Windows 7 Restoring XP on another partition

ansset9

New Member
I was running a dual boot setup with two XP installations, and I upgraded one to Win 7. Stupidly I forgot to back up the boot info for the XP install and 7 wiped it. I'm trying to fix this and having a hard time with it. So far I have downloaded the 3 files (boot.ini, NTDETECT, and ntldr) and placed them in C: which is the Win 7 partition. I have changed boot.ini to this:

[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="Windows XP Pro" /fastdetect

I have installed EasyBCD and added the bootloader for XP, and changed it to drive D: which is the XP partition. However, this is still not working. I get both choices when booting but XP is broken and won't boot.

The Windows 7 install CD does not see the XP installation.
What do I do next?
 
Downloading the files will not work.

You need to boot from the Windows 7 install.

Right-click on Computer on the desktop, choose properties, click the Advanced system settings, click the advanced tab, the the Setting button under Startup and recovery.

Do both OS's appear here?
 
Yes, both OS's do appear, but I think this is only because I added the entry for XP using EasyBCD. How do I go about booting from Windows 7?

Thanks so much for your help!
 
Do you mean that I should use the XP disc to repair the XP installation? I tried this before and it broke both installs, although I only tried it once.
 
If you have EasyBCD, how about opening it and using the view settings button and take a snapshot of it. Maybe someone will see what is wrong.

Also this is certainly not my area, if any really are, but do you have the boot.ini and ntldr.exe on the XP volume?
 
Right-click on Computer on the desktop, choose properties, click the Advanced system settings, click the advanced tab, the the Setting button under Startup and recovery

Was Windows 7 listed as the Default operating system?
 
Screenshots are an excellent idea (and it gives me a chance to play around with the snipping tool, heh).

Here is EasyBCD:

Link Removed due to 404 Error

Here is my C: drive with the 3 boot files, and boot.ini open:
Link Removed due to 404 Error

I did also place the files in D: since I wasn't sure exactly how it worked with Win 7:
Link Removed due to 404 Error


And this is the Startup and Recovery tab, you can see both OS's, and Windows 7 is listed as the default:
Link Removed due to 404 Error
 
Is there any chance Partition 2 with Win 7 installed is actually Partition 3. I was wondering about the special partition Win 7 makes.
 
At first I had two XP installs, one for internet, gaming and so on which was on the C: partition. The other was dedicated to audio editing and it was on the D: partition. I also have two other partitions on this drive, one for programs ( E: ) and one for other files ( F: ).

I actually upgraded the C: partition to XP 64-bit until I realized it was pretty much trash, so I decided to take the plunge to Win 7. It was still dual booting to XP 64 and XP at this point. When I installed Win 7 to the C: drive, it broke the XP install which was on D:

Here's a couple pictures of my current partition setup:

Link Removed due to 404 Error[/URL]

Link Removed due to 404 Error
 
I finally got this working, and it was the smallest thing. I had EasyBCD pointing to the D: partition where XP is installed instead of C: where the boot files are. Oh well, live and learn.

Thanks all for your help!
 
Back
Top