files (for the three operating systems in your case), are placed on that drive.
What I suggest you do is to use whichever drive you first installed an OS on - XP I guess - as the system drive. You then need to have the following boot system files on it - boot.ini, ntldr, and NTDETECT.COM of XP and the folder Boot and file bootmgr for Vista. For Vista you only need one instance of these files. You can locate those files on your hard drives by making sure you show hidden files and folders and do not hide protected operating system files in folder options. They need to be copied to the same location you find them but on the drive tagged system as per disk management.
Once they are there, make sure your boot.ini is still pointing to the correct location for XP and then with VistaBootPRO, go to the System Bootloader page and select Vista bootlaoder>All Drives>Install Bootloader.
Let us know how you go eskimosound. I've modified your topic title to reflect the issue you face.
Urg, you are going to have to point me in the corrct direction please. Wher do you need the ini files and the like to be? Do you want me to install Vista boot pro on XP?
I installed every OS seperately on the HDD without the others being connected so they are all effectively blind and uinaware of each other.....
Urm so sorry to be such a n00b about it!!
I installed every OS seperately on the HDD without the others being connected so they are all effectively blind and uinaware of each other.....
Urm so sorry to be such a n00b about it!!
- eskimosound
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:06 am
Set your XP drive to be the system drive in the BIOS. Boot to it, and go to Disk Management (right click My Computer>Manage>Disk Management) and make sure that is the the drive tagged "System".
Go to folder options in Windows Explorer, and set that to Show hidden files and folders and uncheck the option to Hide protected operating system files. Now go to your XP drive in Windows Explorer and check to see if you have boot.ini, ntldr and NTDETECT.COM there...they should be so just leave them there. Next go to your Vista drive and look for those two items (folder Boot and file bootmgr). Copy them and paste them to where you found boot.ini, ntldr and NTDETECT.COM.
Install VistaBootPRO in XP (don't ignore the prompt to install .Net 2.00 if you don't already have it installed). Open VistaBootPRO to the page I mentioned earlier, select the options I indicated and press Install Bootloader with your mouse. Reboot and you should have a full boot menu for all three operating systems.
This is all very straight forward. Read my previous post again and this one a second time and I'm sure you'll be ok. I'm going offline now and I'll check in to see how you went in the morning. If you have more questions someone else will help
Go to folder options in Windows Explorer, and set that to Show hidden files and folders and uncheck the option to Hide protected operating system files. Now go to your XP drive in Windows Explorer and check to see if you have boot.ini, ntldr and NTDETECT.COM there...they should be so just leave them there. Next go to your Vista drive and look for those two items (folder Boot and file bootmgr). Copy them and paste them to where you found boot.ini, ntldr and NTDETECT.COM.
Install VistaBootPRO in XP (don't ignore the prompt to install .Net 2.00 if you don't already have it installed). Open VistaBootPRO to the page I mentioned earlier, select the options I indicated and press Install Bootloader with your mouse. Reboot and you should have a full boot menu for all three operating systems.
This is all very straight forward. Read my previous post again and this one a second time and I'm sure you'll be ok. I'm going offline now and I'll check in to see how you went in the morning. If you have more questions someone else will help
eskimosound wrote:Urg, you are going to have to point me in the corrct direction please. Wher do you need the ini files and the like to be? Do you want me to install Vista boot pro on XP?
I installed every OS seperately on the HDD without the others being connected so they are all effectively blind and uinaware of each other.....
Urm so sorry to be such a n00b about it!!
Hmm, too bad you decided to load your OS's like that, as it would have been much easier to install the Os's in the manner that Grav!ty mentioned and would have automatically created your multi-boot menu.
You may want to reinstall your Vista OS's again with all drives connected as an option if you wish to go that route, as you have nothing to lose but an hour's worth of time. Your choice.
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. -- Carl Jung
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ASUS P8P67 Pro, i7 2600K @4.60 GHz, 8GB RAM, eVGA GTX 460
eVGA X58 tri-SLI, i7 930 @ 3.8GHz., Corsair 6GB Dominator, Inno3D GTX470, eVGA260
ASUS P8P67 Pro, i7 2600K @4.60 GHz, 8GB RAM, eVGA GTX 460
- augie
- Community Director
- Posts: 7870
- Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:55 am
- Location: Laurentians, Quebec
mmm, well it didn't work unfortunately, I did everything but it just booted into vista without the boot manager. So I disconnected the vISTA hdd TO GET BACK TO xp AND IT THOUGHT IT WAS VISTA AND WANTED ME TO REPAIR IT......
sO i PLUGGED THE vISTA hdd BACK IN AND DELETED THE FILES FROM THE xp (Ooops caps, sorry) Drive to get it all back to normal!!!
So where to now?
Doing it how you said just made it boot into vista bypassing the Boot manager.
You mentioned that thefles should be pointing in the right direction.....where is that exactly, could that be whats wrong?
I do know its possible, its just getting the right set up
sO i PLUGGED THE vISTA hdd BACK IN AND DELETED THE FILES FROM THE xp (Ooops caps, sorry) Drive to get it all back to normal!!!
So where to now?
Doing it how you said just made it boot into vista bypassing the Boot manager.
You mentioned that thefles should be pointing in the right direction.....where is that exactly, could that be whats wrong?
I do know its possible, its just getting the right set up
- eskimosound
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:06 am
Did you set the BIOS to boot from CD/DVD? 'press any key' etc.
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. -- Carl Jung
eVGA X58 tri-SLI, i7 930 @ 3.8GHz., Corsair 6GB Dominator, Inno3D GTX470, eVGA260
ASUS P8P67 Pro, i7 2600K @4.60 GHz, 8GB RAM, eVGA GTX 460
eVGA X58 tri-SLI, i7 930 @ 3.8GHz., Corsair 6GB Dominator, Inno3D GTX470, eVGA260
ASUS P8P67 Pro, i7 2600K @4.60 GHz, 8GB RAM, eVGA GTX 460
- augie
- Community Director
- Posts: 7870
- Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:55 am
- Location: Laurentians, Quebec
So you've got the BIOS HDD boot priority set to boot to your XP CD
and
All the boot system files for both operating systems (XP and Vista 32 and 64 bit) are on the root of the XP drive?
Is the XP drive showing up as the drive tagged "system" in Disk Management?
As augie asks, did you boot to your Vista DVD and run a Startup repair by selecting Repair your computer at the Install now setup screen?
and
All the boot system files for both operating systems (XP and Vista 32 and 64 bit) are on the root of the XP drive?
Is the XP drive showing up as the drive tagged "system" in Disk Management?
As augie asks, did you boot to your Vista DVD and run a Startup repair by selecting Repair your computer at the Install now setup screen?
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