Roy said:
Actually it would have been much easier to install WinXP first, then
install Win7, because the installer for Windows 7 would have then
automatically set up the PC for dual booting if you wanted it. But since
it's the other way around you will find this article helpful:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/8790/dual-boot-your-pre-installed-windows-7-computer-with-xp/
Since you already have the partition available for XP you can skip down
about halfway through the article.
To give some hints as to what Microsoft tools you might use
to do what is described in the HowToGeek...
1) Install WinXP, pointing to the partition you want to use.
I recommend setting the label of that partition, while
you're still in Windows 7 Disk Management. For example,
my C: right now, the label is "WINXP". The label on my
Windows 2K partition is "WIN2K". This helps a bit, at least
in environments where you can actually see the label.
2) The WinXP installation messes up the MBR. Time to reach for
your Windows 7 recovery CD (the one the laptop made you burn
when you got it). This is a 200MB disc, which will get you
into a command prompt window. A Windows 7 installer DVD has
the same feature, only the Windows 7 installer DVD would be
several gigabytes of files, not just the 200MB environment
of the recovery CD.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us
In ancient times, a person would use "fixmbr" to rewrite
the 440 bytes of boot load code in the MBR. An alternative
is "bootsect", with an argument to select the right flavor
of boor code. The above Microsoft article, does that
instead, using "bootrec /fixmbr", so there are perhaps
two ways to do it from Windows 7 recovery environment.
The partition table in the MBR, has the option to mark
partitions with an active flag. You can use the "diskpart"
utility, to move the flag if it is pointing to the wrong
partition. I might run diskpart first, and move the
boot flag.
(Select the disk, select the partition, say "active" to move
the boot flag there. An "asterisk" should indicate that partition
is now the one with the active boot flag. The WinXP install makes
the WinXP partition active, and now we want the Windows 7 to be
active again, like it was originally.)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415
Next, run the bootrec /fixmbr, so the 440 byte Windows 7
boot code is in the MBR. As far as I know, that should be enough
to get Windows 7 to boot first and present the boot menu. But
the boot menu doesn't have WinXP in it yet. You won't see
this yet.
http://cdn.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/21dual.png
*******
The trail gets a little foggy at this point. We need to add
WinXP to the boot menu.
The bcdedit command can put that back. You'd need to
research bcdedit to use it (it's complicated, hurts my brain).
Or, you could try this. I don't know if bootrec is clever
enough to scan for more than Windows 7, and put the two
Windows partitions in the menu or not. But, you could try it.
See the description link on the 927392 page above, for the
details. Strictly speaking, there is nothing wrong with the
bcd at this point, and we'd only be trying this in the hope
this recipe is easier
At the very least, this procedure
can repair the bcd, if you damage it while playing around.
bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
bootrec /RebuildBcd
Instead, you could boot right into Windows 7, and use bcdedit
from there. This is an example of an article, listing the
command options to bcdedit.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709667(v=ws.10).aspx
An example is shown here, of using bcdedit. It is pointing
the boot loader at partition F: for the WINXP partition.
Adjust that drive letter, so it aligns with where your
partition ended up.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2676-bcdedit-how-use.html
bcdedit /create {ntldr} /d "Windows XP"
bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=F:
bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \ntldr
bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} /addlast
And if that were to mess up, you can always go back
to the recovery console and try the "bootrec /RebuildBcd" thing.
Instead of bcdedit, you can use EasyBCD. I haven't tried
that in several years - it used to be free. Run this from
Windows 7, add WinXP as a boot option.
EasyBCD 1.7.2.exe
758,937 bytes
MD5SUM = 79a4ab150667f70a4838cd08d85c1691
Using the MD5SUM, I traced down an old link to it. This is where
it used to be stored. You can try this first (but don't hold your
breath).
http://neosmart.net/downloads/software/EasyBCD/EasyBCD 1.7.2.exe
A backup copy could be here. This should prompt you to save a file.
Verify the MD5SUM and you're ready to go.
http://web.archive.org/web/20100611.../downloads/software/EasyBCD/EasyBCD 1.7.2.exe
HTH,
Paul
