Windows Vista Forum / General Technical / Vista Technical / Understanding Dual Booting in Vista / Latest Posts

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

kingofnexus — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 07:39:33 GMT

You need to dual boot using Vista's boot loader. Repair the vista boot loader using the DVD. Then you can boot into both XP and vista. You can then customise the boot loader using the command line interface.

The vista bootloader is wrote on the C: drive.

I have XP on C: and Vista on D:. Trust me this is the way to go about it.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Zan.exe — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 20:11:19 GMT

Hello, I have searched high and low ALL DAY for how to add Vista to my boot.ini file. I know how to access it, and tried to write a syntax for loading Vista, but when I select it at startup, it goes blank and stays there. I can select XP fine and it works. The only info that showed up on searches show how to use BCDedit in vista, or how to add previous versions of windows, because Vista doesn't use boot.ini anymore. No one expects me to dual boot XP onto a PC with vista. Here is my boot.ini file: (maybe windows vista doesnt start up from \WINDOWS???)

PM me or post on the thread I started with your replies please!^^!

CODE

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[Operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate" /fastdetect

Anyone else dual booting? would you PLEASE post your boot.ini file, so I could copy it please? I cant get back onto Vista until I figure this out ='(

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

mastroz — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 07:50:44 GMT

I think I might have the same issue... installed vista... then Xp. Than I ran the vista recovery cd and now it boots into vista all the time and no XP. What should I do?

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

chrisr — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 16:37:11 GMT

This seems like a pretty good place to post this question, though its a little different than the issues you all are running into.

I loaded Vista on a secondary drive, it booted into vista fine after the install, however after restarting the system booted right up into XP.

It appears that the Vista bootloader did not overwrite the XP boot.

I booted back to the Vista DVD to see if I could recreate or repair the BCD, but it said it was fine.

Then after exiting from the Vista CD setup, it boots right into Vista..

I ran Vista boot Pro, to try and recreate the BCD, and add the XP installation, however this made no change. It is still booting to the boot.ini , unless I boot to the Vista DVD first..

Any ideas on how to get the Vista Boot loader to take over after the fact, or should I should try to reload Vista?

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Yoni5002 — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 10:06:57 GMT

[quote][b]Jason (4/5/2006)[/b][hr]Same thing happened to me. What you have to do is put in your xp cd and go to "repair" your xp install, it will write a new bootloader. Then you will need to install vista again after xp is repaired. If you sintalled vista from within xp I dont know why it didnt show up in the boot menu.[/quote]

I would like to add 2 things just to help a little bit...

1- For a detailed guide about Vista instalation please visit my little web page... It will help you I think:

http://yoni5002.whwh.biz/VistaInsGuide.html

2- You don't have to re-install Vista after you rebuild the XP bootloader, boot.ini, etc...

Simply drop your Vista DVD in the DVD drive, boot up like if you were to install Vista. Once you get to the screen when you are suppose to select "INSTALL NOW" just look at the end of that window and you will see the "Recovery Console" option... Basically Vista will write its boot files, fix the Dual boot and restart the PC for you to select which OS to load, ALL THAT IS DONE AUTOMATICALLY, ALMOST NO USER INTERVENTION.... Good luck... Hope that helps

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Jason — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 19:00:53 GMT

[quote][b]acu192 (8/2/2006)[/b][hr]I've got a different type of problem... I don't want to have it pull up a boot menu i just want it to boot Vista.

Here's what happened. I tried to boot from the Vista install cd but it hung up. So i installed XP and then installed Vista from there. It installed Vista just fine but it put all the bcd and bootmgr stuff on the xp drive (XP is on the C: drive and Vista on the D:).It dual boots just fine.Now when i pull the XP drive out of the computer it will not boot. I have looked through all the bcdedit options and i can't find a way to move the bcd and bootmgr to the D: drive. I tried just copying them over and it didn't work.i also tried running bootsect.exe from the install disk then running fixntfs.exe but when i run fixntfs i get this error:

"ERROR: To update boot sector code, use bootsect.exe from the boot folder of the install media."

AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any help would be amazing and thanks in advance.[/quote]

I dont think moving all the files over will work, since it may be embedded in the bootmgr which drive has which OS on it etc.. But you can try moving them and then changing the appropriete settings in vista mycomputer -> startup, and bcdedit. But I think you will just need to reinstall vista. Vista will put its bootmgr on the primary disk drive, so make the D: drive primary and reinstall vista.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

acu192 — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 11:38:56 GMT

I've got a different type of problem... I don't want to have it pull up a boot menu i just want it to boot Vista.

Here's what happened. I tried to boot from the Vista install cd but it hung up. So i installed XP and then installed Vista from there. It installed Vista just fine but it put all the bcd and bootmgr stuff on the xp drive (XP is on the C: drive and Vista on the D:). It dual boots just fine. Now when i pull the XP drive out of the computer it will not boot. I have looked through all the bcdedit options and i can't find a way to move the bcd and bootmgr to the D: drive. I tried just copying them over and it didn't work. i also tried running bootsect.exe from the install disk then running fixntfs.exe but when i run fixntfs i get this error:

"ERROR: To update boot sector code, use bootsect.exe from the boot folder of the install media."

AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any help would be amazing and thanks in advance.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Red Devil — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 16:05:40 GMT

Yes, that's the way I have Win2K set up now. I have (had) Win2K and when I tried to install it from within Win2K bys doing a Run z:\setup.exe, it said, "Z:\setup.exe is an invalid Win32 application". So, I changed the BIOS to boot from CD and it installed, but I lot access to Win2k now.

The error I am getting when I try to boot is:

Invalid Boot.ini

Booting from C:\Winnt

NTLDR failed

Trouble is, Vista renamed my Win2K drive from C: to D: and my Vista drive from D: to C:, so it trying to find Winnt on my C: drive breaks it. My BCD is set to look in my D: drive for {ntldr} and my C: drive for Vista, so why Bootmgr is trying to find \winnt on my C: drive is a mystery.

I'm thinking of trying Bootsect.exe from in the Boot folder in the Vista install DVD to see if that will help by resetting the MBR with NTLDR on my Win2K drive.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

niffer022 — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 02:42:43 GMT

thats a kick in the nuts then i never new that....

how you got vista installed, on a partition or on a diff harddrive???

they say if you install vista inside xp it will create a boot section so at the bios it will give you option on which o/s to load.. all you have to do is during instulation is select which destination you would like it to install to....

give that ago mate... :)

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Red Devil — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 00:18:10 GMT

GAG doesn't run on 64-bit Vista. :(

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

niffer022 — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 10:12:33 GMT

if your now using 2 harddrives... you can used the program thats attached. i used 2 harddrives main one with xp on and secondry one vista....

iv used this method for a while now and it has not once let me down.......

any more questions feel free to ask.

nathan :)

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Tom — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 10:04:54 GMT

With Windows XP Pro on my system, I partitioned my primary drive into two drives using Partition Magic and installed Vista Beta 2 onto the new (drive D). After successful installation of Vista I tried to use the dual boot to go into XP ("Windows Legacy") but got the nasty "cannot find /ntldr" message. :cool: Using my Win XP boot disk I fixed the missing ntldr problem (using recovery console and the "Fixboot" option), but in gaining XP back, I lost the entire dual boot capability, thus I lost access to Vista. I have a second physical HD on my computer, so I removed the old Vista installation and re-installed Vista to the separate drive (Drive G on my computer), but I still ended up with the very same "missing ntldr" problem. I tried other variations (such as starting the Vista install from XP; starting off of the Vista boot disk, etc…but I end up with the same problem every time!

Can anyone help me?

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Jason — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 08:33:27 GMT

[quote]
[b]mashaq (6/19/2006)[/b][hr]Ok,I have a similar issue with booting and kinda understand what i did wrong but not sure of the best way to resolve.

I had a pc with xp pro 32 on c drive primary partition, then installed xp pro 64 on a second partition and also suse 10.1 on additional partitions. Everything was hunky dory but as xp64 and suse were doing great and vista was just out and free to download beta 2, me thinks i'll just install it over the xp32 and have vista, xp64 and suse.

Now the install for vista took ages but it did finish.However it replaced my suse bootloader and only left me with the option to load into vista. Basically in my haste to install vista, i overlooked the fact that i would be overwriting the ntldr on the c drive of my xp32 installation which booted my xp64 also with the new vista bcd.

Using bcdedit I have managed to add entries for the "legacy" windows and point it to the correct drive (D:) where the xp64 is installed, have also created a boot.ini file on the root of this drive telling the system that XP is on the second partition of this drive.

