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Dual Boot Vista and XP

Dual Boot Vista and XP

Postby Winterpale » Mon Apr 27, 2009 11:53 pm

I decided to add Xp to my existing vista system, followed the steps
1) Partitioned a new space on the hard drive (d:)
2) Installed XP
3) XP initiated a restart

And then it all went wrong.

Neither XP or Vista will load, and normal start up jumps to "A disk read error occured press ctrl+alt+del to reboot"
The same issues reoccurs what ever route I follow to resolve this, be it vistas install disk repair function (which occasionally lies to me, telling me I have a camera or mp3 player attached, and refuses to run) Fixboot commands in the XP repair console, and going through the steps listed here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529/en-us i.e. done from the command prompts in vista repair.

" 1. Use Bootsect.exe to restore the Windows Vista MBR and the boot code that transfers control to the Windows Boot Manager program. To do this, type the following command at a command prompt: Drive:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All

In this command, Drive is the drive where the Windows Vista installation media is located.

Note The boot folder for this step is on the DVD drive.
2. Use Bcdedit.exe to manually create an entry in the BCD Boot.ini file for the earlier version of the Windows operating system. To do this, type the following commands at a command prompt.

Note In these commands, Drive is the drive where Windows Vista is installed.
* Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /create {ntldr} /d "Description for earlier Windows version"

Note In this command, Description for earlier Windows version can be any text that you want. For example, Description for earlier Windows version can be "Windows XP" or "Windows Server 2003".
* Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=x:

Note In this command, x: is the drive letter for the active partition.
* Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \ntldr
* Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} /addlast
3. Restart the computer."

Nothing seems to have worked so far.
Any ideas? I'd like both OS running, but would be more than happy to have just one of the two (Vista for preference) back up and working.

Thanks in advance.
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Re: Dual Boot Vista and XP

Postby Grav!ty » Tue Apr 28, 2009 1:33 am

Is your data and things that you want to keep backed up?
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Re: Dual Boot Vista and XP

Postby Winterpale » Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:57 am

No, because I am an idiot. But nothing utterly vital would be lost.
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Re: Dual Boot Vista and XP

Postby Winterpale » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:34 am

Thought I'd try one last go

When I get to
"Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /create {ntldr} /d "Description for earlier Windows version" "

What ever I type in in the " " comes up with
An error has occured while attempting the specified create operation.
The specified entry already exits.

Any ideas?
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Re: Dual Boot Vista and XP

Postby Grav!ty » Tue Apr 28, 2009 5:10 pm

Try running these commands to rebuild the BCD by booting to your Vista DVD and select Repair your Computer at the Intall now setup screen and then select the command prompt from the menu that appears. These need to be run in the order they are listed below and obviously ignore the asterisk.

* bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
* c:
* cd boot
* attrib bcd -s -h -r
* ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
* bootrec /RebuildBcd

If that doesn't work, then I suggest installing another temporary instance of Vista on the partition on which you have the failed XP install. Doing so could well get your initial Vista installation booting again.

Let us know how you go before making a second Vista install as there may be something else we can think of depending on how it turns out.

Once you have fixed your boot to Vista check out this guide to install Windows XP: install-windows-xp-in-a-dual-boot-with-pre-installed-windows-t88231.html
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Re: Dual Boot Vista and XP

Postby Winterpale » Tue Apr 28, 2009 7:20 pm

Just tried the below, no dice. Comes up with disk read error again

Grav!ty wrote:Try running these commands to rebuild the BCD by booting to your Vista DVD and select Repair your Computer at the Intall now setup screen and then select the command prompt from the menu that appears. These need to be run in the order they are listed below and obviously ignore the asterisk.

* bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
* c:
* cd boot
* attrib bcd -s -h -r
* ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
* bootrec /RebuildBcd

If that doesn't work, then I suggest installing another temporary instance of Vista on the partition on which you have the failed XP install. Doing so could well get your initial Vista installation booting again.

Let us know how you go before making a second Vista install as there may be something else we can think of depending on how it turns out.

Once you have fixed your boot to Vista check out this guide to install Windows XP: install-windows-xp-in-a-dual-boot-with-pre-installed-windows-t88231.html
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Re: Dual Boot Vista and XP

Postby Winterpale » Tue Apr 28, 2009 7:31 pm

I could do with getting one file off the system onto a usb pen, or external hard drive if that's possible. I know what's it's called and where it is, just need to know how to copy it.
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Re: Dual Boot Vista and XP

Postby Winterpale » Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:28 pm

Right...

Copied all the files I need from the knackered PC, going to clean the hard disk and try again.
I'll let you know how I get on.

Cheers for the help.
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