Multiboot Troubleshooting tips

I had some trauma getting Vista Ultimate to multiboot. The constant googling
made me really nauseaous but I eventually got it sorted. Here are some tips
which might help other punters.

I have a dell 5150C, 250gb, SATA. C: 20gb XP Media Edtn, H: 140gb WS2003
R2. I wanted to install Vista Ultimate on I: 60gb.

Before you start, make sure you have a boot CD or floppy with disk utils on
it. I use Acronis Disk Suite. Don't install Acronis OS Selector. MS says
Vista does not like 3rd party bootloaders.

Run Acronis Disk Suite. Create I: partition as primary type (read that Vista
don't like logical partitions. True??). Boot Vista DVD. Pick I: Vista error
"drive does not meet requirements". Google. Some posts say Vista requires an
active partition. Boot from Acronis boot CD. Make I: partition active. Reboot
Vista DVD. Voila! Vista setup now runs. First reboot leaves black screen with
flashing underbar. Reboot Acronis DVD. Set C: active. Reboot. Phew! My old
Boot menu shows XP and W2K3. XP boots OK. Reset I: active. Reboot Vista DVD
run vista Repair to see if I missed anything. Same result. Google. Forums
suggest SATA driver or graphics driver problems. Download all the vista
drivers I can find from support.dell.co.uk. Boot Vista DVD, install SATA
drivers, setup does not recognize my vista drivers, continue. Don't think its
a graphics problem anyway. Black screen. Rollback and boot XP. Google. Find
EasyBCD + VistaBoot. Forum post suggests copying the BOOT directory. Copy
I:\BOOT to C:\BOOT, check C: active. Boot Vista DVD, install (damn! meant to
run repair). First reboot, hey a new boot menu. Vista boots and setup
completes successfully. Run EasyBCD and add entries for XP and WS2K3. Reboot.
Boot menu shows OS options and they all work. Deleted I:\BOOT.

This is an abbreviated version of events. It looks like setting up C:\BOOT
was the key, not the drivers, but I can't be sure. I don't know why it did
not work first time with I: as the active partition. I don't know if install
lets you specify different system and boot partitions.

Hope this helps anyone having similar problems

On Jun 6, 12:57 pm, **** <D...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> I had some trauma getting Vista Ultimate to multiboot. The constant googling
> made me really nauseaous but I eventually got it sorted. Here are some tips
> which might help other punters.
>
> I have a dell 5150C, 250gb, SATA. C: 20gb XP Media Edtn, H: 140gb WS2003
> R2. I wanted to install Vista Ultimate on I: 60gb.
>
> Before you start, make sure you have a boot CD or floppy with disk utils on
> it. I use Acronis Disk Suite. Don't install Acronis OS Selector. MS says
> Vista does not like 3rd party bootloaders.
>
> Run Acronis Disk Suite. Create I: partition as primary type (read that Vista
> don't like logical partitions. True??). Boot Vista DVD. Pick I: Vista error
> "drive does not meet requirements". Google. Some posts say Vista requires an
> active partition. Boot from Acronis boot CD. Make I: partition active. Reboot
> Vista DVD. Voila! Vista setup now runs. First reboot leaves black screen with
> flashing underbar. Reboot Acronis DVD. Set C: active. Reboot. Phew! My old
> Boot menu shows XP and W2K3. XP boots OK. Reset I: active. Reboot Vista DVD
> run vista Repair to see if I missed anything. Same result. Google. Forums
> suggest SATA driver or graphics driver problems. Download all the vista
> drivers I can find from support.dell.co.uk. Boot Vista DVD, install SATA
> drivers, setup does not recognize my vista drivers, continue. Don't think its
> a graphics problem anyway. Black screen. Rollback and boot XP. Google. Find
> EasyBCD + VistaBoot. Forum post suggests copying the BOOT directory. Copy
> I:\BOOT to C:\BOOT, check C: active. Boot Vista DVD, install (damn! meant to
> run repair). First reboot, hey a new boot menu. Vista boots and setup
> completes successfully. Run EasyBCD and add entries for XP and WS2K3. Reboot.
> Boot menu shows OS options and they all work. Deleted I:\BOOT.
>
> This is an abbreviated version of events. It looks like setting up C:\BOOT
> was the key, not the drivers, but I can't be sure. I don't know why it did
> not work first time with I: as the active partition. I don't know if install
> lets you specify different system and boot partitions.
>
> Hope this helps anyone having similar problems

Excellent tips!

A tremendously useful (free) application that's a must-have for any
dual-booter is EasyBCD: http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1