What's a good(free) boot manager?

[Jammrock]

Here's the TechNet article on BCDedit (which controls the boot manager):

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/85cd5efe-c349-427c-b035-c2719d4af7781033.mspx?mfr=true

First thing you need to do is open the Computer Mangler and enable the Administrator account (if not done already), as it is disabled by default now. You can rename and setup a password for it if you want, too.

Log in as the Administrator.

Run: CMD

Navigate to %systemroot%\system32

Run BCDEDIT (no flags).

This will give you a list of everything in the boot manager.

Copy/Paste the output so I can have a look at it.

Also go into Disk Management and tell me what drive letter Windows XP is on.
I also want the volume ID for the drive letter XP is on. Get this by running the following command from the command prompt:

mountvol <drive letter:> /L

Hopefully armed with this info we can figure it out...

if the following doesn't work...



You may also want to look at this:

How to modify BCD when installing a previous version of Windows onto a computer running Windows Vista?

To install an older Windows operating system on a computer running Windows Vista, use the following procedure.

To install a previous version of Windows onto a computer running Windows Vista

1. Install the previous version of Windows. Done in your case.

2. Log on to the older operating system (which is Vista in this case) and restore the latest boot manager by running the following. Fixntfs.exe will be in the \boot directory of the active partition.

fixntfs /lh

3. Create a BCD entry for the older operating system by specifying the following. Bcdedit.exe is located in the \Windows\System32 directory of the Windows Vista partition. Description is the description of the new entry for the older operating system.

Bcdedit /create {legacy} /d “Description”

Bcdedit /set {legacy} device boot

Bcdedit /set {legacy} path \ntldr

Bcdedit /displayorder {legacy} /addlast

4. Restart the computer in order for the changes to take effect.



Jammrock

[Tom]

I need to add Windows XP.

I have Vista and XP installed on a dual boot setup using two hard drives.
For me, the trick was to install Windows XP first.

[Jammrock]

I have Vista and XP installed on a dual boot setup using two hard drives.
For me, the trick was to install Windows XP first.

Yeah, I have the same setup on my laptop, but both OSs are on the same HDD. I think Vista setup had issues detecting XP on the SATA RAID attached to his Promise controller.

Which gives me a brainstorm!

@Helevitia: If you are not too attached to your Vista installation try the following:

1) Back up your profile. To do this efficiently you need to enable Administrator, reboot, log on as Administrator and backup the contents of C:\Users\<your user name>. Copy the entire <your user name> folder, plus any other data on the C: you need backed up. Make sure you have done Alt -> Tools -> Folder Options... -> View, and then unchecked, "Show extensions for known file types," "Hide protected operating system files..." and select "Show hidden files and folder" FIRST!!!

2) Run the Vista install DVD.

3) When you get to the point where it shows you the list of drives and partitions, install the Promise controller drivers (you might want to look for Vista drivers online or use the XP drivers). I think you need a floppy to do this, but I'm not sure what else would work in Vista. Here's a screenshot blatantly stolen from www.pro-networks.org:



This should enable Vista to see the XP installation on the Promise controller.

4) Finish setting up Vista, create the first user using the EXACT SAME name as the <your user name> folder.

5) Verify that you can dual boot.

6) To restore your profile, enable Administrator and reboot.

7) Log in as Administrator.

8) Delete the CONTENTS on the C:\Users\<your user name> folder. Make sure the View is setup per step 1. Then copy the CONTENTS of the backed up profile to the folder in C:\Users\<your user name>. This is the quick and painless way to copy a profile.

That should do it ... in theory.

[Helevitia]

First thing you need to do is open the Computer Mangler and enable the Administrator account (if not done already), as it is disabled by default now. You can rename and setup a password for it if you want, too.

Jammrock

OK, what do you mean by "Computer Mangler"? I thought that since my account is an admin account already I have full access to everything, but when I run bcdedit.exe I get "access denied".

[Helevitia]

I have Vista and XP installed on a dual boot setup using two hard drives.
For me, the trick was to install Windows XP first.

I did that, still doesn't work.

[DGhost]

Here is a neat trick to get an admin console.

