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Dual Boot Trouble Shooting Guide - XP / Windows 7 Running

This is a short add on guide for trouble shooting your dual boot with Windows 7 running and XP installed.

Software required for this guide: DualBootPro

Below is how to locate the ntldr, NTDETECT, and boot.ini while in Windows 7.

1. Open My Computer
2. Click on "Organize" and then click on "Folder and Search Options"
3. Then click on the "View" tab
4. In the list under "Advanced Settings" you need to find "Hide protected operating system files" and uncheck it and then check "Show hidden files and folders", click "Apply" and click "OK".
5. Once back into My Computer open your XP (or Windows 7) drive and you will now see more "hidden" and "protected" files
6. Select the three files in question and right click and then select "Copy"
7. Go back and open your Windows 7 (or XP) drive and right click and then select paste

DualBootPro
8. Open DualBootPro and go to the "System Bootloader" screen
9. Select "Windows Vista or Windows 7" and then select All Drives

Note: Before continuing quit any I/O sensitive applications.

10. Click Install Bootloader

Drive letters were not included due to the different configurations.

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If it is still not booting then your boot.ini can be incorrect. Below is a typical boot.ini.

Code: Select all

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT


The major components of the boot.ini are rdisk(#) and partition(#). Do not change disk(#) unless you are running SCSI drives. When you open Disk Manager, you will see your hard drives listed a Disk 0, Disk 1 and so on depending on how many hard drives you have. The boot.ini rdisk(#) should point to the disk with XP on it associated with the Disk Manager. The boot.ini partition(#) should point to the partition XP is on. The first section of a hard drive is partition 1 and so on. Remember; rdisk(#) can have a 0 such as rdisk(0). On the other hand, partition(#) will always have a 1 or greater.