Vista 32 and 64 bit dual boot, cannot load either OS ElHombre86 <guest[ at ]unknown-email.com> 11/2/2008 2:40:03 PM Hi, I recently tried to set up a dual boot on my system with windows Vista 32 and 64 bit. In short, after installing my copy of vista 64 bit, I cannot boot into either OS. Here is what I did: 1. Defragmented my C: drive with PerfectDisk 2008. 2. Shrank my C: drive (500 gb) by 120 gb. 3. Created a partition on the unpartitioned space (everything good so far). 4. I restarted my computer with the 64 bit version of Vista on my drive. 5. Booted from the DVD and installed Vista 64 on the unpartitioned space. 6. During installation, the system boots and I am taken to the boot menu, I choose the 64 bit version to finish the installation. 7. After logging in into the 64 bit version, soon after the system restart by itself (I am guessing to install some updates) 8. The system boots and just before the boot menu appears, I got 2 screens flashing across the screen (too fast for me to read) and I am taken to "System Recovery Options". No matter what I do here, I can not get either OS to boot up (not even startup repair works). Some more info: 1. My copy of Vista 32 bit is OEM (Gateway). 2. After step 7 I tried restoring the system with the "Operation System Disc" that came with the computer and was able to log in into the 32 bit version of Vista. I did have to do a "factory restore", thank goodness I backed up my system before all this! 3. I no longer have a boot menu screen and if I try to use the 64 bit DVD to restore the start up for that OS, it does not even recognize the installation. Any suggestion? -- ElHombre86

Re: Vista 32 and 64 bit dual boot, cannot load either OS "John Barnes" <JBarnes[ at ]email.com> 11/2/2008 4:35:02 PM Normally the OEM system restore disks re-partition the drive to factory specs. Have you checked to see if you still have the new partition? Does your system have a recovery partition (usually hidden)? They often have their own MBR. When you say you installed on the unpartitioned space, did you create a partition and format it? "ElHombre86" <guest[ at ]unknown-email.com> wrote in message news:a0d02cf5905232434822569257ec49b5[ at ]nntp-gateway.com... [Quoted Text] > > Hi, I recently tried to set up a dual boot on my system with windows > Vista 32 and 64 bit. In short, after installing my copy of vista 64 bit, > I cannot boot into either OS. Here is what I did: > > 1. Defragmented my C: drive with PerfectDisk 2008. > 2. Shrank my C: drive (500 gb) by 120 gb. > 3. Created a partition on the unpartitioned space (everything good so > far). > 4. I restarted my computer with the 64 bit version of Vista on my > drive. > 5. Booted from the DVD and installed Vista 64 on the unpartitioned > space. > 6. During installation, the system boots and I am taken to the boot > menu, I choose the 64 bit version to finish the installation. > 7. After logging in into the 64 bit version, soon after the system > restart by itself (I am guessing to install some updates) > 8. The system boots and just before the boot menu appears, I got 2 > screens flashing across the screen (too fast for me to read) and I am > taken to "System Recovery Options". No matter what I do here, I can not > get either OS to boot up (not even startup repair works). > > Some more info: > 1. My copy of Vista 32 bit is OEM (Gateway). > 2. After step 7 I tried restoring the system with the "Operation System > Disc" that came with the computer and was able to log in into the 32 bit > version of Vista. I did have to do a "factory restore", thank goodness I > backed up my system before all this! > 3. I no longer have a boot menu screen and if I try to use the 64 bit > DVD to restore the start up for that OS, it does not even recognize the > installation. > > Any suggestion? > > > -- > ElHombre86

Re: Vista 32 and 64 bit dual boot, cannot load either OS ElHombre86 <guest[ at ]unknown-email.com> 11/2/2008 9:26:59 PM Thanks for the reply, but I got it working now! Here is what I did: After step 8, I booted from the OEM Vista DVD and did a fresh install (this is the 32 bit version that came with my system) on the partition that already had the 32 bit version, *not *a factory restore installation. Now I can log on either OS without issues. Now, if I can get my internet connection going, I will be set! -- ElHombre86