Tried Installing Windows Vista On Another Hdd, Now Have Boot Problems

[quakergamer]

Hello,

I had Windows Vista on one hard drive and connected another hard drive on my computer, on which I proceeded to install Vista. Basically, I wanted two HDDs with two different Windows Vistas. The installation went without problems and I did use a different product key. It used to display an OS selection screen before booting which is what I wanted.

Now my problem ... After the last restart which was needed to complete the installation, I didn't get the OS selection screen anymore. Instead, it would directly boot on one of the windows and then lead me to a RECOVERY screen where I could choose to load system recovery, open the command prompt, correct the boot (which tells me I have no errors), etc. I Tried disconnecting the new HDD to see if my computer could boot on the old Windows Vista, without luck. I still get the Recovery screen which has no options working (I tried system restore, fixing the boot, etc).

Did I mess up my windows? When I press F2 (or F8) to choose how I want to boot my Windows, I only get the option to load "Windows Setup [EMS Enabled]". There is no Windows Vista option anymore.

FYI, one HDD is SATA (main one), the other one is IDE. Could this explain why all of this happened?

Thanks guys, any help is appreciated.

Edited June 27, 2009 by quakergamer

[kimsland]

What happens when you disconnect the hard drive that you just installed Windows on? Does your original hard drive now start Vista?

If not then you may need to boot from the Vista DVD and select "Startup repair"

Finally once you have Repaired your original Vista hard drive, then decide on installing another Vista hard drive again (as dual boot)

[quakergamer]

What happens when you disconnect the hard drive that you just installed Windows on? Does your original hard drive now start Vista?

If not then you may need to boot from the Vista DVD and select "Startup repair"

Finally once you have Repaired your original Vista hard drive, then decide on installing another Vista hard drive again (as dual boot)

Removing the second hard drive leads to the same Recovery menu, where I tried using startup repair without any luck (it says that my Windows Vista has no boot errors). Is there anything I can do or should I reinstall everything ...

I've figured it might be an IDE/SATA incompatibility (Does these exist?).

[kimsland]

No,

no issue. Here we go this is where everyone replies what about this or what about that (driver and bios issues usually) But Windows can be installed on ATA and SATA without issue together. Hey, you can even have external USB drive with Windows.

So are you going to do a clean install?

And then start again with Dual Boot setup

[quakergamer]

No,

no issue. Here we go this is where everyone replies what about this or what about that (driver and bios issues usually) But Windows can be installed on ATA and SATA without issue together. Hey, you can even have external USB drive with Windows.

So are you going to do a clean install?

And then start again with Dual Boot setup

Well it looks like I'm forced to do so. Is there anything I should know about the Dual Boot setup... What I did the first time was to run the Vista CD from my main Vista installation and select the 2nd hard-drive as the target for the installation. Is this how I should do it again?

[smooth_criminal1990]

hmm, I'd say it's something to do with the boot sectors on the disks, nothing to do with IDE/SATA incompatibilities. I had terrible trouble doing a similar sort of thing but then I formatted the first harddrive. Of course, Windows being Windows, had thought I wanted to keep both installations, and given me the bootloader menu. The only problem with that is that the boot info resided on the first disk, so even trying to repair the second installation, the disk couldn't find it because all the booting information had been wiped.

Basically, the only thing I can see fixing this is a re-install of the original one, or using your windows CD to get a command prompt and using either "bootsect.exe" or "bcdedit.exe" to fix ur boot sector/bootloader, but be careful cos it may make things worse!! (only in terms of the bootsector that is, they won't erase any of your data or anything like that).

Anyway, those 2 programs are hell to use if you don't know them well, so u may just wanna re-install. This is surprisingly feasable with Vista, as it shoves any Windows, Program Files e.t.c folders in C: that clash with the new installation into a folder C:\Windows.old (if you trust it, and as long as you don't format the drive in the installation of course!!), so in theory you don't need to back anything up.

[kimsland]

How to Set up a dual-boot system: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/e...f4c0201033.mspx

But there are so many guides out there, its unbelievable :)

Also look here:

I installed a different Windows version and Windows Vista is no longer on the boot menu.: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/e...201033.mspx#EDH

Edited June 27, 2009 by kimsland

[quakergamer]

Thanks kimsland, this works like a charm. Your help is truly appreciated. See you around.