1. Hit the windows key
2. Type CMD
3. press control-shift-enter

Control-shift-enter on the start menu forces elevation of whatever application you select. By default, UAC prohibits programs from executing with admin priviledges, even when running on an admin account.

[Helevitia]

Thanks but bcdedit.exe is a cli command, so how do I elevate the admin level if I first have to go to cmd then type bcdedit?

[Helevitia]

Nevermind, I got it to work and thanks!

Here is the info from bcdedit:


C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {61b79235-b35d-11db-817d-ec4edf7afe24}
displayorder {current}
{ntldr}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
bootdebug No
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {61b79235-b35d-11db-817d-ec4edf7afe24}
nx OptIn
pae ForceDisable
numproc 2
detecthal No
oslnointegritychecks No
vga No
quietboot No
usefirmwarepcisettings No
sos Yes
debug No
Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
device partition=D:
path \ntldr
description Windows XP

[Jammrock]

OK, what do you mean by "Computer Mangler"? I thought that since my account is an admin account already I have full access to everything, but when I run bcdedit.exe I get "access denied".

Hahaha...sorry, techie slang for the "Computer Management" control panel applet. The easiest way to access it is to right-click on Computer (My Computer pre-Vista) in windows explorer and select Manage. Or look in the Administrative Tools in the Control Panel.

Anyway, in Vista just because you are a member of the administrators group doesn't mean you're an administrator, as I have discovered. I added my account to the administrators group in Users & Groups but that didn't make me a full admin. You have to go to Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Manage User Accounts, double-click your account, and select Administrator from that CP applet to get true Admin rights. Yeah, pretty strange.

And even then there are system tasks that you need to log in as the local Administrator to do. Not many, but there are some (maybe this has changed in RTM, but I had this problem in the RCs).

Okay, back to your boot problem.

Your bcdedit settings look correct. In fact, they are identical to mine. The only difference is that yours resides on a SATA RAID. It's almost like Vista doesn't know how to address the RAID controller. The installation itself is fine, as you have said yourself it works when you disconnect the Vista HDD.

There's got to be a way to add a boot-class RAID driver into Vista for the boot manager to recognize the RAID array, I just haven't figured it out. Re-installing Vista and loading the boot drivers for you RAID should do the trick, but I haven't discovered a way to do it without re-installing yet. Maybe C:\Windows\System32\Drivers?

[Helevitia]

Well, I made a little progress. I think my BIOS is the problem, let me tell you why.

In my BIOS, I looked at the boot sequence and noticed that I could only select the IDE drive with Vista on it and that the RAID drive on the SATA controller didn't show up. I'm thinking WTF? I get out of that menu and notice a new menu I've either never seen or it showed it in a later BIOS update. It's called "Hard Drives". I click it and I can now select which drive is the primary boot drive. I select the RAID drives, reboot and now I am presented with the bootloader for XP! It has Windows XP and "default windows" as options. I select "default windows" but it still boots XP, so now I am in the same predicament but only XP boots LOL! Can I add Vista to ntldr? This shit is driving me crazy! Atleast I don't have to unplug the Vista drive anymore to boot between the OSes

[Helevitia]

OK, I select "Windows XP" and it fails to boot anything, probably because I was messing with the boot.ini earlier, but like I said above, selecting "default windows" boots XP. Here's the weird part though, "default windows" doesn't show up in boot.ini. Here is what my current boot.ini looks like. How can I add Vista?

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(1)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

hmmm...ok, I see why it shows "windows default" now. What if I change the boot.ini to read this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(1)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
scsi(1)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Vista" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

[DGhost]

the description in boot.ini is pointless. Changing the name will just change that.

Setting it to SCSI(0) or SCSI(1) might work. that was supposed to force ntldr to load SCSI drivers for it... dunno if it still works like that or not though. I have a feeling it doesn't.

Edit - If you were to make the [default] block point to the line under [operating systems] it will remove the "Default Windows" menu option and try to boot straight into whatever you have defined under [operating systems]. It probably is actually best to leave them seperate now, as you have a fallback. but later if you do, by chance, get it to boot it would be best to make them point at the same thing.