Oops...messed up my Win7 when I installed Win XP and need help

[HeatM1ser2k4]

Ok, so I was running Win 7x64, and installed Win XP on another drive thinking I;d be able to choose which OS I wanted from the boot menu. That didnt happen, and now Windows wont boot to Windows 7---only to Windows XP. How can I fix this so that I can choose Windows 7 from a boot menu? I dont care abotu the Windows XP....I can get rid of that since I installed Xp x32 bit version.

How do I get my computer to boot into my old Win 7 on my SSD?

Also, if I want to dual-boot, will I have to reformat my current existing Win 7 and re-install? How would I go about it?

Mainly, I need my Win 7 back by 9PM EST and wont be able to work on fixing this until about 6pm EST tomorrow, or tonight if someone replies quickly enough.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

WinXP screwed up your windows loading stuff, this may be the need, but I'm really not sure:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

You have 2 options for dual booting.

1. Install XP first, then install 7 - this will update the boot info so you can select which one you want to install (if you install XP second, it doesn't work that way)
2. Disconnect all other HDD, then install windows XP (in order to select which OS you want to boot, you'll have to change the boot order in BIOS to select which HDD to boot first)

 

[HeatM1ser2k4]

BTW....this is what my boot.ini file looks like after installing Win XP:

[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="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

 

[nooster]

this is the easiest way to dual boot, note that it says "windows 7 beta" howver the same rules apply

question is though why do you want to run XP and Win 7? given that Win 7 has most if not more features than XP and it also has the ability to run programs in XP mode?

 

[keny]

Can you not change you're boot order in you're bios to set you're ssd as the first boot device?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

It doesn't matter I don't think, vista and 7 use a different bootloader than XP. When he installed XP, it wiped out the windows 7 bootloader. Windows 7/vista uses bootmgr, XP uses ntldr.

Thats why people sometimes recommend removing all other HDDs when you install windows, that way the boot info ends up on the same drive as the OS - otherwise windows sticks it wherever it wants.

 

[nooster]

Can you not change you're boot order in you're bios to set you're ssd as the first boot device?

there will be no need to change the boot order within the bios, as once both os is installed, when he boots the pc it will detect multiple os and provide the choice as to which one to boot into.

the main issue that has occured hear is that when the xp copy was loaded it removed the windos 7 boot loader, so now it doesnt detect that there is another os present.

 

[HeatM1ser2k4]

Well....I found that I had made a Win 7 repair disk...phew! Now I am in Win 7

Whats the best way to install win XP so that I can choose the OS I want to boot in to? When I go to msconfig, XP isnt listed

Edit...didnt see this post:

this is the easiest way to dual boot, note that it says "windows 7 beta" howver the same rules apply

question is though why do you want to run XP and Win 7? given that Win 7 has most if not more features than XP and it also has the ability to run programs in XP mode?

I want XPx64 for benchmarking..it was suggested that alot of benchmarkers use it over Win7

 

[keny]

I wasn't aware that xp installation could remove the boot loader For win7 that is mounted on a stand alone drive (you learn something new every day)

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Ya, I don't know how windows decides where the start up information goes, but if you have multiple drives installed, it tends to all end up in the same place - so if you don't install in the proper order (xp>vista>7), the installs tend to stomp eachother out. It's often recommended to remove all other drives when installing windows as well, as if there are multiple drives installed, it may decide to put the boot information on one drive, and the OS on another - then if you remove or format what you think is not your OS drive, you can lose your startup information.

 

[c627627]

http://neosmart.net/download.php?id=1
use any Name & Email to Download

Edit Boot Menu > Delete existing entries

Add New Entry > SELECT: Windows Vista/7 then SELECT its current drive letter on the existing system being used right now > Add Entry

and for Windows XP:

Add New Entry > SELECT: Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3 > Add Entry

[Confirm they are there by going to the Edit Boot Menu.]

 

[JimmyG]

It doesn't matter I don't think, vista and 7 use a different bootloader than XP. When he installed XP, it wiped out the windows 7 bootloader. Windows 7/vista uses bootmgr, XP uses ntldr.

Thats why people sometimes recommend removing all other HDDs when you install windows, that way the boot info ends up on the same drive as the OS - otherwise windows sticks it wherever it wants.

I'm in a lesser predicament. I installed Win 7 64 on my machine that already had Win 7 32 on another drive. Win 7 64 set up a boot screen that lets me choose the OS. It times out after 30 seconds. How do I change that timeout to 5 seconds???

 

[c627627]

Look at the screen above (bottom center) where it says Boot Default OS after 2 Seconds. Change that to 5.

You can also do this manually in Windows 7. When I reboot into Win7 next time I can post a screenshot.

 

[JimmyG]

Look at the screen above (bottom center) where it says Boot Default OS after 2 Seconds. Change that to 5.

You can also do this manually in Windows 7. When I reboot into Win7 next time I can post a screenshot.

OK, I'm a moron. If I had read the next entry I wouldn't have bothered you. The easy BCD works like a champ! Thanks!

 

[c627627]

2 seconds is minimum, do not set it for 1 second or 0 seconds because it messes up with being able to interrupt the default OS setting by pressing keyboard arrows after BIOS bootup screen.