Dual Boot Trouble Shooting Guide / Vista Running

This is a short add on guide for trouble shooting your dual boot with Vista running and XP installed.

Software required for this guide: VistaBootPro

Below is how to locate the ntldr, NTDETECT, and boot.ini while in Vista.

1. Open My Computer
2. Click on "Organize" and then click on "Folder and Search Options"
3. Then click on the "View" tab
4. In the list under "Advanced Settings" you need to find "Hide protected operating system files" and uncheck it and then click "Ok"

5. Once back into My Computer open your XP (or Vista) drive and you will now see more "protected" files
6. Select the three files in question and right click and then select "Copy"
7. Go back and open your Vista (or XP) drive and right click and then select paste

VistaBootPRO v.3.1 Method
8. Open VistaBootPRO and go to the "System Bootloader" screen
9. Select to "Reinstall the Vista Bootloader" and then click on Install Bootloader
End v.3.1

VistaBootPRO v.3.3 Method
8. Open VistaBootPRO and go to the "System Bootloader" screen
9. Select "Windows Vista Bootloader"
10. Select "All Drives"

Note: Before continuing quit any I/O sensitive applications.

11. Select Force Install and then click on "Install Bootloader"
End v.3.3

10. Once done exit VistaBootPRO and reboot your system


Drive letters were not included due to the different configurations.



If it is still not booting then your boot.ini can be incorrect. Below is a typical boot.ini.

Code:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT



The major components of the boot.ini are rdisk(#) and partition(#). Do not change disk(#) unless you are running SCSI drives. When you open Disk Manager, you will see your hard drives listed a Disk 0, Disk 1 and so on depending on how many hard drives you have. The boot.ini rdisk(#) should point to the disk with XP on it associated with the Disk Manager. The boot.ini partition(#) should point to the partition XP is on. The first section of a hard drive is partition 1 and so on. Remember; rdisk(#) can have a 0 such as rdisk(0). On the other hand, partition(#) will always have a 1 or greater. Below you will see my hard drive configuration.