I have two hard disks. I had Vista pre-installed on disk0.
I partitioned disk1 and installed Windows 2003 Server (demo version). The installation being on an entirely separate disk, I thought it wouldn’t affect Vista. But now I can’t boot up vista.
My boot.ini file on the server disk looks like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0) disk(0) rdisk(1) partition(2) \windows
[operating systems]
multi(0) disk(0) rdisk(1) partition(2)\ windows = “Windows Server 2003” / fastdetect
multi (0) disk (0) rdisk (0) partition (0) \ windows= “Vista” / fastdetect
When I boot up it gives me a menu with a choice of operating systems, Vista or Server. If I select Server it boots up fine. But if I select Vista it just goes blank and hangs there.
Any idea how to get Vista working again? I don’t think I erased anything during the install, so hopefully it should be some fairly minor adjustment.
BTW I’ve tried setting the boot disk to 0, but it doesn’t work.
This happens a lot with Linux dual-boot systems.
This is a way to fix it but I couldn’t guarantee that you will still be able to access 2003, you may have to fiddle some more with it for that to work.
I dual-booted my laptop which had Vista pre-installed using “EasyBCD” to add XP
Basically, IIRC the XP installation process wrecks the Vista boot loader, since XP can’t know how to deal with an OS from the future (- even if it feels like a giant leap backwards) - I guess '03 does the same
The Vista boot loader can be repaired, either using a Vista disk if you’ve got one, or (since so many OEMs don’t let the customers have a disk) there is a Microsoft download that lets you create a repair disk, a bit of Googlage should find it.
Even better, the version of EasyBCD I used could repair Vista itself when I ran it from XP
I found EasyBCD very painless, (IIRC I had to install the DotNet framework on XP for it to work)
and it looks after all the dual-boot configurations - oh, and it’s free
The Vista boot.ini equivalent seems to be BCD (hence “EasyBCD”) - and the little I learned about it suggests it’s not too easy to use - and that’s if you install Vista second as Microsoft presume you are doing.
Trying to install another OS with Vista pre-installed (as many wish to) seems to be a world of pain without help, luckily nice geeky people have written utils to make it easier
If you want a working multi-boot I strongly recommend something like EasyBCD (there are others, I don’t know which is best, only that it worked for me)
I may be using it wrong. I’m using the add/remove entries button. It just shows me a message saying that I need to install NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM on my C drive.
It gives a web page where you can supposedly download them, but accessing the page requires a login, and there’s no obvious register button.
Anyone know where I can get them?
Is this the page you visited?
It’s pretty good on the “what goes in which partition” thing - I was lucky, I didn’t need to dick about with that (I was fully expecting to - the partitions on my laptop were a bit odd, including a hidden recovery partition)
At the top of the page in that URL is a blue tab “Attachments (1)” which just now let me download a zip of the files you need (if it doesn’t play ball for you drop me a Private Message with your email addy and I’ll mail it to you)
I’m a bit puzzled tho’ - if you had got Win’03 booting ok I would have thought NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM would have to be in the boot partition along with BOOT.INI - it may be worth playing around a bit and finding what’s gone where and check the order of your drives
Good luck - and if all else fails EasyBCD has its own forums with people who seem to know what they’re talking about (rather than WAGs from me!)
As for your point above, Win 03 *was *booting after I installed it - it didn’t work fully, because it lacks a lot of drivers. So I had to restore Vista, and now '03 doesn’t boot. I think the installation is still intact, though.
Also, note I don’t have a Vista install disk, just a pre-installed version and a “restore to factory settings” recovery disk.
Ah, that makes sense, just means you’ll have to go round the loop again I think this is the walk-thru I followed
you’ve already done the partitioning - and if you’re lucky '03 has an option to repair your previous '03 install, rather than having to do the whole thing again from scratch
Either way you’ll be re-trashing the Vista bootloader, then re-rebuilding it using EasyBCD from within '03
It’s nice when it works though! (apart from having to track down those drivers, of course)
(I work with a group of people who were given Vista Laptops “free” by their work to run some win software - they ALL bought Mac books with their own money and installed XP alongside OS X, didn’t take long to see method in their madness)
Thanks, Capt B. I’ve just managed to get a working multiboot.
Took a while. Running BCD required me to download and install several other things first. Had to keep resetting in order to download. But after a number of resets it finally worked.
Now, if I can just find those drivers I’ll be happy.