Subscriber Raju Malhotra wrote recently with an interesting problem involving Windows XP and Windows 7 — he lost his Windows 7:
good afternoon sir!i have a system pentium 4 motherboard
i have already load xp on c partition (first) ntfs
window 7 on d partition (second)ntfsxp was corrupt
I again install xp on first partition
but there is a problem with running window 7
system does not show window 7 option
starting boot optionisn’t again window 7 will be install or
any other solution?????????
Raju ran into a typical problem with dual-booting the Microsoft way.
Each Windows version has the capability to dual boot with earlier versions. However, you have to install the early version of Windows (e.g., WIndows XP) before you install the later version (e.g., Vista or Windows 7).
Otherwise, Windows XP writes over the Windows 7 (or Vista) dual-boot instructions when XP is installed.
That way, the booting computer thinks that Windows XP is the only thing installed.
Of course, the same thing happens if you install Windows and Linux &mdassh; you have to install Linux last, or Windows will overwrite the boot record on the hard drive, losing the boot information for Linux.
What’s the fix?
Well, the more difficult one is that Raju could reinstall Windows 7 and set up his dual-boot structure again.
The easier way would be to boot the Windows 7 installation DVD and use its Repair function to rewrite the master boot record.
and
I checked out how to do this on the Net and found instructions about how to install XP Pro over a current Win 7 installation on the C drive. The problems I’m having trying to repair my Win 7 boot loader are these. First, I can’t even access the Win 7 disc from XP because it’s got 64-bit Win 7 Home Premium and XP is 32-bit, so I get message saying that it can’t be upgraded, but the Win 7 disc is an OEM disc that was used for the Win 7 installation at a computer shop; it’s not an upgrade. Second, even though I went into the setup menu and disabled booting from the hard disk drive so that the PC wouldn’t see XP Pro on D, when Win 7 boots, all I get is a ribbon on the bottom of the screen saying that Win 7 is loading files and then the wall paper and the mouse pointer. There is no window that asks any questions or that offers to install Win 7, and there are no icons anywhere on the monitor screen. I was hoping to be asked whether and where I wanted to install Win 7 or whether I wanted to repair the Win 7 installation on the C drive. I don’t know what’s going on. Anybody have any ideas?