However, I get the message that "NTLDR" is missing when i chose this option from the vista menu. It seems that Iwill be able to get the xp64 to load if I can restore the ntldr on the 2nd partition but I am not too sure how to do this, so would also appreciate suggestions.Have heard and downloaded a file called fixntldr.exe but not sure exactly how to use it, i do not have the option to boot from floppy.

Also, I am aware that the ntldr & boot.ini combocannot load vista but is it possible to load "legacy" windows without the ntldr and boot.ini files using just bcd, i.e. can I add some settings into bcd and get it and vista's loader (\Windows\system32\winload.exe)to load "legacy" windows without having to restore ntldr and boot.ini?

As for SUSE, well I am quite new to linux and it isn't as vital as the xp64 pro at the moment, but any suggestions on that would also e welcome.

Thanks in advance.
[/quote]

The way it works is that BCDedit still points to nyldt and boot.ini to run legacy OS's but it uses the bcdedit interface when it first boots up. You can try putting in your xp cd and going into the recovery console,(don't press "R", that means repair) and copying the ntldr from your cd..Follow these steps:

1. Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
2. When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
3. Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
4. Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
5. You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.
6. Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter "E". This letter may be different on your computer.

copy e:\i386tldr c:\
copy e:\i386tdetect.com c:\

7. Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

If that doesnt work you can try other things in the recovery console such as Fixboot and bootcfg, just type "Help" and run whatever you can which involves the boot.

Obviously change the drive letters to whatever you are using. If that doesnt work, then its the same problem I had, you are going to want to go ahead and repair the xp x64 by using the cd and going to the repair option, this restores all the the orignal setting os the xp pro x64 install, and retains all your settings/files/programs. This will get xp pro x64 running again, then when you want to install vista, boot up xp pro x64, and while in xp pro x64 insert the vista cd and install it that way. Sometimes when booting from the cd and not from within xp it doesnt recognize other installations.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

mashaq — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 23:15:43 GMT

Ok, I have a similar issue with booting and kinda understand what i did wrong but not sure of the best way to resolve.

I had a pc with xp pro 32 on c drive primary partition, then installed xp pro 64 on a second partition and also suse 10.1 on additional partitions. Everything was hunky dory but as xp64 and suse were doing great and vista was just out and free to download beta 2, me thinks i'll just install it over the xp32 and have vista, xp64 and suse.

Now the install for vista took ages but it did finish. However it replaced my suse bootloader and only left me with the option to load into vista. Basically in my haste to install vista, i overlooked the fact that i would be overwriting the ntldr on the c drive of my xp32 installation which booted my xp64 also with the new vista bcd.

Using bcdedit I have managed to add entries for the "legacy" windows and point it to the correct drive (D:) where the xp64 is installed, have also created a boot.ini file on the root of this drive telling the system that XP is on the second partition of this drive.

However, I get the message that "NTLDR" is missing when i chose this option from the vista menu. It seems that I will be able to get the xp64 to load if I can restore the ntldr on the 2nd partition but I am not too sure how to do this, so would also appreciate suggestions.Have heard and downloaded a file called fixntldr.exe but not sure exactly how to use it, i do not have the option to boot from floppy.

Also, I am aware that the ntldr & boot.ini combo cannot load vista but is it possible to load "legacy" windows without the ntldr and boot.ini files using just bcd, i.e. can I add some settings into bcd and get it and vista's loader (\Windows\system32\winload.exe) to load "legacy" windows without having to restore ntldr and boot.ini?

As for SUSE, well I am quite new to linux and it isn't as vital as the xp64 pro at the moment, but any suggestions on that would also e welcome.

Thanks in advance.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

HerrtheGeek — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 00:49:00 GMT

Check out the new User Friendly BCEDIT GUI program as a free download from PROnetworks.

http://www.pro-networks.org/vistabootpro/intro.php

Note: This made my Tri Boot (Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows Vista), go very smoothly. I have not worked up enough nerve to try to add my Fedora Core (Linux) Load into the mix but will keep you updated if I do.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Jason — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 09:08:06 GMT

Just install them in that order and you should be ok. I found an exert from a page on google about booting Ubuntu and Vista.

