Restore Vista Bootloader after formatting C:

[mehargags]

Hi friends, Sorry if its asked b4 but i just found one old thread while searching the board, revealing no confirmed way to my question.

Basically I have 3 partitions on my 320gb HDD

C: ---> XP

D: ---> Data

V: ----> Vista

Last night my XP died, & I had to reformat my C: so now i can't boot into Vista. I used the VISTA DVD to boot from it & it detect the problem with Boot but doesn't repair it.

I was wondering, other than that wizard base repair, is there no recovery console FIXBOOT/FIXMBR like option on vista. Something that u can do "manually"??

or may be I'm missing the proper way. Pls point me on how to just restore Vista bootloader so that i can boot into my Vista safely without fear to loose XP bootloader.

Thx

Edited April 11, 2007 by mehargags

[Jeronimo]

I had this issue when installing XP after Vista as Vista criples the bootloader (at least for me it did). Default tools were not sufficient, I had to play around with Vista Boot Pro. Install the OS you would like on C and then take a careful look at this tool.

[spacesurfer]

Some things to think about:

What you call bootloader is a file called bootmgr in Vista. Vista puts bootmgr in the active partition. I'm guessing your active partition was your XP partition and so Vista put the boot files in your XP partition. Most likely you installed Vista from within XP.

If you formatted C: (XP partition), the Vista bootmgr went with it so you lost it.

Seems like you haven't reinstalled XP on your C: partition. You may want to do that. When you reinstall XP, it will mark that partition active again. Then use the Vista DVD to repair. It should bring it back. If it doesn't work, try Vista Boot Pro to see if it fixes it.

To avoid this issue in future, you should make a vista boot floppy.

You can boot both XP and Vista from the instructions described there. You can also try to find someone who has Vista and see if you can make a floppy from their system and it might work on yours. (I have a feeling it may not because Vista boots by detecting a GUID).

[mehargags]

@SpaceSurfer,

Thx for the ellaboration....

1. Yes My ACTIVe partion was partition 1 on which XP resides(resided) & Vista put its bootmgr on that for sure.

2. I did not copy that file while formatting the XP partition, so it was LOST

3. I HAVE re-installed XP now on the ACTIVE partition C:, Tried Vista DVD to repair, it detects the problem with boot options but can not fix it.

4. I have used Vista boot pro before, so w'd give it a try. My only concern is that since it won't be knowing where my Vista is, i'll have to manually give it partition no. where Vista is..

[spacesurfer]

Vista and Vista Boot Pro do not work by partition no. They work by identifying the GUID which are stored in the BCD file in the boot folder of the active partition. Vista boot repair is supposed to reassign the GUIDs during repair since the old ones are lost. I'm not sure why it's failing for you.

[neo]

Boot with Vista DVD and go to Repair Option

Click on Command Prompt and type the command

X:\Boot\Bootsect.exe –NT60 All

Where X is Ur Optical Drive.

When you restart, you should see the Windows Vista menu.

[Innocent Devil]

when C: is formatted it nolonger contains bcd data (in Boot folder)

so bootsect not going to work

from XP copy the Boot folder from DVD to C:

copy bcdedit.exe to system32 of XP (for easy access anywhere in XP

open cmd

type bcdedit

it shows the current bcd data

if u know how to use bcdedit , then create bcd Configuration store entries for u r required OS

otherwise use Vistaboot pro to create configrations

then do the bootsect /nt60 /C:

Reboot

and check it works

[neo]

when C: is formatted it nolonger contains bcd data (in Boot folder)

so bootsect not going to work

from XP copy the Boot folder from DVD to C:

copy bcdedit.exe to system32 of XP (for easy access anywhere in XP

open cmd

type bcdedit

it shows the current bcd data

if u know how to use bcdedit , then create bcd Configuration store entries for u r required OS

otherwise use Vistaboot pro to create configrations

then do the bootsect /nt60 /C:

Reboot

and check it works

I think so, He has not installed Windows XP yet.

there is no need to copy any folder just follow the instructions.

[Innocent Devil]

okay

boot from vista dvd

select repair

click command propmt

create "boot" folder in C: drive (w/o quotes)

copy fonts folder to this folder from dvd

copy the file "bcd" to boot folder

then run bcdedit with this bcd store and edit for u r system

Edited April 13, 2007 by Innocent Devil