Dual Boot Vista and XP with Vista already installed

If you want to install Vista onto an XP computer, try the reverse tutorial: (XP already installed)
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</Dream In Code>
-William. § (marvin_gohan)

I am going to ask the same thing from you:
Could you post the partition label vista is on, and your bcdedit (boot.ini) file from in vista?

The xp formatting tool has a limit to the number of primary partitions it will create and it looks as though you may have reached that, as you have at least 3. Try without your usb drive attached, this can cause issues on installations.
What is this: 0 - (Hidden) - EISA Configuration
Where did you buy your laptop?
Also why do you have a usb primary partition?

If you can't create a new primary partition you cannot install windows.

Thank you for your time.

My computer is a Dell XPS 410.

I don't know why the USB HDD is a primary partition, it is plug and play so I just plugged it in and didn't configure anything with it. I have tried installing without the Flashdrive in, but I will try it without the USB disk now.

Is the total of 3 primary partitions throughout the entire computer or just in seperate discs, because I have two on disk 0 and the USB HDD is disk 2.

And I don't know what the hidden EISA Configuration is. It doesn't have a name in the disk management, and in DISKPART it is simply titled "(Hidden)".

EDIT: I have succeeded in making a primary partition titled "XP" on disk 0 using DISKPART, so I am going to attempt the installation again, without the USB HDD and Flashdrive.

EDIT2: Still BSODs, but I have an idea. In my desktop's BIOS there is an option for the HDD to be in Performance, Suggested, or Quiet mode. I'm thinking that maybe XP doesn't recognize the performance mode? I'll change it to bypass those options and try it again.

first of all, i would like to thank William again for his step-by-step guide. i have finally be able to dual boot Vista Ultimate and XP SP2. here is the url to resolve your ntldr problem: How To: Edit the Windows Vista Boot Menu Options – BCDEDIT.
look for swoopy2's post. make sure you run command prompt as Admin, go to folder boot on your c drive, then follow his commands. after that, use your easybcd application to edit the list again and save the settings. reboot your system, everything should work. good luck to you all and thanks again to William.

i see, he simply sets the boot device option as well. This shouldn't be necessary, but aparently on some systems it is.

The ammendment to match my instructions would be as follows:
bcdedit –set {ntldr} device partition=C:
bcdedit –set {ntldr} device boot
bcdedit –set {ntldr} path \ntldr
bcdedit –displayorder {ntldr} –addlast

My partions are set up as such:

Disk 1
C: (XP Partition) - Primary Partition
D: (Vista Partition) - Primary Partition
G: (Extra) - Logical Partition

Disk 2
H: (Backup) - Logical Partition

I have noticed though that when I boot into Vista my Vista partition is listed as being the C drive and XP is listed as the D drive, but I assume that only has something to do with the fact that I booted into Vista. When I boot into XP it looks as listed above.

My bcdedit.exe looks like this:

Windows Boot Manager
___________________
identifier________________ {bootmgr}
device _________________ partition=D:
description______________ Windows Boot Manager
locale __________________ en-US
inherit _________________ {globalsettings}
default _________________ {current}
displayorder_____________ {current}
_______________________{ntldr}
toolsdisplayorder ________ {memdiag}
timeout ________________ 30

Windows Boot Loader
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identifier _______________ {current}
device _________________ partition=C:
path __________________ \Windows\syste32\winload.exe
description _____________ Microsoft Windows Vista
locale _________________ en-US
inherit _________________ {bootlodersettings}
osdevice _______________ patition=C:
systemroot ____________ \Windows
resumeobject ___________ {cf5c333b-5d4c-11dc-9ea2-ebe1296eeddc}
nx ____________________ OptIN

Windows Legacy OS Loader
_______________________
identifier ________________ {ntldr}
device _________________ partition=D:
path ___________________ \ntldr
description _____________ Microsoft Windows XP


When I first edited this file I had put XP to boot from partition C:, but this caused XP to not be bootable from the startup options. When I noticed that Windows Explorer listed my XP partition as D: while booted into Vista I changed my boot.ini file to reflect this and was then again able to dual boot. The only problem I'm getting is the NTLDR missing error and even that goes away if I have a system disk in my CD drive. Hope this information is useful.

I hav a compaq C571NR Notebook with Vista installed on C drive & a recovery Drive D.However i hav followed yor Step 1-'Partition the Drive' & made a new partition E for XP (im using a XP Prof Sp2 bootable Cd)
Now when i boot from Cd i get 3 options namely : ENTER (to install XP) , R (repair XP) & Cancel.Next,on pressing Enter i get another blue screen that gives this error :
"Setup did not find any Hardisk Drives installed.Make sure any drives r powered on & properly connected & that any disk related configuration is correct."
i read the previous posts wherin i encountered ppl with a similar problem & somone suggested "slipstreaming" but i tried doin that(gave the same error) though i alrdy hav the XP bootable Cd with SP2...

i am doing this for my boss in the morning hope it works

Attached Images

rich4441.jpg (5.3 KB, 306 views)

This is odd, if you installed XP first, then Vista, this should definatly be reading C:
when you installed XP were there multiple partitions? and did you install to the first partition?
Although a long process, I would suggest running the Vista boot fixing again, which "should" attempt to put it on C:, check if at least Vista is avaible without the cd. If not run the xp boot manager/fix, and Vista again... hopefully that will load the MBR files into the first sectors of the drive.

Odds are the drive is SATA, in this situation, since you are using SP2, it should be a simple fix. Go to your bios: F8, delete or some other key while booting.
check that your SATA drive is labeled -0 and is set to ON. Then change the SATA operation to "Combination" which should allow the boot to find your drive. If this does not work, you will need to press F6 during your startup of setup and install your SATA drivers. They often come on floppies, so hopefully you still have them.
*If you get XP installed correctly, remember to change the SATA operation back to the default afterwards.