Windows 7 Windows 7 boot.ini file

sabrehagen

Millenium Celebration Award Winner
Premium Supporter
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
6
Hi,

I'm currently setting up a Dual Boot Windows 7 and Windows XP. I installed Windows 7 first, then installed XP second, both installed on seperate partitions. Windows 7 is on the first partition, and XP on the second. When XP installed it overwrote Windows 7's boot.ini with it's own and now I have to add in the Windows 7 boot option manually. I tried adding the line "multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 7" but this hasn't worked for me.

In summary, could you please post the contents of your Windows 7 boot.ini file from the root of your drive so I can see how it is initially set up?

Thank you in advance,



sabrehagen
 
Last edited:
Solution
I managed to fix it by using easybcd to put XP and Windows 7 in the startup list. I then copied boot.ini from the XP partition to the Windows 7 partition so that after selecting XP in the boot menu and it went looking for the boot file, it was on the first partition, i.e. the Windows 7 partition. Boot.ini then pointed to the second partition where XP is installed and now both dual boot successfully!

Hope this helps people in the same predicament in the future!


sabrehagen
Sort by date Sort by votes
Help needed with booting back to encrypted drive

Hey gang - great stuff in here so far, I've learned a little, but not enough.

I installed Win7 today onto a second partition of my HDD, which is now booting up as drive letter C. My first partition (also C contains XP, but the partition is encrypted courtesy of my employer (using a software called PointSec).

EasyBCD does not seem to recognize this partition as a valid boot source, since it cannot read the drive (due to its encryption).

Any suggestions on getting my bootloader to point back to the original C: drive so I can log onto my computer for work in the morning?

Thanks in advance!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
d/l the attached. Extract the zip - Put these files ( not the folder) on the 7 partition.

Then add the entry for XP using Easybcd - select C as the drive letter.

I assume you have one Hard drive and XP is on the first partition.

Link Removed due to 404 Error
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hello everyone!

I have a very very similar problem, however it's the other way around.

I have 2 drives atm, one IDE (w/ XP) and SATA (w/ 7)

On my IDE drive (this is my C:/ and D:/ drive), I have originally installed XP professional on my C:/ partition. I used my D:/ partition for downloading my windows 7 iso and run the installation from. I installed 7 on the SATA drive without setting the disk as active. Now what i think is that the boot files are left on my C:/ drive because when I try to remove my IDE drive, the SATA drive won't boot ("NTLDR missing" or sometimes "error while trying to read boot file"). The problem is I want to get rid of the IDE drive and want to leave the SATA disk as my only hard drive

Is there anyway to transfer the boot files without using the Repair method (I don't have a DVD reader) or doing a clean install?

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
YES.

Look in Disk management and see if your XP partition is marked as "System".

If it is, you need to do the following:

1. Install the free Easybcd on 7.

( D/L from the link at the BOTTOM of this page http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 )

2. Boot into 7 , go to Folder Options an make sure Hidden files are showing.

Copy and paste bootmgr and the pale yellow folder from the XP partition to the 7 partition. ( you will get a message bcd is ion use and can't be copied - skip it and copy the rest).

3. In Easybcd , Open the Power Console ( same as cmd prompt ) and type : ( press enter after each command )


bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device boot
bcdedit /export ?:\Boot\BCD
bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force
mbrfix.exe /drive 1 fixmbr /vista /yes


Replace ?: with the 7 drive letter as seen when in 7 , e.g. D: Replace the 1 in drive 1 with whatever number is shown in Disk Manager for the Disk 7 is on.

4. In Disk management, mark 7 partition Active.

5. Make sure it is the first Active partition in the boot order.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thanks sir! I tried copying the boot folder and other boot-related file names at first, but I did not succeed. I didn't know I have to use cmd.

anyway, my only problem after your steps is it still displays the dual boot selection screen. I just had EasyBCD solve the problem.

Thanks again! +rep for you
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Paragon Boot Manager Issue

Hello Sir,

I have dual boot system in the first partition I've installed Windows 2003 and on other primary partition I'm using Windows XP for instance to get a dual boot options I've installed Paragon Boot Manager to choose the appropriate OS to boot so till now it is done and it was working fine for me but when I formatted second partition and installed Windows 7 and reactivated the Paragon Boot Manger there is only one item in display in the boot up menu ie: Win 2003 Sp2 and no listing of Windows 7 OS in the menu instead it is asking me to relocate the boot sector file to make it display in the boot up screen and to be frank I don't where the boot sector file exists in Win 7. And now I really want to seek a help of you guys in this forum to sort this issue can any one in this forum may really help me to fix this issue. Hope you guys out there have a solution for this and tell me watting for you reply....................
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hi,
I am a big fan of Paragon products. I don't use the boot manager, though.

I think you will find if you uninstall then reinstall the boot manager - it will pick up the new o/s installation.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Update and remark

6 month old thread but...
Because i think this is a very valuable thread i though it deserved a little update remark.


1) Ubuntu from 9.10 on uses Grub 2
2) Easybcd 1.72 does not work well with Grub 2 (Get the 2.0)
3) Ubuntu desktop 10.04 amd64 installer didn't let me choose to put the bootloader on new manually made partitions (and i was afraid of letting it do it all automatically, because i was already dual-booting XP and Win 7 and I don't know what the auto multi option would really do to the MBR and/or the Windows 7 bootloader). I had to have the linux partitions before running the installer in order to the installer letting me do so.
Important: Boot into windows after partitioning and before using the ext partitions. (Sounds strange, but I did so as advised)

Be careful and research before installing this Ubuntu too automatically for a dual or multi boot.

As this thread was so important to me i feel i should say the above.

