[Dual Boot] Vista with XP

On my PC I use the following disks in the following order:
C:/ - Raid 0, 2x WD Raptor X 74GB - Windows Vista
D:/ - 1x WD Caviar SE 160GB - DATA disk (for data)
F:/ - 1x Hitachi DeskStar 160GB - Windows XP

I first had Windows Vista installed on my "C:/" disk. After that I immediately installed Windows XP on my "F:/" disk. Remember that "F:/" is an whole other drive then the "C:/" drive! So all this went well without trouble.

But then, as soon as I rebooted my PC I couldn't boot into Windows Vista and only Windows XP worked. Guess what; The bootsector of Windows Vista was either damaged or missing, I restored it using the 'restore-bootfiles' function from the Windows Vista DVD.

After doing so, I restarted my PC again, now Windows Vista worked fine but Windows XP didn't. The reason for this is kinda logical, Windows Vista uses another BootLoader than Windows XP does. The BootLoader of Windows Vista recognizes Windows XP but that's not the same the other way around. So basically it should work with the needed configuration.

For (*trying to set up*) setting up a Dual Boot I used EasyBCD 1.7, but it simply isn't working.

I made the following entries:

There are a total of 5 entries listed in the Vista Bootloader.
Bootloader Timeout: 30 seconds.
Default OS: Microsoft Windows Vista

Entry #1

Name:  Microsoft Windows XP
BCD ID:  {2ef9a694-80c2-11dc-a9ed-0018f3a7a9ac}
Drive: Active Boot Partition
Bootloader Path:  \NTLDR

Entry #2

Name:  Microsoft Windows XP (D:\)
BCD ID:  {2ef9a696-80c2-11dc-a9ed-0018f3a7a9ac}
Drive: Active Boot Partition
Bootloader Path:  \NTLDR

Entry #3

Name:  Microsoft Windows XP (F:\)
BCD ID:  {2ef9a698-80c2-11dc-a9ed-0018f3a7a9ac}
Drive: Active Boot Partition
Bootloader Path:  \NTLDR

Entry #4

Name:  Microsoft Windows XP (B:\)
BCD ID:  {2ef9a69a-80c2-11dc-a9ed-0018f3a7a9ac}
Drive: Active Boot Partition
Bootloader Path:  \NTLDR

Entry #5

Name:  Microsoft Windows Vista
BCD ID:  {current}
Drive:  C:\
Bootloader Path:  \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory:  \Windows

When choosing any of the above standing entries in the boot manager they all give the same message: "\NTLDR missing". I browsed on the "F:/" disk searching for either "NTLDR" and "boot.ini", they both were present undamaged.

This is the boot.ini file on the "F:/" disk (Windows XP that is):

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

The boot.ini has probably nothing to do with all this because Windows Vista uses another kind of BootLoader. I'm completely lost and I don't know how to continue. So is there anyone that's able to help me?

EDIT:
I just noticed that in every Windows XP entry it says: "Active Boot Partition". While I'm 100% sure that I took all the available drive letters. The drive letters behind every "Windows XP" entry refer to the drive letter I took in EasyBCD. I also used VistaBootPRO, but as soon as I click "Run Diagnostics" there's only Windows Vista in the list. And that's what kinda bothers me because yesterday it also detected my Windows XP installation..

Might not work, but hey I'm thinking aloud.

Boot into BIOS, change the drive you want to boot into. Say Change the drive you boot from to E when you want Vista or C when you want XP... or whatever.

Fiddly, but it works (I think)

This isn't really a fix but a story...

When I first installed Vista on this PC I knew I'd need XP aswell, so I installed XP first and when installing split the hard drive into two equallly sized paritions on the XP install screen, that way I could easily install Vista too.

Everything ran fine until one day I was looking around disk management and wondered why Vista didn't have the same properties as XP given it was an OS aswell, I clicked something and made Vista the same as XP - Make Partition Active  I think it was, it suddenly stopped looking for the MBR on XP and looked on Vista and couldn't find it there, so I stuck in my Vista disc and autorepaired it and Vista came on fine. However XP wasn't there at all apparently, thankfully I had nothing in XP and just deleted it, that drive is now my games partition

Hahaha, well this wasn't meant as a story but uhm.. I just need a fix for that. [C] Been struggling for about 2 weeks with this problem now, but on about 10 different forums not even one person came up with a fix. How come?

sorry I didn't mean yours was a story, I meant mine was!

Sadly I have little idea how to actually fix it because I don't fiddle around much in boot files and such, if something goes wrong I just format it and cross my fingers!

I have the same problem, all I do is insert the XP cd when booting and it boots into XP, when I want to boot into Vista, I just take outthe CD...Hey, it works for me

I completely formatted my computer, including ALL harddrives. I firstly installed Windows XP on my Hitachi drive, after that I immediately installed Windows Vista on my Raid 0 disk setup. All this went smooth without any problems.

The only problem I'm facing now is that when I turn on my PC it automatically boots into Windows Vista. It doesn't even give me a choice whether to choose Windows XP or Windows Vista. With other words, it doesn't show me the Operating System selection screen.

Anyone an idea how to solve this?

There should be a "Press [some key] to enter boot menu" that comes up when you boot. This will let you choose boot device.

That's how change between xp and ubuntu.

With VistaBootPRO I configured everything correctly via Windows Vista. I now can see the operating system selection screen again. But yet again, as soon as I choose Windows XP it gives me the warning that the boot.ini file is not correct. It also gives the message that it's trying to boot from "C:\WINDOWS" while (as far as I know) it should be "D:\WINDOWS". So with other words, it's just something wrong in the boot.ini file, is there anyone that knows how to edit it? Probably it's searching on the wrong disk if that's possible.

Current boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

I've dual booted Vista/XP and Vista/Linux quite easily.

there is a msdn article about Vista/XP here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927817

In short: The boot block between XP and Vista are incompatible, you'll need to use Vista's boot block to map to the older XP boot, I beleive the other way around is impossible. Vista also doesn't use the boot.ini files but it maintains this for dual-booting into a previous version of Windows.
VistaBootPro sets up the Vista boot menu for dual boot for you. Otherwise there's a command line tool for adjusting your boot menu provided with Vista

I did follow that guide, but it didn't get me far. Whatever I changed in the boot.ini file, it ended up with the same message as before: (exact)
Invalid BOOT.INI file
Booting from C:\windows\
NTDETECT failed


I also experimented with VistaBootPRO but that didn't get me any further actually. The only difference I had once was the error message I got when selecting Windows XP. It said (in Vista's-boot-loader-style) that it couldn't fine /NTLDR.

So it's probably my RAID setup that's making things unable to boot. Anyone an idea?

I think this link tells you how to restore the xp boot files near the bottom.

Weird, the installation order XP then Vista usually works automatically. Then again, I've never tried it on a RAID setup.

Before I even forget to mention!
I just found out that every time I start VistaBootPRO it gives me the following message:

Any chance that this is the bottleneck?