Windows Vista Boot menu

Hi

First, maybe this forum should have Vista in the title now, its reached public beta so everyone can sue it now


Ok back to the problem, I installed Windows Vista Beta 2, then i decided to reinstall windows xp as xp media center was making me tear my hair out, and after reinstalling windows, i lost my Vista boot menu and cant access windows vista anymore. Is there a way to get access to windows vista?, i really donw want to spend time re installing vista, its set just how i want it and its really good

 

The easiest thing to do to make sure both O/S's are ok is probably download an indipendant boot loader, like this and run it off a floppy, if you can access both O/S's using that then you know neither have been corrupted (genrally the rule is install the newer version of Windows last), so XP could have broken Vista, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

I am sure XP has not broke VISTA as i have 3 partitions, 2 xp and one vista and there one 3 seperate partitions. How will an independant boot loader work, does this search for all operating systems or somthing?

 

just boot into dos somehow and type fdisk /mbr.

Its not very pretty but you simply press F1, F2, F3 etc to select the partition you want to boot from.

Quicker bootup time than if you were using a floppy.

 

An Indipendant boot loader works by you telling it what partition to look on, and then it finds it (or that how GAG works).

 

MS OS's install and think they know best you are better installing a boot loader after each install of OS (e.g. bootloader installed on HDD, you install XP you then need to reinstall bootloader, then you install vista then you need to reinstall the bootloader (not sure about this) XP recovery console:
type "bootcfg /rebuild (to use XP or vista's (i think) bootloader)

and dont type any options but enter an identifier for the bootloader to display

 

i still have xp's boot loader, when you install Windows vista, there is an option you select saying somthing along the lines of, Microsoft Pre Operating Systems, and returns you to the XP bootloader, but XP instaled over vista makes the vista boot load not accessible. Anyone know how to boot into Dos?

 

whichever was the last OS installed, then you have to use that OS's bootloader as a multiboot loader

 

:s how do i do that, thats confusing :spin:

 

MS OS's install, and think they know best,
you are better installing a boot loader after each install of OS (e.g. bootloader installed on HDD, then after you install XP you then need to reinstall bootloader,

then you install vista then you need to reinstall the bootloader (not sure about this)

XP recovery console:

Code:

type "bootcfg /rebuild

when prompted for options, type nothing just press enter, when prompted to enter a unique identfier just enter exactly what you want to appear on the bootloader screen for that OS

no idea about vista, but i think thats what you type in XP

if i'm wrong someone please correct me!

 

Sorry, if I may BUTT in here..

Let me show you how to solve this:

Control Panel > Folder Options > 'View' Tab > Untick 'Hide Protected Operating System Files'.

Navigate to your C:\ drive and look for a file called 'boot.ini'. Right-click it and choose 'Properties'. Uncheck the 'Read Only' box and press 'OK'. Now double-click on the file to open it.

What you are now looking at is the Windows boot menu configuration. All you need to do is add a entry for Windows Vista.

You need to know what partition number and what hard drive number you have installed Windows Vista on.

'disk(0)' is your Primary Master hard drive, 'Partition(1)' would be your C:\ drive

Code:

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Enterprise" /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons 

This is my boot.ini file. As you can see, I have Windows XP installed on drive C:\ (partition (1)). I have Server 2003 installed on drive D:\ (Partition(2)).

If Windows Vista is installed on your C:\ drive, you may add this line into your boot.ini file:

Code:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Vista" /fastdetect

Does that make sense?

 

Isnt boot.ini on the c: a backup or summit?

Ive only ever succesfully editted that file using msconfig. Never tried messing with it on XP, though they are both NT.

 

No, it's not.

If you delete the boot.ini file, the operating system wont start.

 

yeah, it makes perfect sense to me, but am i right about

XP recovery console:

Code:

type "bootcfg /rebuild

"

 

one thing to remember is "boot.ini" in C: <root> XP is relient on this file for boot configufation <edit with care> (as you can very easily make you system unbootable, fixable from recovery console)

 

Ive only ever deleted an entry for a redundant dual boot option. It wasnt in the boot.ini file on c: but when I deleted in msconfig it went forever.