"Vista will overwrite grub though, so that will need to be re-installed. You should make a ubuntu boot disk, and then when you upgrade vista, you can boot into ubuntu, and use grub-install (or some other method, ie, grub shell) to install grub back to the MBR."

From there you should follow the directions on this site about editing bcdedit or the other method of right clicking on "my computer" and going to startup/recovery options. You may not need to do this it depends on if Vista detects your legacy OS's and adds them to the bootloader automaticlly.

The quadruple boot could get complicated tho, I dont know if anyone has done it yet.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

bhanja_trinanjan — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 01:52:13 GMT

How should I proceed if I want the following 4 OSes?

1. Win XP
2. Win XP 64
3. Vista
4. Ubuntu 6.06

Will this installation order work?
XP then XP64 then vista and finally Ubuntu?
Will multiboot work and will GRUB recognize the vista loader?

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Jason — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 20:42:59 GMT

[quote][b]RE*S.T.A.R.S*2 (4/5/2006)[/b][hr]Than you i know i can recover xp with the installation cd, but i want to be able to have dual boot, VISTA AND XP. Its there a way to edit something make the boot loader to detect my XP OS, and as to why BCDEDIT saids that it cant read the imformation?

Man this weird previous builds dint had this problems at all, now if i want to boot VISTA after fixing MY XP OS, i can just pop the cd and use the recover consola that the windows VISTA has. but i dont want too, i want a dual anyone have some clues, please help here. thank you[/quote]

I know what you mean, but what happened was vista overwrote your xp bootloader so you will never be able to load xp unless you repair the install from the cd. You cannot edit bcdedit to make it recognize the install if the bootloader is now gone. If its saying "ntldr is missing" then its pointing to the correct OS and it knows where it is and that it exists, but the boot loader for xp is gone or has been over written, ntldr is the bootloader. Hope that heps

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Synapse — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 07:11:23 GMT

I installed Vista 5308 through booting the DVD using the bios, not from within Windows. The whole detection thing is a Myth.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

RE*S.T.A.R.S*2 — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 23:05:25 GMT

Than you i know i can recover xp with the installation cd, but i want to be able to have dual boot, VISTA AND XP. Its there a way to edit something make the boot loader to detect my XP OS, and as to why BCDEDIT saids that it cant read the imformation?

Man this weird previous builds dint had this problems at all, now if i want to boot VISTA after fixing MY XP OS, i can just pop the cd and use the recover consola that the windows VISTA has. but i dont want too, i want a dual anyone have some clues, please help here. thank you

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Jason — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 21:43:05 GMT

Same thing happened to me. What you have to do is put in your xp cd and go to "repair" your xp install, it will write a new bootloader. Then you will need to install vista again after xp is repaired. If you sintalled vista from within xp I dont know why it didnt show up in the boot menu.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

RE*S.T.A.R.S*2 — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 18:32:57 GMT

Note: To be able to Dual Boot both Vista and a Legacy OS, you must install Vista from within that legacy OS and not boot from the DVD at startup. This will force vista to recognize your Legacy OS, otherwise it will go unnoticed and you will not be able to dual boot!

Hi there!

Well i decide to test the latest beta and installed from windows xp pro, for some reason that are out of my skills! Vista loader din`t detect my windows xp pro, and i tryed to use bcdedit but i came out saying that it cannot read the imformation or something else.

that in mind that i did from windows vista, i`m really lost on this couse i cant boot my windows xp pro.before entering to to windows there are 3 options 1 legasy system

2.windows

3.windows

when i try legasy system it goes to an error saying it couldn`t load ntloader or something like that.

if you can help me please let me know, i know how to recover xp but i cant dual boot the system, previus builts worked but this one acts difrent. to recover XP boot just type in fixboot command and you recover it from it.

thank you.:P

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

F34R — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 07:06:09 GMT

Thanks Jason. That clears that up lol. I wonder what's going to happen for people with SATA drives. I've seen, in other forums, that people have it running on a SATA drive but it lags along. I think I found an IDE drive that still works lol. I'm about to try and piece together a box to test vista with lol. I think I MIGHT have enough power to handle it, we'll see.

Thanks for the reply. I'll look into my options on this.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Jason — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 22:24:33 GMT

[quote][b]F34R (3/25/2006)[/b][hr]Ok, I have another problem. I'm unable to load 5308 on my SATA hard drive, for whatever reason. So, the entire vista partition has been wiped. Now, I still have the vista loader showing up when i restart my computer. I've delted the files in C: that Synapse explained to me, but I still have the loader at startup.

