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General discussion

Dual or multi boot my Dell studio 540

Oct 28, 2009 4:51AM PDT

I wanting to dual boot my hard drive with Xp and Vista then later with Windows 7
I have 4 partitions - c has my working Vista Os with Files,
d has a fresh install of Vista Os
e has Xp installed
f is the Vista recovery disk.

I have downloaded the easy BCD software to manage the boot process

Problem - Vista boots up fine Xp does not.
the Xp Screen message displays :-
File \ntldr
Status 0xc000000f
Info - The selected entry could not be found because the application is missing or corrupt

Ive Tried the Easy BCD software to see if I can fix this, but dont understand how to repair the boot file, to enable Xp.
Tried reading all the info but my head is bursting to total overload
Could you give me easy step by step Instructions to correct the problem,
Also when I receive my Windows 7 Disc and fresh install on C Drive will I have a similar problem.

Discussion is locked

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What I'm going with.
Nov 6, 2009 1:17AM PST

After watching many fight this for too many years here's my thought. If you want to dual, triple boot you don't want pre-installed or any OS that uses recovery media or recovery partitions. You want the "Retail" issued CD/DVDs and then it can all be worked out.

Those that try this with pre-installed versions often yelp for help.
Bob

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Dual Boot, Multi boot
Nov 6, 2009 2:07AM PST

Thank you Bob , I'll delete the recovery partition, then reformat the others and do a fresh install starting with Xp and see how it goes.

I was advised to try the Easy BCD software to try and retify the problem of Xp and the master boot record.

I've learned a bit about the boot process, its more complicated than I thought. Still I keep trying.

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Apologies all around.
Nov 6, 2009 10:21AM PST

But the Microsoft way is like this. Install the oldest to the newest OS and along the way you get dual, triple booting OSes.

I know some will slam taking the easy exit but I tend to like to use the machine rather than being used by the machine.

Ugg,
Bob