My laptop has Vista Home Basic preinstalled and 160 Gb hard disc has 3 partitions(1 hidden). Vista is installed on C and D was for DATA. I shrinked the D: drive by 15 GB for letting space for XP. Now when the XP installation completed successfully...Boom.. I can not log in to Vista. As we don't have a Vista DVD, i tried to fix the boot menu(BOOTCFG) using XP disk but in vain..it didn't detect the Vista atall(obvious). Now how can i successfully dual boot my system(especially when i don't have access to vista installation DVD). I have my Acer Factory default disc, but it will reload vista to C: and win XP will vanish from Boot. Is there a way out to add both Vista and Xp to boot menu without using a Vista DVD

"...I have my Acer Factory default disc, but it will reload vista to ..."

... try booting up with that disc to command prompt.

"...Vista is installed on C..."

... from >> vista ? >> C:

... from...> C:\Windows\System32

...type: bcdedit /enum [press ENTER * ]

***************************

... OR/

... as pc boots-up tapping F8 key
...select "safe mode command prompt" [ENTER]

... type: bcdedit /enum [press ENTER]

... Post the contents here

(* posted this a few times and I guess others have since fixed there problem without posting thx)

... sob lol

Grrrr
wat do I know?
... got brain freeze

There are programs out there that will add both Vista and Xp to the boot menu if you don't want to do it yourself. The problem is that XP should be installed first. Then you can install one of those programs, such as Vista Boot Pro:
http://www.vistabootpro.org/index-c...
I use it and have found it to work well. You might still be able to install Vista Boot Pro in XP and then modify it so that it allows you to boot into Vista. Hopefully you wree able to install all of the necessary drivers(such as for video, etc.) after you installed XP.

Personally I never understood Acer techniques of partitioning the HD to preinstall Vista in the way you described. While the hidden partition makes sense for recovery purpose, the relationship of drives C and D is beyond my comprehension. Now that the Taiwan-based Acer has acquired USA-based Gateway and UK-based Packer Bell... oh man.

i_Xp/VistaUser

This is what happens when folks throw all cautions to the wind.....

It is not a secret that XP will overwrite the existing Vista bootloader & you shouldn't have been surprised either. But seeing that you even attempted to repair Vista's bootloader using an XP disc, maybe you really didn't anticipate the result.

As easy as dual/multi booting is presented, if things are not done in the proper way: everything that can go wrong WILL go wrong .... take this as a lesson!

At this time, I suggest you download EasyBCD & use the program to reinstall Vista'a bootloader. Oh & BTW. One of these days, you might want to call Acer & order a set of factory discs specific to your machine. That way you at least have something before the next time you proceed with an invasive measure .... from what I've been told, it *shouldn't* cost you anything.

Consider using virtual machines too. Fast, free and they don't bork your system unless you try to do that.

I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you peanut.

Vista Home Basic Edition does not support Virtual Machine, still... if one plans to use a virtual machine inside Vista... Just imagine the Required Config... I m running Home Basic and my
physical memory is almost always more than 70% occupied, when I m doing absolutely nothing, imagine virtual Machine inside Vista.....

I hope i m not the only hopeless fellow. Now I m stuck up with vista. I have tried a microsoft article which describes how to fix the boot so that U can dual boot. I was stuck up with XP. After following the instructions in microsoft article, i could create a dual boot screen, where there are two options

Vista
Earlier versions of windows

I can logon to Vista, but when i select the "Earlier windows version" it shows a error. Details of Error I will be giving in the next message