Any suggestions ?[/quote]

The first 512kb of the driver are reserved for the vista loader. The only way to overwrite it is to put in like an XP or Windows ME etc.. cd in and use the OS's recovery console to write a new boot loader or reinstall that OS on that partition. The Vista Loader is for good even after you uninstall the OS, you must install a legacy os to overwrite it. Hope that helps.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

F34R — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 20:47:35 GMT

Ok, I have another problem. I'm unable to load 5308 on my SATA hard drive, for whatever reason. So, the entire vista partition has been wiped. Now, I still have the vista loader showing up when i restart my computer. I've delted the files in C: that Synapse explained to me, but I still have the loader at startup.

Any suggestions ?

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Jason — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 20:25:20 GMT

[quote][b]_Venom_ (3/7/2006)[/b][hr][quote][b]Jason (3/7/2006)[/b][hr]No, you cant us the NTloader since it wont be able to boot vista. Ony the vista loader can. Kinda wierd but its a step in the right direction it allows vista to load on both Bios and EFI based computers.[/quote]

Something I believe is a pretty good idea, I've heard that eventually Windows Vista will also run on macs.
[/quote]

I've heard that as well.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

_Venom_ — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 21:57:16 GMT

[quote][b]Jason (3/7/2006)[/b][hr]No, you cant us the NTloader since it wont be able to boot vista. Ony the vista loader can. Kinda wierd but its a step in the right direction it allows vista to load on both Bios and EFI based computers.[/quote]

Something I believe is a pretty good idea, I've heard that eventually Windows Vista will also run on macs.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Jason — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 15:54:30 GMT

No, you cant us the NTloader since it wont be able to boot vista. Ony the vista loader can. Kinda wierd but its a step in the right direction it allows vista to load on both Bios and EFI based computers.

RE: Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Synapse — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 14:45:21 GMT

Nice tut.
Is there any way to bypass the vista loader, and only have the 2nd, NTLOADER load the OS choices?

Understanding Dual Booting in Vista

Jason — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 22:08:05 GMT

Up until VISTA build 5231 we have had the new VISTA LOADER and for XP, 2000, 2003
and Win 98 the all known NTLDR called NT Loader or NT Bootloader and the mirror
of that is BOOT.INI...

In VISTA 5259 we have a new hierarchy and setup:

First loader: VISTA loader called bootmgr, a "BOOTMANAGER"
Second Loader: NTLDR (XP,2003,98...)

VISTA looks in its "DATA STORE", were the new entries will be hold.
In the beta state of VISTA we have only two programs, which can help us:

MSCONFIG (which does not see the legacy OS)
BCDEDIT.EXE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Using BCDEDIT.EXE

To run bcdedit you must run it from windows dos prompt, Please press START and RUN, and if you havnt already put the "run" command on your start menu right-click Taskbar, Properties, Start Menu, Start Menu Customize, check Run command, and now it will appear. Now that its there, you need to right click on the "run" button and hit "Run as admininstrator" and type in: command and press OK.

Then type BCDEDIT & Hit "enter"
It will then run and spit out a bunch of data on the screen:

Microsoft® Windows DOS
©Copyright Microsoft Corp 1990-2001.

D:\USERS\ADMINI~1>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
Identifier: {bootmgr}
Type: 10100002
Device: partition=C:
Description: Windows Boot Manager
Locale: ENG-US
Inherit options: {emssettings}
{dbgsettings}
Default: {871d699a-68d1-11da-9f30-eb66f9279051}
Display order: {legacy}
{871d699a-68d1-11da-9f30-eb66f9279051}
{d3e15d7c-66fb-11da-83c4-f23116dca051}
{77e994d8-64b9-11da-afd6-cd1e42667751}
{748c9ce4-6497-11da-b587-ba41a6a3f856}
{6bde53aa-630a-11da-b591-bb4bd04c9f19}
{d9b222a6-5f5b-11da-8e9c-87c5457d571e}
{eafe9a2c-558c-11da-86bb-9237c2e1a919}
{3ffee100-4b31-11da-b300-e812ef50ad19}
{eda3906c-438e-11da-b934-f4ecbe0a3419}
{4f964faa-3d7a-11da-bb88-b7df6f4d4219}
Timeout: 3

