I installed W8 alongside XP-SP2 and W7. No problem booting under W7 and W8 in triple boot mode. I used EasyBCD to get everything to work nicely. However, cannot complete launch of XP. When I select it, it starts off normally, displays the XP logo on black background, then the logo on blue background. Afterwards, this logo disappears and there's a bare blue background. After a while, I hear the opening jingle of XP, but still nothing besides an empty blue background. After a minute or two, the blue xp logo appears with the jingle which accompanies a shutdown. It then gets into an unending loop: the logo remains and every 30 seconds or so, the shutdown jingle plays. I rebooted and selected Safe mode under XP. Here again, things start off normally with the listing of files on a black background. When we get to the xp logo on a blue background, the screen blinks perpetually in a loop. The xp logo is always there. I did not interfere at all during the boot process in either of the two modes. Sounds strange. Any idea?
Ever think of installing XP SP3 with all updates to November 2012? Windows update my have a hotfix for that. Always stay up to date; Especially with an 11 year old OS....
Are all operating systems on the same hard drive or are they divided over multiple hard drives? I have found in the past it is best to have XP on the first hard drive in the boot order and that the bootloader is also on that same hard drive. It is a long time since I last used easy bcd as I now use Chimera bootloader as part of my hackingtosh setup. Mike
Yep, and on some drives it may have issues if its partition boundary is too high. I am using a boot manager (BootStar) that can hide lower partitions, so that the XP partition becomes automatically the first C: drive. But other boot manager may also be able to do that. But BCDedit cannot.
To anarchist9027: I have 4 computers, all with dual boots XP-W7. The two which run with XP-SP3 gave me problems with some programs, one of them is a VoIP program. I never managed to get them to run. The XP-SP2 PC's run like a charm, no problem in years. When it comes to Microsoft OS's, it's like quality wines: the older the better (But I don't wish to insult winegrowers when I compare their products to Microsoft's). There are exceptions: rememeber NT4 (with 7 or 9 SP's), or Me and what about Vista? Come to think of it, the PC I'm referring to in this forum runs with XP-SP3.
Well, I'm not sure if this helps anything, but I use triple boot with Grub4dos, with a nice GFX-BOOT menu. I use a menu.lst like this, to hide the partitions from eachother: (OS's installed with JFX's WinNTSetup on same HD, partition 1=W7, 2=W8, 3=XP. Turned off fast boot in W8, to prevent repeated chkdsk runs. All installed from one and the same USB, created with Grub4dos, containing among other things WinPE_SE) Code: title XP (p3) hide (hd0,0) hide (hd0,1) unhide (hd0,2) root (hd0,2) makeactive (hd0,2) chainloader (hd0,2)+1 boot title Windows 7 (p1) hide (hd0,1) hide (hd0,2) unhide (hd0,0) root (hd0,0) makeactive (hd0,0) chainloader /bootmgr boot title Windows 8 (p2) hide (hd0,0) hide (hd0,2) unhide (hd0,1) root (hd0,1) makeactive (hd0,1) chainloader /bootmgr boot
W7 and XP are on two separate hard disks in the laptop. This is originally a Vista pre-installed PC on which I installed XP-SP3 in dual boot mode. Later, I installed W7 when it came out to test it out and it was a triple boot system. Afterwards, I clobbered Vista (which I had never used) and spent a few years with a perfect dual bbot between XP and W7 (except for the programs not running under XP-SP3 which I refer to above). Right now, I have W7 and W8 on Disk1 and XP on Disk2.
The OP stated that he is using Windows 8 triple booting along with 7 and XP right? Window 8 NEW bootloader takes control of EVERYTHING. Why do you think you cant use Windows Loader in a dual boot with Windows 8? You never know if Microsoft released a hotfix for XP with the new bootloader untill you get off SP2 and get updated. Windows 8 is a hole new ball game when it comes to dual booting etc.. Just take a look at the linux community, their panties are all in a bunch because they cant boot alongside with Windows 8 because of the bootloader
Unless of course you use something like Grub4DOS, but I'm sure you know that (I'm just a noob on the subject, but still very happy with my triple-boot HD, and multiple-ISO boot USB thumb drive).
I would have liked to avoid Boot Managers, probably because of the bad experience I had with Acronis OS Selector a few years ago. Furthermore, since Windows 7 handled multiple boots well, I didn't bother to use one. Now, the present problem is very probably created by the installation of Windows 8. We're all aware that Microsoft is mad at people who stick with XP (41% of worldwide PC users after 3 years of W7 existence! and W8 a future flop according to Gartner) and I wouldn't be surprised if they fooled around with it.
Now I'm not sure what you mean. I use Grub4dos and use XP/W7 (with Daz loader, option "preserve boot code")/ W8 on the same HD. Have used that setup since March. Both on my desktop and on my laptop.
Thank you all. Probably that the source of the problem then is that XP is on the second disk. I'll see what happens if I restore XP from a backup I have. If the problem remains, then it is almost certain that it is the physical location of XP which is behind this.
Hello all, I was trying to google about triple booting Win xp, 7 and 8.1 on a USB and came across this thread. So I thought not to open a new thread but ask here - please can anyone help me triple boot Windows XP Pro SP3 + Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 + Windows 8.1 Pro update 1 (64-bit versions of all these 3 OSes) on my 16GB Pendrive. Till now, I've only made single normal type of USB bootable drive (only 1 OS) but now wanted to learn about triple boot since I'm an IT student and my friends always call me to install different OSes at their home. Please guide me by posting the steps here or give any link that y'all might know of related to triple booting OS on USB drive.
I can't contribute to having XP, 7 & 8.1 on a flash drive. But regarding the OP, I do have Windows 8.1 Pro w/WMC + Spring updates, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and Windows XP 64-bit triple booting on a 256 GB SSD in my Dell M4700 laptop. Unfortunately, it wasn't my original goal, so how I got there was not a very efficient route. But it all works flawlessly now and I can post the screwy way I did it if anyone is interested.
Sounds like a video driver problem of OP ..... and couldn't understand why UEFI have anything to do with it, XP simply doesn't support EFI mode.
I want that all the 3 OSs that I mentioned above, should be in my pendrive. So when a friend calls to me install win 7 sp1 & when I insert the pendrive & boot his PC from USB, it should give me three options like a menu to choose any one OS to install from the three. And if another friend calls to install win 8.1 update 1 so again the same procedure. So this is my mission u can say i.e to have all 3 OSs in my pendrive and install any one of them as required.