Dual VistaBootPRO Installs
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This forum is meant for support of PRO Software only. PROnetworks reserves the right to edit any topic title to better explain the contents of a post. We also may move your post to a more suitable forum if necessary.
It may take our support staff up to 24 hours to respond to your problem. We appreciate your patience.
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Dual VistaBootPRO Installs
by Chask » Sat Mar 24, 2007 8:37 am
I initially installed VistaBootPRO in my XP OS (before I installed Vista) and it works fine, allowing me to boot to XP or Vista, however I am in the process of reorganising my disks (and will post some queries on that in the Vista forum) but in the meantime, I am wondering if I also install VBP on my Vista OS, will that cause any undue problems???
At present XP is on Disc 0 - the system disk, and Vista is on Disk 2. I plan to swap those around so that Vista will be on Disc 0, and become my primary OS hence wanting to install VBP on that disk.
If I do have it installed and usable in both XP and Vista, will changes made using one OS reflect in the other??
by Grav!ty » Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:28 am
When you change the drive boot order you will possibly be unable to boot to Vista anymore, unless it's on the system drive right now and remains on the system drive after the boot reorder.
You can check in disk management to see which drive is tagged system and you should find the following files on it; the folder Boot and bootmgr
These are essential for Vista to be able to boot and must be on the drive tagged system. The system drive is usually the one from which the PC is set to boot in the BIOS. Hope that helps.
As far as VistaBootPRO goes, it doesn't matter from which OS installation one uses it, as it will be able to perform the functions from either XP or Vista. Having said that though, I'm not sure that VistaBootPRO will be able to restore your ability to boot once you change your drive order, unless you make sure the boot files I've mentioned are placed correctly.
Would it not be preferable for you to simply be able to dual boot in the true sense of the word without having to use VistaBootPRO to install and uninstall the Vista bootloader each time? If so, and in any event, the XP boot system files; boot.ini, ntldr and NTDETECT.COM will also have to be placed on the "new system drive" before XP will boot and the boot.ini changed to point to the new location of XP.
I've edited your topic title and the name of the VistaBootPRO program slightly so that possible confusion is eliminated
"The great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are." - Niccolo Machiavelli
by Chask » Sun Mar 25, 2007 5:34 am
OK, thanks for the very quick response.
Perhaps I should explain what I am trying to achieve in a bit more detail.
I have 3 hard disks
HD0 - 200 gig with XP and a data partition (both NTSC)
HD1 - 80 gig with a copy of XP (NTSC)
HD2 - 160 gig with Vista and a data partition. (both NTSC)
Vista was loaded after XP and the copy of XP on HD1 was created using BootitNG which also created an Extended MBR (EMBR) on a Fat 32 partition on HD0.
I want to swap XP and Vista so that Vista is on the 200 gig HD0 and XP is on the 160 gig HD2.
So far I have copied XP onto HD1 thus making the 1st partition on HD0 available to be overwritten by copying Vista from HD2 - however I am not game to overwrite that with Vista until I am sure I have everything set up correctly and I will still be able to boot to either OS.
Having browsed these forums, I note that I need both the Boot Folder and bootmgr file from the XP root in the Vista root.
I have copied those files across, but am still unable to boot directly into Vista without booting into the bootmanager on HD0 first.
Tried selecting the Vista disk from the BootitNG boot menu but was told "Bootmgr missing" (it really is there on the Vista root folder).
Then tried disconnecting HD0 and was told to load a system disk - even though both HD1 and HD2 have OS's on them. On reflection I am wondering if I should have physically relocated HD2 to the HD0 location - does there always have to be a boot record on HD0??
Anyway, I would be grateful if someone could advise what next steps to take to get me to the point where Vista is on Disk 0 and XP can be put on HD2 and both bootable.
I know the use of BootitNG has probably complicated things, but I only used that as a means of copying XP - but it has added the complication of an extra boot manager.
I am happy to delete the EMBR partition from HD0 if that will simplify things - just then need to find an alternative to copy Vista across.
Appreciate any advice - and happy to see this moved to whatever forum is regarded as most suitable.
Perhaps I should explain what I am trying to achieve in a bit more detail.
I have 3 hard disks
HD0 - 200 gig with XP and a data partition (both NTSC)
HD1 - 80 gig with a copy of XP (NTSC)
HD2 - 160 gig with Vista and a data partition. (both NTSC)
Vista was loaded after XP and the copy of XP on HD1 was created using BootitNG which also created an Extended MBR (EMBR) on a Fat 32 partition on HD0.
I want to swap XP and Vista so that Vista is on the 200 gig HD0 and XP is on the 160 gig HD2.
