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[moviememe Profile]

Hi, here's the story
clean install on xp, loaded dualbootpro. Attempted to save the .bcd file and it would not allow me to save it on the main drive or a secondary drive. The error reporting screen did not load ( haven't installed my wifi drivers yet, so that may be the cause of that) and under the operating systems tab, no OS (the one it is sitting on) is showing.
I did a test save with notepad and that worked.

thoughts?

Thanks,
Gavin

[yeshuas]

Maybe I am missing something here, but if XP is the only operating system on the computer, it will not have a BCD file to save, BCD is used by Vista and Windows 7 etc and not XP.

Was Vista or Windows 7 already installed on this computer and then you created a partition, or installed another harddrive to install XP on?

If Vista or Windows 7 was installed and you then installed XP this guide should help you, install-windows-xp-in-dual-boot-with-pre-installed-windows-7-t112568.html

[moviememe Profile]

Hi,
thanks for the quick response, you are not the only one who is missing something.

Here is the guide I was attempting to follow as it looked more painless than the one you are recommending.
http://www.dualbootpro.org/index.php/si ... parate_hdd

Firstto the confusion, I installed XP on one physical hard drive, then installed DualBootPro and opened the program. The error message launched with the program, which makes sense if it is looking for win 7 since there isn't one on this computer. I read the off-line help and several of the forum posts, screen-shots and so on, if there is a manual, I was unable to find it. That was as far as I got when I posted.

Since then and following the above guide, I went ahead and attempted to install win 7 even though I was fairly confident the guide as written is incomplete and wrong. The win 7 boot disk will not load if a hdd with XP is set to first boot priority. There may be a way around this, but I do not know what it is.

I was able to install Win 7 by changing the boot order to the cd/dvd drive. This has the consequence of making the XP drive disappear in the bios. However, if I apply the brute force method of unplugging the win 7 drive, the XP drive boots right up. So using dualbootpro on the XP install is a non-starter as far as I can tell.

I am willing to reinstall XP or Win 7 in order to get this to work. The reason I went with the XP install first, then Win 7 is on your boards, this method seems to have the highest incidence of success.

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks,
Gavin

[yeshuas]

Unless you have somthing installled that you are trying to save e.g. a program installed or some other saved information, I would format all the partitions on all the harddrives and start over with all the harddrives that you are going to use installed.

I would then install XP first and then Windows 7, leaving all harddrives installed during the complete process of installing both operating systems.

What type of harddrives are you using and how are they configured, i.e. do you have a raid array setup, or a mixture of IDE and SATA?

If you have a Raid setup, you will need the Raid drivers for you Motherboard during the installation of XP, having to hit the F6 key during the install process when instructed for "other drivers" and then installiing them when instructed. (these raid drivers will need to be on a floppy disk also)

[moviememe Profile]

Hi,
these two hard drives have nothing on them of value - yet, so a complete reinstall of both OS is no big deal.

Both drives are SATA, however my XP disk requires the BIOS setting of IDE in order to install. Don't know if this makes any difference.

You are correct, I installed XP with the second hd unattached. I then installed dualbootpro, shut the system, attached the second hd, booted back into XP, and formatted the second hd in disk management. There may be a missing step here, since the guide indicates something should be done in disk management, but it fails to specify what.

Then I attempted to install win 7 following the above guide, which failed because as far as I know, you must set the cd/dvd to the first boot in the bios, changed the bios to cd/dvd first boot, installed win 7, which had the effect of making the XP disk completely disappear from the bios.

Reading through the guides, the post below mine indicates there is no specific guide for this install - "In looking at all of our guides I couldn't find one specifically to installing Win7 after XP."

I'm guessing there is some magic make-work step that is obvious at your end that I'm just not getting at this end.

I can reinstall win 7 first then xp if this is the method you know how to make work and are only best guessing at what should work with the xp first, then win 7 second.

thanks,
Gavin

[yeshuas]

I have had the best results installing XP first and then Windows 7 or Vista next as Windows 7 and Vista ususally see the install of XP and include in a boot menu manager allowing you to choose which OS yo want to boot into.

What kind of motherboard do you have, maybe I can check to see if there is another way to set the bios to allow it to see the XP drive once you do the install so that Windows 7 also sees it

[moviememe Profile]

Hi,
the motherboard is an asus p7p550.

thanks,
Gavin

[moviememe Profile]

Hi,
I went back and wiped both drives and with both drives attached, installed xp on one drive, then installed win 7 on the second drive - Success! I'm guessing both drives have to be installed first in order for it to work for an complete dual install out of the box. I also didn't connect to the internet, add a firewall or install anything beyond the motherboard chipset drivers this time around.

Thanks,
now onto the second part of this can of worms....

[yeshuas]

What is the second part of the can of worms, I must have missed it