[theorizzaa]

Here is the deal,

My primary HD, 320 GB SATA, is partioned to where COS=Win XP SP 2) and EWin Vista Ultimate SP 1). I have another smaller IDE drive that functions only as extra storage, but I don't think that it is relevant to this issue.

C:=10GB E:=289GB

I used to be able to select which OS I wanted to run at the boot screen, Windows Vista or "Earlier Version of Windows", but now I don't get that option.

The C: partition is small so I attempted to make it larger via both Partition Magic and the built in partition program on Vista; however, this somehow corrupted my XP installation on the C: partition. So I inserted my Win XP installation CD, as it instructed, and installed over my C: partition. Installation successful, but now, as a result of that installation, I no longer have the option to select whether I want to boot with Win XP or Win Vista. It just boots to XP automatically.

How do I get the option to choose my OS back?

I'm far from a computer expert so if you feel that I left out any vital info, post and I will attempt to answer you.

Thanks.

 

[pat mcgroin]

Here is a excerpt from an article wriiten by Scott Dunn.

You have already completed step 6 but I included it as a frame of reference.


Step 6. Follow the steps to install XP. When asked for the target drive, select your new partition and press Enter. Because you already formatted this partition with NTFS, you can skip the formatting step. At the appropriate screen, arrow down to Leave the current file system intact (no changes) and press Enter. Continue the installation process until it's finished and XP has started.

Step 7. Your system now boots to XP, so we'll need to do some fixing to set up a boot menu. Insert your Vista DVD and restart the computer from it. Click Next in the first screen.

Step 8. Don't click Install when prompted! Instead, click Repair Your Computer in the lower-left corner.

Step 9. When the System Recovery Options dialog appears, make sure Microsoft Windows Vista is selected and click Next. In the next dialog box, select the Command Prompt option at the bottom.

Step 10. In the command-prompt window, type the following commands and press Enter after each one:

bootrec.exe /fixMBR
bootrec.exe /fixBoot

Step 11. Close the command prompt and click Restart.

Step 12. When your computer has booted into Vista, click Start, type cmd.exe, and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to make the command window open with elevated privileges. Click Continue, if prompted by User Account Control.

Step 13. Type the following commands in the command window, one at at time, pressing Enter after each one. After each command, you should get the response, "The operation completed successfully." A response of, "The specified entry already exists," is OK, too. If not, retype your command to make sure you've entered it correctly. If Vista is installed on a drive other than c:, change the first command below to use the proper drive letter. The curly braces around {ntldr} in each command must be typed exactly as shown:

bcdedit -set {ntldr} device partition=C:
bcdedit -set {ntldr} path \ntldr
bcdedit -displayorder {ntldr} -addlast
bcdedit -set {ntldr} description "Microsoft Windows XP"

That's it! The next time you restart your system, you should be see a prompt that will let you choose between Vista or XP. Select the one you want and press Enter.

 

[theorizzaa]

Thanks for your help.

The only issue is the CD I installed from is in D.C. which is a LONG distance from my home.

Is there no other way? Could I get any Vista CD, like a friends or something of that natue? Or would it have to be Ultimate, like mine? Is there anyway to boot without using a CD?