Windows Boot Manager

[rumpltumpskin]

i'm trying to install windows 7 and XP on the same drive. i installed 7 first then used the disk management tool to create a partition for XP. the problem is that the boot manager won't show up after XP is installed. i boot into XP by default without getting the option to choose 7.

once XP is installed the only way i found to boot back into 7 is to run startup repair from the windows 7 disk and when i do that i can't get back into XP without reinstalling it and starting the cycle all over.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

[Herr_Koos]

The rule of thumb with dual-booting is to always install the older OS first, at least in my experience. I did the following to get my dual-boot setup working (keep in mind I already had XP Pro installed as my primary OS):

1) Create a new partition of at least 20GB to install 7. I use Gparted, a very handy Open Source disk management tool.
2) Reboot with Windows 7 disk in drive
3) Install 7 to the new partition and let it run though its normal installation process.
4) When it's done, reboot and you should be presented with a boot loader menu offering you a choice between "Windows 7" and "Older version of Windows" or something to that effect.

That should do it. Hope this helps.

 

[Ijack]

Have a look at EasyBCD. It makes this sort of thing much easier. Once you have Windows 7 booting, install EasyBCD and it's then a breeze to add an XP boot item.

 

[rumpltumpskin]

EasyBCD worked like a dream. it looked intimidating at first in that it seemed like it would be easy to make things worse but in the end it took 3 clicks to solve my problem. thanks again!