Thank you SIW2!
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
I have a similar, but different problem. I was running Windows XP Professional (WXP partition) on my machine. I decided to try Windows 7, and built it in a separate partition (W7 partition). I can dual boot fine. Now that I have been running Windows 7 for a long while, I would like to get rid of Windows XP and move the entire Windows 7 build to the old Windows XP partition, and then get rid of the W7 partition. Is this possible without completely reinstalling Windows 7? If so, how do I do this? Thanks in advance.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hi

I also have a similar problem, I hope very much you can help with. I have 2 separate physical hard drives. On HD1 I have Windows Vista installed, I then decided to shift to Windows 7 so I installed it as a separate operating system on my second hard drive HD2. It made a boot list where I could choose to boot from Vista or 7, this worked fine. But now I want to get rid of the Vista installation and reuse the hard disk in a nas box after I copied all the data from Vista a need to save. Problem is when I remove the HD1(Vista) the computer cant boot on HD2, it says that its not possible to boot from HD2. I suspect that the MBR that is used for booting was located on HD1(Vista). How can I make it boot on the HD2 without HD1 present, can I create a new mbr on that drive? I tried with the Windows 7 installation disc but no luck.

Please explain how I can do this and what commands I should use, I don't normally do this. and it seems changes has been made in windows 7, it seems it has no boot.ini that I can edit in directly.

Thankx a bunch.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I had Xp installed on my computer. Then i installed Win 7 on a sepereta hdd. And i was using as a dual boot. Then to take gain some space deleted all the Xp files from the hdd. Then formatted the hdd which Xp installed. And when i restart my computer ' bang ' win7 wont boot from the hdd.
As a solution i try to remove hdd which xp installed on my computer then i select the hdd which installed Win7 on it to boot it sats. There is no NTLDR file on this boot.

What can i do now ?

Thnx & Regards.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

your simplest solution is download a windows 7 repair disc from neosmart and run it from boot to fix your installation
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My Turn:

1. I installed one Win7 on an SSD that is my main OS.
2. I then installed one XP on a separate internal HD as a backup install for older games
3. I can stay in or get back into Win7 no problem even if I mess up the boot file (by using the repair function on the Win7 DVD).
4. I cannot get back into XP. I've tried using all the functions within EasyBCD via Win7 but nothing has fixed it. It can never find the boot file when I select XP, even if I make it the default or sole OS selection and point it to the correct drive.

How can I set it so that even when it sees both OS options, it can actually start up into either one when given the choice?

Thanks in advance.
Brooks
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
EasyBCD, if you are using the latest version, can set up your boot. The fact you installed XP after Win 7 may be causing problems since the XP install could overwrite the Win 7 boot files. Depending if you installed XP separately and which drive was primary.

You may want to start a new thread, but attaching a snipping tool picture of your disk management window might help and label which partitions are which OS. Also, post the boot.ini file. This thread should explain how it all works, but if you still have problems, we will try to help.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Re: Want to remove windows 7 from boot selection screen

Hi

Use EasyBCD to remove the unwanted operating system from your boot list before you remove the operating system.

Otherwise you will probably find that your computer will not boot at all.

EasyBCD - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

This is the best tool I have found for making changes and adjustments to your boot set up.
EasyBCD should be able to create a boot file that includes XP.

I haven't found any games that I need to run in XP even my old Tomb Raider games from the 90s run in W7.

Mike

I guess I wasn't at the end of the string when I posted, any way I reiterate what Saltgrass has said. LOL
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
I had windows 7 Ultimate first,,
i installed Xp(in a diffrent drive than windows 7 Ultimate) and i assumed dat my windows 7 boot file was replaced..
I then installed windows 7 Enterprise over Xp i.e i upgraded it.. then, deleted Windows.old(xp).
LAter, during boot i saw dat randomly my old windows 7 Ultimate was recovered (howeva i realised d truth now )and was present in OS choices menu.
So, i formatted my partition containing the new windows 7 Enterprise.

The problem i am facing now is my windows 7 Ultimate is not genuine any longer.. and most importantly during my OS choices screen the old windows 7 is still the default choice, and it opens in 2 seconds and gives an error, i want to remove that choice and get my windows 7 Ultimate Genuine.

It wud b great if anyone can help.
Thanks in advance

Regards
Amit
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
If what Mike is suggesting does not help, perhaps you have confused your system. If you messed up the activation process, you may have to reactivate, but perhaps someone else will know. If not, there are some other threads about activation problems in some of the forums.

You seem to state you now have one Win 7 Ultimate installation. If you open MSconfig.exe, it will show your boot options on the boot tab. You can set as default or remove one of the OS choices. Just make sure you know which one is which.

If you have two drives installed, you might disconnect one, or at least make sure the primary drive shows as first priority in the bios.

If you can get into your Win 7 installation, you always have the option to do a repair install.

Again, attaching a snipping tool picture of your disk management window might help, if you label the partitions.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Featured
  • Article Article
The Hidden Cause of Windows 7 Boot Delays with Solid Color Backgrounds
Replies
1
Views
482
ChatGPT
H
  • Solved
Windows 8 BCD before boot.ini in multi-boot
Replies
11
Views
3K
hardwiredstudios
H
M
  • Solved
Windows 7 Urgent Help Needed: Windows 7 Boot Issues and Missing System Files
Replies
1
Views
2K
kemical
  • Solved
Windows XP Question about Windows XP boot.ini file modification?
Replies
5
Views
5K
MikeHawthorne
S
  • Locked
  • Solved
Windows 7 Windows 7 Boot.ini Problem?
Replies
7
Views
19K
TorrentG
T