Dualboot Problems

Hi all

I attempted to dual boot Win2k3 Enterprise and Windows XP but failed to boot Win2K3. I reliase that I should install WinXP first and followed by Win2K3. Hence, I guess the MBR got overwritten.

How can I restore / recover Windows 2003 bootloader? I tried going to recovery console and issued the following commands:

• fixmbr
• fixboot

Still, windows 2003 does not boot. Any idea?

 

As I read it, you had 2k3 on the system and then installed XP?

Pro or home?

Both loads on the same partition or on different ones?

Recovery console - which one? And if you have the OS's on different partitions, which one did you try to fixboot / fixmbr?

 

Ah, yes, I installed Win2K3 first, followed by WinXP (Professional) Edition.

Both are on different partitions (but same disk) - Win2K3 (C drive) and WinXP (D drive).

I made use of Win2K3 recovery console (IE: booted from Win2K3 CD). From there, I entered the recovery console and did a fixmbr and fixboot on C:

Somehow, it still doesn't seems to work. On the bootmenu, when I select Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition, it will attempt to load (show the boot screen) and followed by, it will automatically restart itself.

 

Also, you will have a text file on C:\ named boot.ini. Hidden system read-only file.

Open the file in notepad and copy the contents then paste the information here.

 

Here's the boot.ini information of WindowsXP (Extracted from Windows XP Partition)

Unfortunately, I am unable to find any boot.ini in Windows 2003 partition, despite checking the option "Show hidden files and folders "

 

Interesting. Evidently the system has decided to use the XP partition as the boot partition. Should be possible to set things right though.

You will need to boot from the 2K3 CD and to the recovery console again and do another round of fixmbr followed by fixboot. But this time, force them to do the work where you want.

Fixboot is fairly simple and will work with a drive letter. Fixmbr is a little more complicated and you will need to run the map command from the recovery console to see what values to use.

Take a look at the XP version of the Recovery Console directions. More detail than 2K or 2K3.

If this fails and no one else has any bright ideas, you may need to consider wiping the whole system and then doing the XP load followed by the 2K3 load. Hope not.

 

Alright. I will give it a try and keep all posted.

Thanks Newt

 

Seems like it's not working. I have tried all methods but still, none worked. Here's what I did

1) I used Win2K3 CD and boot into recovery console. Did a map command and saw the following:

2) Tried

None of the methods work.. I guess I've gotta reinstall Win2K3.

 

FIXMBR rewrites the HD sector 0 (Master Boot record) which includes the partition table.
FIXBOOT rewrites the partition Volume Boot Record which loads NTLDR.

Your 2K3 CD should have NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM on it - copy them to the root of of drive C.

 

You mean the C:\ root directory? That's where my XP is installed.. Anyway, I copied NTDETECT and ntldr from my 2K3 CD into D:\ (Where my 2K3 is installed) and it didn't work. I have also tried "fixboot D:\" after copying both files to root directory of 2K3 but that didn't work either

Besides that, I went an extra mile to make a backup copy of XP's NTDETECT and ntldr, and copied the one from 2K3's to C:\ (Which is my XP installation) but it still doesn't work.

Any idea?

 

Interesting, veeeery interesting.....

I meant C:\ because that's the boot drive, and it's the XP NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM on there that were being loaded. Anyway, seems like you've now got 2K3's files on C:\ and the blighter still refuses to boot. I suggest safe mode is your next option. If THAT doesn't load, I'd suggest a repair/reinstall of 2K3 is just about the only course of action left short of a full reinstall. Whether full or repair, try safe mode first before moving on. If safe mode works, it's likely a device driver problem.

 

Well, I guess I'll repair the installation since none of the suggested methods worked.

Thanks everyone