Oh holy crap I hope I didn't screw my OS

Started by Spinor May 10th, 2009 8:46 PM
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  • 8 replies

Spinor

<i><font color="b1373f">The Lonely Physicist</font></i>

Age 27
Male
Seen February 13th, 2019
Posted October 4th, 2015
5,175 posts
17.3 Years
Ok, so here's the thing. I wanted to install XP alongside my W7. So I tried to make a partition on W7. But I think it was only a new "Volume" from C:\, which I assigned as I:\. So then I was like "oh okei :D" so I installed XP on I:\ and...

WINDOWS 7 WILL NOT BOOT.

What the heck ;_;. The files are all still on C:\, but Windows 7 simply won't boot. It leads me to XP. No asking on what OS, just XP as if 7 never existed. Yet I can still access its files.

Now is there a way so I can run Windows 7 again? I can't delete I:\ or fuse it to C:\ because of the XP system files, but is there a solution or did I screw C:\?

X-626

Age 33
Male
Seen July 17th, 2012
Posted July 7th, 2012
1,325 posts
14.3 Years
It's probably just skipping the boot manager. Try this:
Go to Start->Run and type "msconfig" (no quotes).

Go to the Boot tab. Check to see if both Windows 7 and Windows XP are listed in the list of operating systems. If they are both there, check where it says "Timeout". If it says 0 seconds, then that's your problem. Change it to 5 or more (however long you would like it to take before it automatically boots the default OS).

If that doesn't work, then I'm not sure what the problem is.

Gerri Shin

  

Male
Burbank, CA
Seen February 17th, 2014
Posted April 13th, 2013
3,575 posts
15.9 Years
well it looks as though you accidentalyy wiped out your windows 7 files, I'm not sure if 7 can simply repair the install by replacing the windows file folders or whther your stuck doing a re-install
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twocows

The not-so-black cat of ill omen

Age 32
Male
Michigan
Seen February 19th, 2023
Posted April 30th, 2021
4,307 posts
14.2 Years
well it looks as though you accidentally wiped out your windows 7 files, I'm not sure if 7 can simply repair the install by replacing the windows file folders or whther your stuck doing a re-install
I'm relatively certain this is not the case. I believe XP just overwrote your boot manager, and you'll just need to make a few minor changes, which I'll help you with. Dual-booting Windows is a pain, though, because it hates being on anything but HD1 and partitions 1-4. Anyway, I'll offer you two solutions, in case the first doesn't work. Update if you get any errors.

Solution using Windows boot loader:
Go to the run dialogue and enter "sysdm.cpl". In the new window, go to the advanced tab, select "Startup and Recovery," and click "edit" on the window that appears. It should already have your XP details in it, and should look similar to this:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(*)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(*)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
Where * is your partition number for XP.

Add this to it at the bottom:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 7" /fastdetect
If that doesn't work, try this line instead:
C:\="Microsoft Windows 7"
This should fix your problem and allow you to choose what to boot into once you restart (make sure you have a line that says timeout=30 or something similar to allow you time to choose what to boot into).


Solution using GRUB:
Windows 7 will probably be on hda1, but I'm not sure where your Windows XP installation is. Your configuration should look something like this:

default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title Microsoft Windows 7
    root (hd0,0)
    rootnoverify (hd0,0)
    chainloader +1

title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
    root (hd0,*)
    rootnoverify (hd0,*)
    chainloader +1
Where * is your partition number - 1 (GRUB starts numbering partitions at 0, not 1).

Restart and you should be in the clear.
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X-626

Age 33
Male
Seen July 17th, 2012
Posted July 7th, 2012
1,325 posts
14.3 Years
First of all, dual booting Windows partitions is a terrible idea. Windows won't boot if it's not on the first hard drive or (sometimes) if it's in an extended partition.
Actually, that's not true. I have a triple boot set with Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Ubuntu. The two Windows partitions are booted via Windows' own boot manager.

Although, like already said, it definitely appears to be a problem with the boot loader. It would have probably been best to install XP before you installed Windows 7.

twocows

The not-so-black cat of ill omen

Age 32
Male
Michigan
Seen February 19th, 2023
Posted April 30th, 2021
4,307 posts
14.2 Years
I updated with details for the Windows bootloader (see my above post); hopefully one of these solutions will work for you.

System Restore is your friend?
That won't work here.
VNs are superior to anime, don't @ me