Easybcd question

[Celticsfan]

I installed this on vista, opened it up, selected add/remove entries,

next to type= windows vista/longhorn
next to name= windows 7
next to drive- E

I hit add, it says successfully added. I can see it in the queue under vista, I save it, then exit it. I reboot my PC but I do not see the option of windows 7 in bootloader.


What am I doing wrong? Can someone please help me out. It is listed under computer>hard drives on my pc so I know it is there.

thx

EDIT:

Here is what I have tried--- Ok, I had one hard drive on my computer with win 7 installed on. I then added another hard drive to my computer. I installed XP Pro on it on one partition and then added vista on another partition. I can see both XP and vista in bootloader but not win 7.

According to MY COMPUTER, under HARD DRIVES, Vista is C:, XP is D:, WIN 7 is E:, LOCAL DISK is F:. My DVD drive is G:.

I have tried E: in easybcd and also tried C:, Neither one shows win 7 after reboot.

Any ideas?

thx

 

[eyeCpc]

Which version are you running EasyBCD in? You can add 7 into the Vista BCD or Vista into the 7 BCD with the tool. The first place to look however is in the view settings screen to see if 7 has a drive letter or simply sees Drive U.

If you are seeing that problem and are running the tool in Vista go to the change settings to change associations for 7 to the E drive and click save there. If you running EasyBCD in XP it won't you there except for restoring the Vista mbr information.

 

[Celticsfan]

I am running version 1.7.2 of easybcsd. In view/settings I can see a Drive U.

I must say though Win 7 was the first OS on this PC so should I change it to C: or should I still try E:?

thx

EDit: I tried changing it from U to E, rebooted but still can't see it upon bootup. Any ideas now? I then went back into view/settings and it still says U even though I saved it.

thx

 

[eyeCpc]

The two things that will be important are 1)default boot drive? and 2)which is the default OS you generally which is answered by Vista installed after 7. Since 7 was on first then Vista the 7 mbr information may have been effected or you now have the Vista drive seen as the default boot device in the bios.

If you were booted in 7 Vista would be E or another drive letter while 7 remained C. When booted in Vista you first look in the Disk Management tool to see what letter is seen for 7 there. You can also change that to another letter if needed and associate 7 to that in the change settings/entry based settings section in 1.7.2.

When first installing Vista and XP was XP the second OS to be installed or last? When installing XP after Vista and now 7 you need to repair the newer version's mbr entries in order to make it bootable again.

With Vista on last however you should be able to add 7 right in without problems when selecting the Vista/LongHorn option followed by naming the new entry to what you have there plus the drive letter seen in the DM. You may have to delete the first entry and create a new one along with verfiying the drive letter for seeing 7 associated with the actual drive letter you set in the DM.

The image here shows how 7 was associated to C while booted in 7.



Once the new entry is created while booted in Vista, Vista being C there, you verify the letter for 7 and follow through with the association of the drive letter there followed by looking in the view settings to see if that is being shown exactly the same. When everything matches then try booting into 7.

Further problems getting 7 to load would suggest a need to repair or rebuild the 7 mbr information by first unplugging the other hard drives and booting to the repair tools on the 7 dvd you made. When going to install XP and Vista with those drives added on later the 7 boot information was likely trashed in favor of Vista then becoming the default host drive or the boot order for drives saw a change.

Once you have 7 booting on it's own without a need to reinstall but repair the mbr you then replug the other drives back in to see the new entry in the Vista BCD made knowing that 7 now boots on it's own. A return trip into the bios to set the default boot device to Vista would be the thought unless you want the 7 drive set that way and add Vista and XP into the 7 boot loader which is done the same there as in Vista.

 

[Celticsfan]

It sounds like it might be easier to just install win 7 again. What do you think?

 

[eyeCpc]

With the boot device menu most systems and laptops see with the F1, F8, or F12 keys designated you can select which hard drive or other like optical or floppy you want to boot from. By selecting the drive 7 was installed on that will show if that was made bootable when seeing 7 put on.

If 7 loads right up you wouldn't need to reinstall that again to see it added into the Vista BCD but simply find the correct settings for the drive letter. By reinstalling 7 since it seems the Vista after 7 is seeing problems you would then see Vista in 7's boot screen unless running the 7 installer while booted in Vista to custom install that way.

Isolating the Vista/XP dual boot by first unplugging that drive to see 7 installed fresh on a separate drive you should be able to add 7 in with a new entry for it. The stand alone install of 7 will mean unplugging the Vista/XP drive until installed and changing the default boot drive set in the bios when replugging that back in.

Or you can elect to add Vista and XP alike into 7's own BCD there leaving that drive set as the default boot device. With the layout here I run 7 as the default with the others added in as well as seeing 7 added into Vista's. If you end up reinstalling while maybe not needed you have a few options to consider.

 

[Celticsfan]

I will try booting into win 7 when I am down full scanning my system and I will let you know how I make out and hopefully we can take it from there on adding win 7 to vista bcd. If you don't mind helping me with it.

thx

 

[eyeCpc]

Not at all. If you could post a screenshot of your Disk Management that will help in seeing how your drives are layed out partition wise. Once you know 7 is running it doesn't take much to add 7 into Vista's or Vista into 7's boot loader.

One thing to note here however is if you are working with a one ide and one sata mix note that with both plugged in the Windows installer will generally place all mbr entries and boot files on the ide drive by default. For seeing a stand alone install on a sata you first have to unplug any ide hard drives if present.

You can still opt to custom install 7 while booted in Vista or XP while seeing it installed as a stand alone solves a good deal of problems since the BCD files are easy to edit with the free tool there.

 

[Celticsfan]

EDIT:


I am typing this from win 7 right now so I can still access it by editing BIOS. Is there anything you want me to look for while I am in it? Please let me know. Both my drives are SATA.

thx

Here is DM from Win 7



Edit:*************8

I will take one of when I am on vista in a few Minutes

 

[eyeCpc]

Both XP and Vista are shown on HD9 while 7 resides by itself on HD1 there. The default drive is for the XP/Vista dual boot seeing those set as the default boot device.

The 7 looks like it was set up as a stand alone already where you simply have to see the correct entry and settings for that to be added into the Vista BCD as a secondary OS. The actual type of drives is never shown in the DM but on the post screen when first turning the system on or looking in the boot section of the bios.

Changing the default boot device depends on the bios the board uses there. With a recent model seeing an Award-Phoenix you would simply go into the boot or boot order section and scroll down to the "hard drives" item to press enter on that. A new screen will then appear with all hard drives, internal or external listed as well as any usb flash/pen drives or reader cards.

On other bioses usually older mainly seen on premade systems you see floppy then optical then hard drives listed in order with the option to set the default there. One example of the highlight item and pressing enter for menu in the bios is seen for Gateway at http://support.gateway.com/support/manlib/cmponts/remove/8508492/08492c07.htm

In the bios as well as seen on the post screen the manufacturer and model number of each drive are shown. You can also download a free system information tool from http://www.gtopala.com/

When creating a desktop shortcut or simply double clicking on the siw.exe file you scroll down to "hardwares>storage devices" to have that display all hard drives and other types you have installed or plugged into the system. The image here shows the 4 sata type along with one sata optical, one ide optical, and even the usb flash drive plugged in.