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Cannot make Windows 7 dual-boot with Windows XP

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Cannot make Windows 7 dual-boot with Windows XP

Postby JonMusker » Wed Feb 18, 2009 10:56 am

I used to have a happy little laptop with one hard disk and several partitions.
1 C: - spare (was Vista once, not used)
2 D: - Windows XP working and happy
3 E: - Data
4 recovery
5 recovery

Then I installed Windows 7 beta on the C: drive. Foolish mistake, I know.

Now I cannot access Windows XP, only Windows 7.

I purchased Vista Boot Pro 3.3.0 and following instructions on this forum I have;
- Located ntldr, ntdetec.com and boot.ini from a working XP machine with same build
- Put these three files on both D:\ and C:\
- Created a boot entry for Windows XP - type Legacy - D:
- Updated boot.ini on both C: and D: to point to multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
- Force-installed Vista bootloader on all drives with VistaBoot Pro

When I choose the Windows XP boot option, however, I get the Cannot Find <windows>\HAL.dll warning. D:\Windows\HAL.dll exists.

Can anyone help spot what I am doing wrong here please?

Disk manager image attached.
BOOT.INI
===============
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


bootmgr
===============
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {e51e46f0-fa54-11dd-8dec-8ce858350705}
displayorder {current}
{ntldr}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 10

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 7
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {e51e46f2-fa54-11dd-8dec-8ce858350705}
recoveryenabled Yes
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {e51e46f0-fa54-11dd-8dec-8ce858350705}
nx OptIn

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
device partition=D:
path \ntldr
description Windows XP

Attachments
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Disk Manager screenshot
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Re: Cannot make Windows 7 dual-boot with Windows XP

Postby NT50 » Wed Feb 18, 2009 8:59 pm

Being Windows 7 is still in beta .....

did you copy the boot.ini, ntldr, and NTDETECT to the root of C:\. That is the ssyetm partition.
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Re: Cannot make Windows 7 dual-boot with Windows XP

Postby JonMusker » Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:57 am

Thanks for your reply. I copied ntdetect.com, ntldr and boot.ini to both D:\ and C:\
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Re: Cannot make Windows 7 dual-boot with Windows XP

Postby NT50 » Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:53 pm

And?
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Re: Cannot make Windows 7 dual-boot with Windows XP

Postby JonMusker » Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:07 pm

sorry, but from my original post you can perhaps see that I had done that before posting my query. I continue to get the same error. I have also tried specifying partition(1) and partition(3) with no success.
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Re: Cannot make Windows 7 dual-boot with Windows XP

Postby Grav!ty » Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:30 am

Your boot.ini file looks fine for your drive configuration. Try deleting the XP entry and then create a new legacy entry in VistaBootPRO using the drive letter seen by Windows 7 and lets take it from there.
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Re: Cannot make Windows 7 dual-boot with Windows XP

Postby yeshuas » Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:21 am

The drive that is showing as I:\ Kingston, is that removable usb drive that you used with XP, try taking it out and then booting a couple of times.
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Re: Cannot make Windows 7 dual-boot with Windows XP

Postby JonMusker » Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:29 pm

Thank you both for the replies.

I have removed the K: drive as suggested, which unfortunately has not made any difference.

I hope I have understood your request, Grav1ty; just for clarity the partition drive letter assignments are the same in both XP and Windows 7.

Using BootVistaPro I removed the "Windows XP" boot entry. I then created two new ones; WinXP-C and WinXP-D. Both are legacy and one points to C: and the other to D:

boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com are still present on both C: and D:. Boot.ini in both locations points to multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS.

Trying to boot from either WinXP-C or WinXP-D gives the same cannot find hal.dll error.
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Re: Cannot make Windows 7 dual-boot with Windows XP

Postby Grav!ty » Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:12 pm

I think read through this thread...not only the guide but the discussion as well so that you get an idea of what it's going to take to get your dual boot working. Post here if you see there are issues you want clarity on.

Install Windows XP in Dual Boot with Pre-Installed Windows 7
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Re: Cannot make Windows 7 dual-boot with Windows XP

Postby JonMusker » Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:09 pm

That thread is unreadable, frankly.

What I would like some clarity on what settings I have that are not correct.

I have posted full details of every point of my configuration, and I still cannot boot into my Windows XP partition. I am also not any clearer as to whether I have taken the correct steps to enable the system to boot.

I have to say, I feel like I've wasted my money buying this product - it hasn't helped fix my dual-boot problem at all.
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