Help Vista won't boot without disc, long story inside.

A

Airbrushkid

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Here's how it started.

Let me start off with I have Windows XP Pro and Vista 64 installed as a dual boot on the same drive. So I tried to install Windows 7 RTM on the same drive.


Ran into a problem. Could not install on same drive. So I installed on different drive, look good until I rebooted. It seems there's no way to boot to Windows 7. I see XP and Vista in boot up. But no 7.. It's on that drive but don't know how boot from it. Except it will boot if I have the install disc in the dvd drive. Does anybody know how what why?
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So I am assuming that if I use WD Data Lifeguard Tools to format the drive Windows 7 is on and use the option to make the drive so I can boot from it. Then reinstall Windows 7. This will solve the problem?
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Messed up won't boot into XP and no option to boot into Vista now. Help
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I am having a bad problem now. I cannot boot XP. How do I fix it? I tried to use repair with the disc and used the fixboot option that didn't fix it.
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Let's see. I need to get Windows XP Pro to boot up, I'll worry about Vista and as for Windows 7 it's gone for now. I tried the repair option and used Fixboot. That is why Vista won't boot. I tried and use Bootcfg, it won't let me Add or Rebuild. It's say use CHKDSK I did but I get this message - The volume appear to contain one or more unrecoverable problems, and this is why Bootcfg won't allow me to Add or Rebuild. When I try to boot XP it makes it to the blue splash screen just right before you login and just hangs there. Can someone help please?
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Update I got Vista to boot with disc. And then remove XP using Vista disc manager. Now I am trying to figure out hoiw to get Vista to boot without disc in drive. Anyone?
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Sorry this was on another thread from a different forum. So is there a way to fix this without formatting and reinstalling?
 
This seems to come up every so often. If you repair the current install using the Vista disc, it should boot by itself.
 
How would I go about repairing? I already tried the repair and clicked start up repair, but that did nothing. Is there any console commands?
 
Airbrushkid said:
I already tried the repair and clicked start up repair, but that did nothing.
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This can happen if the partition you want to boot from is not the active partition.
Run the disk manager and see where the system partition is. It is very likely that Vista is not the system partition.

If you want to boot directly to Vista, do this:
Download gparted and burn to a Cd using an iso burner like http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm

Boot to gparted and right click on the vista partition and "manage Flags". Set the boot flag.
Do nothing else. Exit.

Now, place the Vista DVD in and try the startup repair again.
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-CA/help/5c59f8c1-b0d1-4f1a-af55-74f3922f3f351033.mspx
Should do it this time.
 
Just checked it and the System partition is a different drive. It show Vista as the boot drive C:
 
Airbrushkid said:
Just checked it and the System partition is a different drive. It show Vista as the boot drive C:
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Enter the BIOS and make sure the hard drive with Vista on it has boot priority over all your other drives.
Then, follow the instructions I gave you about gparted to make the Vista partition active (System).

Then, perform a startup repair.

Then, it will boot directly to Vista with no need to have the Vista DVD in.
 
Hi,
What version of gparted are you talking about? I got 0.3.4-8 and don't understand it. You cannot right click on the screen.


MrF said:
Enter the BIOS and make sure the hard drive with Vista on it has boot priority over all your other drives.
Then, follow the instructions I gave you about gparted to make the Vista partition active (System).

Then, perform a startup repair.

Then, it will boot directly to Vista with no need to have the Vista DVD in.
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I was talking about the gparted live CD.
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/
After you download the iso file, you need to burn it to CD and boot to it. After it boots and goes through some screens and you select your keyboard and video etc. it comes up with a GUI.

It shows you one of your disks. You need to use the drop down and select the disk with Vista on it. Then, you can right click on any partition.

You may want to just try the Vista disk manager. It may let you set the partition active as well. That is all we need to do with gparted. If you can, you will not need gparted at all.

Edit:
There are some screenshots here. http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php
This shows the "Manage Flags" form. http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screens/gparted_11.jpg

I forgot something!
We need to make sure your Vista partition is a primary partition also. Can you check the disk manager to confirm?
 
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