So far I have copied XP onto HD1 thus making the 1st partition on HD0 available to be overwritten by copying Vista from HD2 - however I am not game to overwrite that with Vista until I am sure I have everything set up correctly and I will still be able to boot to either OS.
Having browsed these forums, I note that I need both the Boot Folder and bootmgr file from the XP root in the Vista root.
I have copied those files across, but am still unable to boot directly into Vista without booting into the bootmanager on HD0 first.
Tried selecting the Vista disk from the BootitNG boot menu but was told "Bootmgr missing" (it really is there on the Vista root folder).
Then tried disconnecting HD0 and was told to load a system disk - even though both HD1 and HD2 have OS's on them. On reflection I am wondering if I should have physically relocated HD2 to the HD0 location - does there always have to be a boot record on HD0??
Anyway, I would be grateful if someone could advise what next steps to take to get me to the point where Vista is on Disk 0 and XP can be put on HD2 and both bootable.
I know the use of BootitNG has probably complicated things, but I only used that as a means of copying XP - but it has added the complication of an extra boot manager.
I am happy to delete the EMBR partition from HD0 if that will simplify things - just then need to find an alternative to copy Vista across.
Appreciate any advice - and happy to see this moved to whatever forum is regarded as most suitable.
by Grav!ty » Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:01 am
Chask, very few of us here use or recommend the use of third party boot managers, particularly with Windows Vista as they are known to have issues and cause problems.
In your situation, I'd personally probably take a copout approach and remove BootitNG totally, move the data that needs to be preserved from HD0, boot to XP on that drive/partition which is probably the system drive as seen from within Windows if/when it is set as the first HDD in your BIOS boot priority, create a new partition there for Vista, remove Vista from it's existing drive partition by uninstalling the Vista bootloader using VistaBootPRO and formatting the partition and then reinstall Vista.
This would leave you with both XP installations intact and a fresh Vista installation. In addition, you would have all the boot system files for all three operating systems on the root of the XP installation on HD0 and in my opinion be in a better position to control your operating systems.
I know this is probably not what you want to hear. Maybe someone else will come along with a solution that doesn't entail reinstallation.
In your situation, I'd personally probably take a copout approach and remove BootitNG totally, move the data that needs to be preserved from HD0, boot to XP on that drive/partition which is probably the system drive as seen from within Windows if/when it is set as the first HDD in your BIOS boot priority, create a new partition there for Vista, remove Vista from it's existing drive partition by uninstalling the Vista bootloader using VistaBootPRO and formatting the partition and then reinstall Vista.
This would leave you with both XP installations intact and a fresh Vista installation. In addition, you would have all the boot system files for all three operating systems on the root of the XP installation on HD0 and in my opinion be in a better position to control your operating systems.
I know this is probably not what you want to hear. Maybe someone else will come along with a solution that doesn't entail reinstallation.
"The great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are." - Niccolo Machiavelli
by Chask » Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:24 am
Grav!ty, thanks once again for a very quick response.
As you surmise, it's not quite what I was hoping for. I have no problem uninstalling and discarding Bootit. I only ever wanted that for the copy process, not as a boot manager.
However, I am not so keen on reinstalling Vista, though do recognise that is possibly the best solution. Even so, I'm not sure that I would want to have both XP and Vista on the same HD, though to be honest. I can't give you a very good reason why not - just prefer to keep them quite independent I guess. As time goes on, I expect to dispense with XP and if it is on its own disc, then I can use that for other things in other machines.
There is also the question of Vista activation - if I reinstall on a different disc, will I run into problems, or limit future reinstalls??
I suppose having created a copy of XP on its own disc, I could just reformat HD0 and do a clean install of Vista on to that. Presumably then it would be a simple matter for VistaBootPro to boot me to the appropriate OS.
I'll mull those ideas over, but in the meantime, if anyone can help me achieve my initial objectives, without a reinstall then I'd welcome their advice.
As you surmise, it's not quite what I was hoping for. I have no problem uninstalling and discarding Bootit. I only ever wanted that for the copy process, not as a boot manager.
However, I am not so keen on reinstalling Vista, though do recognise that is possibly the best solution. Even so, I'm not sure that I would want to have both XP and Vista on the same HD, though to be honest. I can't give you a very good reason why not - just prefer to keep them quite independent I guess. As time goes on, I expect to dispense with XP and if it is on its own disc, then I can use that for other things in other machines.
There is also the question of Vista activation - if I reinstall on a different disc, will I run into problems, or limit future reinstalls??
I suppose having created a copy of XP on its own disc, I could just reformat HD0 and do a clean install of Vista on to that. Presumably then it would be a simple matter for VistaBootPro to boot me to the appropriate OS.
I'll mull those ideas over, but in the meantime, if anyone can help me achieve my initial objectives, without a reinstall then I'd welcome their advice.
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