Can't get Dual Boot to work.

[soup]

Just a couple of days ago after a clean install of XP, I added Vista to my lineup, But ever since have been fighting to get the Dual Boot to work instead of going in to BIOS to change the drive lineup to be able to go in to either one. I have tried both EasyBCD 1.52 & VistaBootPRO 3.3. When I change the drive order & go in to Vista to set the Dual Boot up, at least the menu will show up on a restart, but when I click the XP, it just reboots until it comes back to the menu again. When I change the drive order so that the XP drive is first in BIOS, it just boots straight in to XP, no menu. I have XP on a 80 GB SATA hard drive & Vista on a 160 GB SATA hard drive. Lineup on XP, (C WinXP 80 GB SATA hard drive, (D 500 GB SATA hard drive storage, (E LiteON LH-20A1S SATA, (F LG GSA-H10N PATA, (G TSST SH-S182D PATA, (H TSST SH-S162L PATA, (I Vista64 160 GB hard drive SATA, (J 320 GB hard drive storage PATA. Lineup on Vista, (C Vista64, (D WinXP, (E 500 GB, (F GSA-H10N, (G SH-S162L, (H SH-S182D, (I 320 GB (J LH-20A1S.

[Chewy]

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877_11-6157570.html

vista has it built in, why use 3rd party software?

[soup]

While I have the article bookmarked & it was very interesting going through it, my Vista is already installed after doing a clean install of XP. Now if this article is right & I can find out how to access Boot Manager in Vista, your right, 3rd party software should not be recquired. This is not based on any facts but I think my problem is not with the Vista side but in the XP side. Vista will boot from the boot menu but XP won't, it just reboots. Anyway off to google.

Edit: more info, as I didn't do the Vista install, I just talked with the person who did. The way mentioned in the article was used on the install but obviously it didn't take, so that is where EasyBCD came in to the picture, which again didn't work & I have since retried it again, then I tried VistaBootPRO, which again did not work. Doing more research on the subject, it seems that I might be getting just a tad out of my depth, editing the boot ini etc. Now I realize that the major problem is between the chair & the PC but as I get deeper in to this it gets harder & harder to understand, not only the fix but why after following the instructions on these programs it just doesn't work. Sorry for going on, I am getting crazy working on this off & on for 3 days.

[MilesAhead]

I don't see how that's gonna' work

I am getting crazy working on this off & on for 3 days.

I'm not surprised. It's been a few years since I had a machine with
2 physical drives but from the look of what you posted the confusion may
never be untangled. What concerns me is the C D E F etc.. partitions on
each drive. If you have software installed on each drive I don't think the
stuff will ever work right that way. The approach I would take is to get
2 clean HD in the machine. One as C: the other as D: then partition and
install software later. IOW, each partition should have the same drive
letter no matter which OS you boot.

Also you may run into problems that software configuration under one
OS is saved in that registry but obviously not in the one that's not running.
So the apps that will likely work ok in both are those using .ini files instead
of the registry. An easier scenario may be both OS booting from the 1st
physical drive and the second HD used for 3rd party programs data and
swap space.

[Chewy]

I have always partitioned multiple drives when dual booting, no problem

soup just installed vista before he read the directions

best to start over from scratch

[AlienX69]

Just to add to what Chewy is saying, heres what I do for partition names (just an idea, AX being the box name abrev.)

Single OS partitions:
===============
AX_OS (Oper. System)
AX_Apps (Applications)
AX_Data (Data)
AX_Movie1
AX_Movie2
AX_Photo (stills and home movies)
AX_Audio (Mpg's, WMA, etc)
AX_BakUp (All of the Data, Photos, Audio)

For dual OS:

AX_XP_OS
AX_VS_OS
etc.........


AX

[MilesAhead]

I have always partitioned multiple drives when dual booting, no problem

soup just installed vista before he read the directions

best to start over from scratch

I think that's what I said. The only point of C: and D: being assigned
is to anchor your configuration so you can install some software on
partitions whose letter won't change as you set up your system.

Trying to back configure it is nearly impossible.

(edit: Rereading my first reply I see where I caused confusion. When suggesting putting both
OS on the first drive I should have said put all executables on the first HD and swap & data
on the second to reduce disk thrashing... if that's compatible with how the machine is going
to be used. Things would be a lot simpler if you could refer to partitions by an Alias that the
machine would remember. Having to worry about which drive letter gets stuck on which partition
makes changing things riskier and messier. Something like an extended CMOS could let you assign
maybe a couple dozen aliases to partitions making program settings transparent but that's just
wishful thinking I guess)