Hi guys, i could really use some help. I have been using Windows 7 x64 for a couple months now and that is the only os i have on my pc. Well my job now requires that i have xp, so i created a partition and tried to install xp x86 on to it. It created all the files and then had to reboot. When it rebooted nothing would happen. It wouldn't boot from either partition and all it will do is rerun the xp disc which doesn't seem to get me anywhere. It won't even recognize my Windows 7 disc. I have no idea where to go from here, any help is appreciated. TIA
I would Wipe and Reload. Install Xp first then Windows 7 on the other partition. Maybe some of the other members here can point you in the right direction for a fix. Anytime i've had an issue like yours i just reformatted easier to do IMO. Have you tried to run the Win 7 Repair Option?
Put in your Windows 7 CD and repair the boot record. From the recovery console, type "bootrec.exe /fixmbr" If you can't boot from CD, check your BIOS options to make sure that it's set to boot from (for example) this order: Floppy, CD-ROM, Harddrive If that still doesn't fix your problem, then there's something else wrong. Just a few weeks ago, I was re-installing Windows 7 and after it rebooted to finish the install, my computer would get stuck at the BIOS info screen (POST). I absolutely couldn't figure out what the problem was but it turns out, there was an issue when installing that made my drive go bad and needed to be formatted (which I couldn't do since my PC wouldn't pass POST).
XP is damaging the Boot from Windows 7 and even the Windows 7 Repair may didn't work! But try any to boot from the Windows 7 DVD and use the Repair Option for to do a Startup Repair. The best solution is to install XP on it's own HDD. Just disable the Windows 7 HDD before installation of XP , install XP and after that enable the Windows 7 HDD again. Using the BIOS Bootmanager (F8, F11, F12 or what the key of that specific BIOS is) for to boot either in Windows 7 or XP.
I think you must install Xp first and then Vista or Win 7 for a dual boot system because Xp uses different boot manager. If you put the Win 7 DVD is there a repair option ? why not just install XP mode ? You can run many portable appllications as well. At the moment not many portable apps are compatible witn Win 7.
Damn, i hope i don't have to lose everything on my 7 partition. My initial thought was to run the 7 repair option, but For some reason it will not boot my 7 cd. The bios is set for cdrom first followed by hard drive, which it does correctly, it just won't recognize my 7 cd now. It will recognize the xp disc and i will press any key to boot from it, but that just takes me to xp setup. I put in the 7 disc and it just freezes on the bios info screen.
Did you try booting from the XP disk then exiting XP setup and putting the Win 7 CD in and running Setup/repair from there ?
It sounds to me that your 7 DVD is damaged, as you can boot from XP cd. Did you try to load W7 DVD at another computer?
My 7 cd is still good. I have tried it on another pc and it works fine. I'm at a total loss as to why this happened. I would hate to have to format the whole drive and lose everything. Is there anything that could possibly be done by pulling the hard drive and accessing it in another pc?
You used to be able to do that, swap in the hard drive into another computer and install windows. It's quite possible that you can do this. Just make sure you disconnect whatever hd is in the other computer first.
You could try pulling the drive out, plugging it in (alone) into another system and booting from the Windows 7 DVD. Then try to recover the boot record either automatically or with "bootrec.exe /fixmbr"
Do you think though that it's possible to fix it without reinstalling the whole thing. Is the bootmgr screwed up or something? Is it possible to fix if i could access the drive, since i am not able to get into it now. I hate to be a pest and sound ignorant, but this has got me stressed.
Thanks guys. I think i'm gonna put the hard drive in a different system and see if i can get anything done. I'll let ya know how it goes
Yeah my bad. Forgot you just want to recover the mbr. Try the repair disk and I hope it works. The only possible error you may run into is if you have different SATA modes set from the original computer, but I am unsure of this. I hope it works
Yeah... the problem is, when you install XP on top of Vista/7, the different bootmanagers cause issues. Windows XP uses Boot.ini, Vista/7 use BCD. Had you installed Windows XP first, then 7, 7 would have detected XP's boot.ini and added it to the bootmenu, where as XP just overwrites stuff (looking for older versions of Windows) and ends up messing things up.
Always a good idea to back up your Hard Drive each night or once a week that way you have everything saved on another HD or a External HD just for cases like this.
Update: OK, i copied the contents of the disk to a flash drive and set to boot usb-hdd first. I was able to do the repair and it works great now. When it first booted i had "This is not a genuine copy of Windows" in the lower right hand corner, but i ran 7loader again and it is now activated. Thanks guys, but i have a couple questions...Is it possible to have Vista and 7 both at once on different partitions, both activated with a loader? I tried it once before and when i activated vista it would unactivate 7 and vice versa. Also when i had vista installed as well, why was 7 listed as vista in the boot menu(There were 2 listings for Vista)?
There is a way to have both Vista & Win 7. First you have to get Win 7 activated then you can do Vista. See the Repository link in my sig, it has info there on how to activate Vista after Win 7 is activated.
Thank you Reign, that looks easy enough. Is it going to cause any problems if i try to install vista to a different partition after already having 7, or is that only a problem when installing xp after 7?
Vista should cause you no problems, as Win 7 + Vista both use BCD. Since you already have Win 7 Activated just install Vista now on the other partition and follow the steps listed in the Repository.