Installed Windows 7 as a dual boot, not Vista won't boot up

[MikeyLSU]

ok, so I was running a dual boot of Vista and XP before on 2 different hard drives before.

I deleted the XP partition and installed Windows 7 on that one. Everything has been running fine then I wanted to boot back up into Vista but no option comes up and when I try to boot up from that harddrive manually, nothing happens. It just says insert CD to boot.

I tried to do a repair from teh Vista disk but it doesn't find anything. That harddrive is still there will all the data and is recognized in the bios and everywhere.

Any suggestions?

EDIT: another thing, the old harddrive that I deleted had 2 partitions, one XP, and 1 Vista. So I actually had 3 OS at time, 1 XP and 2 Vista's on 2 harddrives(second was partitioned). I deleted both partitions and installed Windows 7 on that one.

Could getting rid of that old Vista have something to do with this?

 

[Zim Hosein]

Sadly, I can't help you MikeyLSU 😱 , but I hope a resolution is posted for you because I too want to dual-boot Vista and Win 7 beta 🙁

 

[MikeyLSU]

my guess is my deletion of the "other" vista is the problem and not the actual dual booting. But it is weird because when I try to fix it with the Vista DVD, it doesn't recognize that Vista is installed on any partitions.

I think I may try to install vista on another drive again to see if that fixes it, otherwise I guess i just have to back everything up and format that drive. In fact, I may try Windows 7 for a couple more days and if it stays good(with gaming) I may just use Windows 7 only.

I like some of the new features.

 

[flexy]

this can be tricky, with various BCD stores and bootloaders across partitions.

My guess is that the W7 install overwrote your BCD/MBR...but its odd that the Vista DVD cant see the old install.

a) use VIstaBOOTPro and try to manually add a new OS entry in the BCD, let it point to your old Vista partition

b) use BootIt NG boot loader, it has many options and there should be ways to add/edit entries in the boot menu pointing to the old Vista partition. You can also try experimenting with "hiding" the new W7 partition and by try/error there should be some way to recover the old vista...

Do you still see the old Vista partition? I mean if its still there and "only" BCD boot loader was overwritten, there should def. be a way to recover.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

The Vista CD should be able to help you even if it doesn't detect anything. Open a command prompt and type in bootrec.exe /fixmbr. This will install a vista bootloader (not sure what happens to windows 7 though) and then bootrec.exe has some other options which will rebuild the BCD.

 

[Scotteq]

IMHO, you just need to repair the boot loader.

(1) Boot to the Win 7 .iso DVD you burned and run it

(2) When you get to the install screen, in the lower left corner there will be an option to repair, rather than install - choose it.

(3) It should come back and say there was an issue, and do you want to fix it - Select Yes, and your computer should restart.


That should do it.

 

[MikeyLSU]

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte
The Vista CD should be able to help you even if it doesn't detect anything. Open a command prompt and type in bootrec.exe /fixmbr. This will install a vista bootloader (not sure what happens to windows 7 though) and then bootrec.exe has some other options which will rebuild the BCD.

tried this, when I try fixmbr it says complete. When I try fixboot, it says element not found.

]Originally posted by: Scotteq
IMHO, you just need to repair the boot loader.

(1) Boot to the Win 7 .iso DVD you burned and run it

(2) When you get to the install screen, in the lower left corner there will be an option to repair, rather than install - choose it.

(3) It should come back and say there was an issue, and do you want to fix it - Select Yes, and your computer should restart.


That should do it.

tried this also, and windows 7 doesn't show any installations either. Weird.

I'm trying some o fthe Vistabootpro now. I forced a new bootloader so lets see what happens.

 

[pcgeek11]

Did you try this option:

bootrec /rebuildBcd

The /RebuildBcd option scans all disks for installations that are compatible with Windows Vista. Additionally, this option lets you select the installations that you want to add to the BCD store. Use this option when you must completely rebuild the BCD.

Note If rebuilding the BCD does not resolve the startup issue, you can export and delete the BCD, and then run this option again. By doing this, you make sure that the BCD is completely rebuilt. To do this, type the following commands at the Windows RE command prompt:

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
bootrec /RebuildBcd

pcgeek11

 

[MikeyLSU]

ok, I deleted Windows 7 and installed Vista in its place.

Still didn't work so I booted up the Vista DVD and did a repair again, this time it found and fixed the problem.

So it now works again. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU
ok, I deleted Windows 7 and installed Vista in its place.

Still didn't work so I booted up the Vista DVD and did a repair again, this time it found and fixed the problem.

So it now works again. Thanks for the help everyone.

Glad to hear that your issue was resolved MikeyLSU! :beer:

 

[Ordskii]

Hi All. I installed Win7 64 bit on a dual boot XP Pro and Vista 64 Business. (Each on a separate partition on a velociraptor 300). It loaded just fine. Win 7 worked fine (but did not have drivers for a creative xi-fi card, again).

Vista 64 works fine, too.

Alas, in XP, I got a chkdsk screen at start up - which half the time would not cancel if I hit any key as the screen suggested. XP chkdsk It had lots of trouble with the Win7 partition and its contents, deleting lots of content.

Win7 did not like EST Nod32 in 64 bit version, which runs fine on Vista - couldn't find some files or save them as expected.

Was trying AVAST home 64 bit as AV which seem to work

Si, I gave up on tri-boot and will re-try Win7 standalone. Of course deleting Win7 left it in the boat loader - will play with that next but its no big deal. (I have not seen if Vista will also changes to the default Win7 load.

Be sure to load the mp3 fix - Win7's WMP eats them otherwise!! (Tech report has links in Sunday Shortbread).

Too bad it wasn't faster and easier. Nice VistaSE though!

I do like the removal of the Vista start-up screens that look like the bad light show in the Detroit airport - replaced with the new blue screen - but whats up with the fish? (Is it worth a $100 to have new backgrounds?)

 

[Radojica]

IMHO, you just need to repair the boot loader.

(1) Boot to the Win 7 .iso DVD you burned and run it

(2) When you get to the install screen, in the lower left corner there will be an option to repair, rather than install - choose it.

(3) It should come back and say there was an issue, and do you want to fix it - Select Yes, and your computer should restart.


That should do it.


Hi guys!

I just registered to say thanks... I had a same problem, and your advice solved it.

Thanx once again!

Renato

 

[cklenk]

I also have a question. I believe it is along the same lines. I had installed windows 7 on my hard drive all by its self. All was well, booting up fine and was working perfectly. Then today I partitioned my hard drive (left more than enough space for both windows 7 and xp) and now that I installed xp pro on the other partition, windows 7 wont boot up. I don't even get an option to boot either xp or windows 7. I tried the repair on the windows 7 iso disk and it said it repaired successfully but it still just boots into xp automatically. If anyone else had this problem or can help me, that would be awesome. Thanks!

-Cameron

 

[cklenk]

Never mind, I fixed my problem myself. I used vista boot pro! worked like a charm! good program!!!

-Cameron