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
Identifier: {legacy}
Type: 10300006
Device: partition=C:
Path: tldr
Description: Legacy (pre-Longhorn) Microsoft Windows Operating System

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier: {871d699a-68d1-11da-9f30-eb66f9279051}
Type: 10200003
Device: partition=H:
Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description: Microsoft Windows
Locale: en-US
Inherit options: {emssettings}
{dbgsettings}
{5189b25c-5558-4bf2-bca4-289b11bd29e2}
Windows device: partition=H:
Windows root: \Windows
No Execute policy: OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier: {d3e15d7c-66fb-11da-83c4-f23116dca051}
Type: 10200003
Device: partition=H:
Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description: Microsoft Windows
Locale: en-US
Inherit options: {emssettings}
{dbgsettings}
{5189b25c-5558-4bf2-bca4-289b11bd29e2}
Windows device: partition=H:
Windows root: \Windows
No Execute policy: OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier: {77e994d8-64b9-11da-afd6-cd1e42667751}
Type: 10200003
Device: partition=H:
Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description: Microsoft Windows
Locale: en-US
Inherit options: {emssettings}
{dbgsettings}
{5189b25c-5558-4bf2-bca4-289b11bd29e2}
Windows device: partition=H:
Windows root: \Windows
No Execute policy: OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier: {748c9ce4-6497-11da-b587-ba41a6a3f856}
Type: 10200003
Device: partition=D:
Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description: Microsoft Windows
Locale: ENG-US
Inherit options: {emssettings}
{dbgsettings}
Windows device: partition=D:
Windows root: \Windows
No Execute policy: OptIn
Detect hal: Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier: {6bde53aa-630a-11da-b591-bb4bd04c9f19}
Type: 10200003
Device: partition=J:
Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description: Microsoft Windows
Locale: ENG-US
Inherit options: {emssettings}
{dbgsettings}
Windows device: partition=J:
Windows root: \Windows
No Execute policy: OptIn
Detect hal: Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier: {d9b222a6-5f5b-11da-8e9c-87c5457d571e}
Type: 10200003
Device: partition=J:
Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description: Microsoft Windows
Locale: ENG-US
Inherit options: {emssettings}
{dbgsettings}
Windows device: partition=J:
Windows root: \Windows
No Execute policy: OptIn
Detect hal: Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier: {eafe9a2c-558c-11da-86bb-9237c2e1a919}
Type: 10200003
Device: partition=J:
Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description: Microsoft Windows
Locale: ENG-US
Inherit options: {emssettings}
{dbgsettings}
Windows device: partition=J:
Windows root: \Windows
No Execute policy: OptIn
Detect hal: Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier: {3ffee100-4b31-11da-b300-e812ef50ad19}
Type: 10200003
Device: partition=J:
Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description: Microsoft Windows
Locale: ENG-US
Inherit options: {emssettings}
{dbgsettings}
Windows device: partition=J:
Windows root: \Windows
No Execute policy: OptIn
Detect hal: Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier: {eda3906c-438e-11da-b934-f4ecbe0a3419}
Type: 10200003
Device: partition=J:
Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description: Microsoft Windows
Locale: ENG-US
Inherit options: {emssettings}
{dbgsettings}
Windows device: partition=J:
Windows root: \Windows
No Execute policy: OptIn
Detect hal: Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
Identifier: {4f964faa-3d7a-11da-bb88-b7df6f4d4219}
Type: 10200003
Device: partition=J:
Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Description: Microsoft Windows
Locale: ENG-US
Inherit options: {emssettings}
{dbgsettings}
Windows device: partition=J:
Windows root: \Windows
No Execute policy: OptIn
Detect hal: Yes

To see all the commands of BCDEDIT type "BCDEDIT /?" and hit enter, these are all the options you have to work with. But before doing anything you need to backup your bootloader files.

Make a folder on the root of the drive in which vista is installed, call it anything but I am going to use "backup" and I created it on the C drive, change yours accordingly.

Then in the dos prompt type:
bcdedit /export "C:\Data\BCD Backup" (w/ quotes)

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Delete Double Entries in bootmgr

In the next step we will wipe out the double entries. (Always use your ownidentifiers!)

Here is an exert from what the BCDEDIT spit out when I first ran it, The one I want to delete is in bold because its an extra.

