Windows 7 Windows 7 Is Not Booting from the Correct File

mrooobaa

New Member
Hey guys,
A while ago, I had a triple boot system, but now, I'm using one of the hard drives for something else, so now it is only dual-boot. However, for some reason, I cannot get Windows 7 to see the new boot file.

I constructed the original boot system with EasyBCD. Absolutely no problems whatsoever. When I started up the software to make the dual-boot system, it said it couldn't find my boot files. So, I constructed the dual-boot system, and I wrote it on the drive. However, when I start up the computer, I still see the old triple boot menu. I tried clearing it with the Windows 7 restore disk, but it doesn't see Windows 7 on the hard drive.

What would be the best way to go about fixing this? Thanks in advance!
 
There are a lot of questions I could ask about your system and how you had and have it set up.

But if you have EasyBCD, maybe the best way to get your system back is to just leave the Windows 7 drive installed and do a startup repair after booting to the install media.

A warning needs to go with this. If, for some reason, the active partition is not on that drive, a startup repair may not work. If it does, it may take several attempts.

Could you give some info about your current setup, what OSes, what drive order shows in the bios, etc.?
 
Thanks for the quick response!

Right now, my main drive is Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit, and the second drive is XP 32-bit. In the Bios, it shows the XP drive first, and then the Windows 7 drive next. The Windows 7 drive is active, and the boot files are on that drive on the same partition. XP and Windows 7 are on separate 1 TB hard drives. Each drive can boot independently if I select from the bios.
 
So you can get into Windows 7? EasyBCD should be able to set up your boot just about any way you want. You are starting with a Windows 7 boot menu which shows all three OSes?

How about opening an Administrative command window and type bcdedit - then take a snipping tool picture and attach using the paperclip.

The system will boot to the first active partition it comes to in drive order during the boot . If the Windows 7 drive is listed first (you say not the current situation) in the bios and the partition is active, it will boot to that. So it seems you need to change the drive order in the bios.
 
BCD.jpg
At the moment, the two OSs that actually exist still boot up without any problems – I just want to change the list to get rid of the third OS. I tried using BCDedit to do that for me, and when I load it up, it doesn't seem to see the current set up.

I apologize; I didn't state the problem clearly. What I meant to say, is that I cannot load in a new boot file (with just two operating systems listed) in place of the old boot file with three operating systems.
 
Well, your system seems to have some strange differences. The only time I remember seeing a bcdedit message as you show is when I was booting from the DVD.

Again, since you can get into Windows, take a picture of the Disk Management with the snipping tool and attach using the paperclip. I need the graphical representations of the partitions along with the basic partition readout.
 
What's the deal with the UEFI boot drive? Did you load Windows in the UEFI mode or MRB mode. The Drive 0 is probably a GPT drive and as such cannot be used to boot an MRB system.

If you are running a UEFI boot system, the Windows Boot manager needs to be selected in the bios. I will assume for now that Drive 0 is from a previous install and you never cleaned it.

But if Drive 2 is the only drive in the system, it should boot, assuming the boot files are intact. After you get that straight, you can reconnect the XP drive and use EasyBCD to create the dual boot menu.
 
Sorry about that; totally forgot about that drive. That was an old Hackintosh experiment. The drive is independent of the other hard drives, so I don't think it contains any Windows boot files. It's not really part of the booting process.

Right now, the bios points to drive two, and from there I see the triple boot menu. Windows is in MBR mode. So the 7 drive boots on its own, but I can't seem to change the menu.
 
Right now, the bios points to drive two, and from there I see the triple boot menu.
I don't understand this. When your system boots and you do not interfere, what happens? It goes to a boot menu with three OSes listed? Could this be a Grub menu or do you know for sure it is a Windows 7 boot menu.

If the XP drive is primary in the bios, it will boot to that partition. But bcdedit should be able to see a BCD store...

Again, you are having problems...take out all but the Windows 7 drive....
 
When the computer starts up without hitting any buttons, It goes to the three OS menu. I have the other drives unplugged, and I still get the same menu. It's definitely a Windows 7 boot loader; I think actually made it with easy BCD.

Interesting observation though, I ran that command script again, and I got this:BCD new.jpg

Thank you for all the quick responses, I really appreciate the help.
 
Finally something looks at least partially normal..:)!

So, you probably don't need Snow Leopard, so that entry can be removed.

The boot loader for XP is completely wrong. It has to point to a NTLDR, which easyBCD will set up for you, so remove that entry also and redo it later. I don't know how you got winload.exe into an XP Boot loader..maybe someone was playing..

The Boot Manager and Boot Loader entries look fine, so just leave them for now.

If you have problems with the XP entry when you get ready, post back, but EasyBCD should set it up. Make sure and only add the XP drive to start, so the rdisk(x) entry in the Boot.ini can be determined correctly. Easy BCD will also put the XP boot files in the Windows 7 partition so they can be used. You should not have to make any changes to the XP drive.

You can add the last drive back after the system is running correctly if you like. If you want to clean the drive and get it back to normal, use Diskpart and we can show you how to do that also.
 
It's interesting, easyBCD works pretty well when the other drives are unplugged except the Windows 7 drive. When I plug in the XP drive, the program can't read or write new boot files, and the BCDedit command in the command prompt gives me the error we were getting previously.Is there something on the XP drive that might be interfering with the boot loader?
 
The XP drive probably has a copy of the Windows 7 boot files on it. Always remember if you install Windows 7 it will put its boot files on an active partition on the primary (listed first in bios) drive. If there is not active partition, it will make one.

But if you are in Windows 7 and run EasyBCD, it will find, or you will point it to the second drive.

The drive order in the bios is very important, and it will change if you disconnect a drive and reboot.

If you are having a problem with EasyBCD, the NeoSmart Technologies site has a very good FAQ and forum section. But basically, you should have a Windows Bootloader for Windows 7 and a Legacy Boot Loader for XP. I will try to find a picture of a dual boot setup later.

You may be trying to make entries incorrectly.
 
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