Manual repair of boot files for XP/Vista dual systems

I believe many of my friends know that when installing multiple operating systems, they generally need to follow the "first low, then high" order, otherwise, the operating system of a later version may fail to be started. For example, if Windows XP + Windows Vista is a popular dual-boot configuration, you should first install Windows XP and then complete Windows Vista, then there will be an embarrassment of "high configuration and low configuration...

Starting from Windows Vista, the startup manager of the operating system is no longer NTLDR + boot used by Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003. ini, but uses a new startup configuration database storage (BCD ). When an earlier version of Windows operating system is installed on a Windows Vista-based computer, the installer overwrites everything in the MBR, startup sector, and Startup File, in this case, we can no longer use boot from earlier Windows operating systems. INI file to start Windows Vista. Even if you open the boot. ini file in notepad, only the prompt information shown in Figure 1 is displayed (note the red box in the figure ).

Figure 1 boot. ini file in the operating system (click to view the big picture)

If the error has been formed, we do not have to worry about it. Here we use Windows Vista installed on drive D. In the future, we will format drive C and reinstall Windows XP for some reasons. Follow these steps to manually fix the problem:

Step 2: Restore MBR and restore startup Manager

Use the installation CD of Windows Vista to boot the computer. Go to the installation language, time and currency format, keyboard, and input method, and select "repair computer" from the lower left corner ", then select "command prompt" in the next screen (see figure 2), manually enter the following command in the command prompt environment and run: bootsect-nt60 all

Figure 2 Vista system recovery tool (click to see the big picture)

Step 2: rebuild BCD

The "bootrec/RebuildBcd" command is still executed in the command prompt environment. This command scans all disks for Windows Vista-compatible installations, and add it to the newly generated BCD storage. Note that the reconstruction BCD here is completely complete.

Step 2: manually add a Windows XP Project

It should be noted that, because "bootrec/RebuildBcd" only detects Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, it cannot detect Windows XP, therefore, you can add Windows XP to BCD manually. Otherwise, Windows XP is not displayed in the Multi-Start Menu.

The bcdedit.exe command line tool can modify the startup configuration data storage. In the command prompt environment, enter the following command in sequence and execute the command. The content in parentheses indicates the explanation of the command. You do not need to enter the command during execution:

Bcdedit/create {ntldr}/d "earlier versions of Windows" create a new item named "earlier versions of Windows" in storage) Bcdedit/set {ntldr} device partition = C: set the option value in storage and set the application device to C: partition) Bcdedit/set {ntldr} path \ ntldr Bcdedit/displayorder {ntldr}/addlast sets the sequence of multiple boot menus in the startup manager)

In the preceding command, the tag "{ntldr}" is used to specify the OS loader that can be used to start the operating system earlier than Windows Vista, the information of "earlier versions of Windows" can be freely changed; "PARTITION = C:" indicates the active PARTITION of the hard disk where NTLDR is located. Please modify the command according to the actual situation; "/addlast”identifier indicates that the specified item is reached at the end of the display order. More available parameters of bcdedit.exe can be viewed in the Help file.

Finally, of course, you need to restart the system. At this time, you will find that the problem has been solved. You can try it if you need it.

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