Let explain with the follow examples of my bootmgr entries:

I want to delete the second (red) one:
Identifier: {d3e15d7c-66fb-11da-83c4-f23116dca051}
So in the command line I type: bcdedit -delete {d3e15d7c-66fb-11da-83c4-f23116dca051}
Oce you do that, your all set and its now deleted, do the same for any others you may have.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rename Entries in boot menu

Changing the description can be quite handy since by default, they show up as:
"Microsoft Windows" meaning Vista
and
"Legacy OS" meaning any other windows OS, as you can see not very descriptive.

To change a description of any of them just use the same identifier in which we used to delete them, choose the identifier cooresponding to the OS you want to change the description of.(What was printed on the screen when you first typed in "Bcdedit", use whatever the Identifier of that OS is, it may showup as {ntldr} or {legacy} or a series of #'s)

EX:
bcdedit -set {748c9ce4-6497-11da-b587-ba41a6a3f856} DESCRIPTION "Name of Vista OS!"

Changes the description of the Vista OS w/ identifier {748c9ce4-6497-11da-b587-ba41a6a3f856}

When you want to just change the description of the default vista OS from "Microsoft Windows" you dont need to use an indentifier since it will come up by default. Just type:

bcdedit -set DESCRIPTION "Windows Vista 5308"

And it will change the description from "Microsoft Windows" to "Windows Vista 5308"

To change the description of a Legacy OS type:

bcdedit -set {legacy} DESCRIPTION "Legacy (pre-VISTA) XP, 2000, 2003, WIN98x"

And it will change the description from "Legacy OS" to "Legacy(preVista)Xp,2000,2003,Win98x" or whatever you would like to put in the quotes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starting XP/2000/20003/98x automatically

Now to the following problem:

You want to boot in your XP (2003, WIN98x) automatically?

MSCONFIG does not yet! Look in!

BCDEDIT does!

You can change what OS boots up by default using the command
"BCDEDIT /Default <id>
This command sets the default entry that the boot manager will use when the
time-out expires.

<id> Specifies the identifier of the boot entry to be used as the
default when the time-out expires.

Examples:

The following command sets the specified entry as the default boot manager
entry:

bcdedit /default {cbd971bf-b7b8-4885-951a-fa03044f5d71}

The following command sets the legacy Windows loader (Ntldr) as the default
entry:

bcdedit /default {legacy}

Just change the ID to the cooresponding identifier which was spit out and you used for deleteing & renaming the description like before.

Using these commands you can even change

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Change the oder in which OS are listed:
To change the order in which os's are listed on the boot screen simply use:

bcdedit /displayorder Which Sets the display order of boot menu items for example:

bcdedit.exe /displayorder {legacy} {current}

You just order the identifiers after the /displayorder in the order you want them to appear.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Change the default OS for when time expires:

To set the default operating system which you would like to boot when the time expires on the boot loader type:

bcdedit /default {identifier}

Of course you need to change "identifier" to the correct identifier such as {current}(Currently used OS) or {ntldr}(Usually Legacy OS) or {bunch of #'s}(Could be vista or a legacy OS) as explained above.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Change the amount of time before the default OS is booted:

This command set the amount of time to wait in seconds before boot manager selects a default entry.

Type: bcdedit /timeout <timeInSeconds>

<timeInSeconds> specifys the amount of time in seconds it will wait for you to manually chose an OS or boot the default. Very Simple.

If you ever encounter any problems using any of the above statments, you can always just typ bcdedit /? for a list of all of bcdedits commands. You can also type bcdedit /? /displayorder to get help commands on a specific command (just replace /displayorder with whatever it is you want help on)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below is another guid written by knightcrawler :

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I decided to combine both topics as they cover similiar things. You can view the original topic here:

http://www.vistaforums.com/FORUM/Topic587-9-1.aspx

[quote][b]knightcrawler (3/15/2006)[/b][hr][b]Edit the Windows Vista Boot Menu Options - BCDEDIT [/b]

Click start>All Programs>Accessories>Right Click on Command Prompt and select Run As Administrator

Then type BCDedit.exe

[b]Introduction [/b]

In Windows Vista, the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store contains boot

configuration parameters which control how the operating system is started in

the Windows Vista and Windows Server Code Name "Longhorn" operating systems.

