VistaBootPro didnt work...

[Tma20SC]

My computer came preinstalled with vista so i decided to do a dual boot config and make a partition to install xp pro. Went ahead and installed it and vista disappeared from windows boot manager.

So i then installed VistaBootPro to enable vista in windows boot manager and now vista boots correctly but when i highlight xp and hit enter i get this screen:

 

[PC eye]

That's because VistaBootPRO is a rippoff of the actual tool developed for seeing other OSs added to the new type of boot loader seen in Vista. In fact the latest release of the EasyBCD 1.7.2 original 3rd party BCD editing tool can be downloaded from http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

You first need to copy the ntldr, ntdetect.com, IO.sys, MSDos.sys files to the root of the Vista primary. One other thing to know is that there is support for the EasyBCD version while nothing for the copy of the original EasyBCD version.

 

[Tma20SC]

You first need to copy the ntldr, ntdetect.com, IO.sys, MSDos.sys files to the root of the Vista primary. One other thing to know is that there is support for the EasyBCD version while nothing for the copy of the original EasyBCD version.

Ok, i can boot into vista but not xp so how do i add "ntldr, ntdetect.com, IO.sys, MsDos.sys" files.

And how do i use EasyBCD.

 

[PC eye]

The EasyBCD tool itself will see some additional boot files created along the ones needed from the XP partition/drive. You can see what those look like in the image here.



You first have to go to the add/remove entries button once the basic files are copied to the Vista primary. What the utility does there is become the main instrument for working with the boot loaders of both versions. While Vista will still be the default OS to load that can be changed to see XP as the default even while working with the Vista boot loader itself.

The EasyBCD tool is used to create the new entry into the Vista BCD type boot loader. There is no boot.ini file like seen with XP to edit. What this does is provide a graphical tool rather then a text editor like the BCD editor command prompt for manually edits. In fact some screens for what the tool has can be seen at http://neosmart.net/gallery/v/neosmart/EasyBCD/1_70/

There is one thing to mention here first about a working dual boot between XP and Vista you should know right from the start. If the Vista installation is visible to XP all of Vista's system restore points are lost! Presently I've been working with a beta tool not quite ready for general release that hides Vista from XP thereby preserving the restore points.