Need help recovering XP install (Drive letters changed)

[klandestino]

I Have 2 Sata HD's with 160GB Each and the following partitions:

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HD1 Drive C:\ --- Windows XP Professional with SP2 (Primary, Active)
HD1 Drive D:\ --- Projects (Logical)
HD1 Drive E:\ --- Games (Logical)
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HD2 Drive F:\ --- Wharehowse (Primary)
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1.1. Using Powerquest Partition Magic 8.0 i have reduced the HD1 First Partition (Drive C:\) and created a new partition after c:\

1.2. The new Partition assumed the drive letter I:\

1.3. I've installed Windows Vista Enterprise (Build 6000) from within windows XP, and installed it to the new partition I:\

1.4. I've Tested the new Windows Vista installation in drive I:\ - Working Fine !

1.5. I restarted the system and went back to XP, by choosig this option on the new vista boot screen options



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2. I'm back in Windows XP (c:\) and at the moment everything is OK!

but now starts where i ruined thing up:
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2.1. In Windows XP i Runned Powerquest Partition Magic and looked at my new Partitioning Table:

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HD1 Drive C:\ --- Windows XP Professional with SP2 (Primary, Active)
HD1 Drive I:\ --- Windows Vista Enterprise (Primary)
HD1 Drive D:\ --- Projects (Logical)
HD1 Drive E:\ --- Games (Logical)
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HD2 Drive F:\ --- Wharehowse (Primary)


2.2. I Changed The Drive Letter of Drive I:\ to Drive V:\ and i've set This drive Hidden
(With other dual boot experiences i had it used to hide one of the OS partitions when i loaded the other one so i thought (wrong) that i could do the same here)


2.3. I Restarted The System and guess what, No more Vista boot screen options and couldn't load any of the OS's.


2.4. I Inserted the Windows Vista DVD and restarted the system choosing to boot from the DVD Drive


2.5. I Selected to Repair my Vista Installation and it repaired it, now i have this Partitioning Table:

So Now I have this Partitioning Table:

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HD1 Drive D:\ --- Windows XP Professional with SP2 (Primary, Active)
HD1 Drive C:\ --- Windows Vista Enterprise (Primary)
HD1 Drive F:\ --- Projects (Logical)
HD1 Drive G:\ --- Games (Logical)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
HD2 Drive E:\ --- Wharehowse (Primary)



So Now i am stuck in windows Vista and i wish to recover my XP Instalation, This is the partitioning i want to have:

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HD1 Drive C:\ --- Windows XP Professional with SP2 (Primary, Active)
HD1 Drive I:\ --- Windows Vista Enterprise (Primary)
HD1 Drive D:\ --- Projects (Logical)
HD1 Drive E:\ --- Games (Logical)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
HD2 Drive F:\ --- Wharehowse (Primary)

Any help?

 

[firewolfrl]

Ok the first thing is windows bootmanagers sucks

There are alot of boot managers out there and just as many opinions as to what is the best boot manager
I use an old boot manager called XOSL that does the job for what I do
I also use partition magic
Here is a link to a previous thread that also has the XOSL links

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1318218

To change the drive letters in the windows partition you have to do a couple of things

Get another drive and put the vista on its own drive...

OK now not all the techies out there will agree with me at some points but my system works great with 7 drives


Ok you did change the MBR when you did the vista repair….and you may have an issue now that you may have to zero the drive and start fresh …

You need to open the XP drive and first read the Boot.ini file and see what it says???
It needs to read for the windows XP partition
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

From what I am reading on your configuration is that the Windows XP drive is still the active drive
You have to unhide all partitions and physical harddrives
Unplug the second drive
Reboot

You can try the FIXMBR command off of the XP install CD or the FIXBOOT command

I don’t think that is going to fix your issue

This is what I have done in the past using XOSL and the configuration that I like to use

Drive 0: MBR\primary partition 1(windows XP)\\primary partition 2 (vista)(prefer only one OS to Harddrive)\\Primary partition 3 Bootable DOS (57meg) with XOSL install files

I boot to the third partition and install XOSL …after reboot configure XOSL to boot the XP partition and hide the Vista partition …Vista will not boot if you configure the XP partition hidden because it uses that partition in the MBR

Read well ALL the directions for XOSL before you START

if all works correct your C:\ should be the windows XP partition….or the drive will remain as D:\

Post the results for what you decide to do?


this is not a complete post because there is so much you may have to do.