These were found in the boot.ini file in previous versions of Microsoft

Windows. To edit the Windows Vista Boot Menu Options, the Boot Configuration

Data Editor - BCDEDIT is used.

The Bcdedit.exe command-line tool can be used to add, delete and edit entries

in the BCD store which contains objects. Each object is identified by a GUID

(Globally Unique Identifier). Every drive or partition on the system will have

its own GUID and could be {legacy} (to describe a drive or partition on which a

pre-Windows Vista operating system), {default} (to describe the drive or

partition containing the current default operating system), or {current} (to

describe the current drive or partition one is booted to), or for example

{c34b751a-ff09-11d9-9e6e-0030482375e7} (to describe another drive or partition

on which an operating system has been installed).

Bcdedit.exe is located in the \Windows\System32 directory of the Windows Vista

partition and can be accessed only from the Commad Prompt which is found on

the Windows Vista start menu at Start>All Programs>Accessories

[b]Command-line Help [/b]

bcdedit /? Shows all commands one is able to use

bcdedit.exe /? CREATESTORE Shows detailed information for the command

CREATESTORE or any other command available in bcdedit as shown when running

bcdedit /? followed by the particular command more information is required for.

bcdedit or bcdedit /enum all Shows the current structure of your boot

configuration data.
The GUID tags {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx} of all Windows

installations present on your computer will be displayed.

[b]Create a Backup [/b]

It is strongly recommended that one creates a backup of the BCD store before

making any changes to it.

bcdedit /export "D:\BCD Backup\Bcd Backup" Creates a backup to a pre-created

folder, in this case “BCD Backup” on drive D:

bcdedit /import "D:\BCD Backup\Bcd Backup" Restores the backup previously

created

[b]Making Changes to the Boot Configuration Data [/b]

bcdedit /set {legacy} Description "Windows XP Professional SP2" Changes the

text description of the “Legacy” OS line in the boot menu. The quotation marks

must be included in the command

bcdedit /set {current} description "Windows Vista Build 5308 x86" Changes the

text of the boot menu line for the Vista or non-Vista installation one is

currently booted to, from the default "Microsoft Windows" or other description

to that shown in the quotation marks

bcdedit /set {5189b25c-5558-4bf2-bca4-289b11bd29e2} description “Windows Vista

Build 5270 x64” Changes the text of the boot menu line for any other Vista

installation. One must use the GUID for that particular installation as shown

when one runs the bcdedit or bcdedit /enum all command

bcdedit /default {current} Sets the current Windows installation one is booted

to as the default Windows boot OS

bcdedit /default {5189b25c-5558-4bf2-bca4-289b11bd29e2} Sets the referenced

Windows OS as the {default} Windows boot OS

bcdedit /default {legacy} Sets the legacy (Windows XP SP2) OS as {default} boot item

bcdedit /displayorder Sets the display order of boot menu items for example:

bcdedit.exe /displayorder {legacy} {current}

bcdedit /timeout 15 Changes the default 30 second time-out of the boot menu to

15 seconds or any other value inserted.

[b]Correcting changes to the Partition/Disk structure [/b]

Where a partition or a hard drive has been added or removed and has caused the

partition/disk structure to change, this can be corrected by running these

commands in the order shown:

X:\>X:\boot\fixntfs.exe -lh -all (Where X: is the drive/partition on which the

folder "boot" is to be found)

bcdedit /set {5189b25c-5558-4bf2-bca4-289b11bd29e2} device partition=X: Changes

boot partition of the OS whose GUID is indicated. (Where X: is new

drive/partition required). Must be used together with the osdevice command

below

bcdedit /set {5189b25c-5558-4bf2-bca4-289b11bd29e2} osdevice partition=X:

Changes boot partition of the OS whose GUID is indicated. (Where X: is new

drive/partition required). Must be used together with the device command above

[b]Msconfig - System Configuration Utility [/b]

The System Configuration Utility (msconfig) is accessible from the Windows

Vista start menu, Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System

Configuration. It has limited funcionality as regards the BCD store however,

with the only relevant functionalities being to change the default boot

operating system, to delete a boot menu item and to change the timeout display

period of the boot menu.

CAUTION: Making incorrect or invalid changes to one's BCD store can result in

the system no longer booting and only those comfortable with using command line

entries and who understand the inherent risks of making a mistake should do so.[/quote]