Bcdboot syntax for Windows XP?

I am in the process of reconfiguring my desktop from a Windows 7 only machine to a Windows 10, 7 , XP multiboot system. I am aware of the option to use VMWare for the 7 and XP installs, but want to play with this option first.

My question is - Does the bcdboot command copy XP boot files to a system partition on a different drive? Both drives are in BIOS mode. If so, does the source include the \Windows folder name (e.g. E:\Windows ). I have seen this suggested in forum posts, so expect it is OK but it failed for me. I think I can explain it, but would like confirmation that it should work if my XP partition is OK.

The short explanation is that my XP partition is the active partition from a multiboot test, and still has some W10 boot manager files left in it (e.g. \boot\BCD) , so it is not looking for the XP boot.ini and NTLDR. Both the source and target are on MBR (legacy BIOS) drives. XP boots fine if I boot from the XP only drive.

I got a new HDD and SSD for my new setup, and will leave the existing W7 in place on the old drive as a fallback.

I have been testing the installs on my new HDD before doing the final installs on the SSD. I deleted all OS partitions except XP (which was the first, therefore active partition). I then installed W7 and W10 on the SSD. When trying to boot to the XP drive, I ran into W10 auto repair. Now I realize it got upset because the BCD pointed at missing partitions. I eventually got XP to boot again.

I plan to re-install XP again, this time it should not have W10 boot manager files. I am learning many things as I go, so don't mind tinkering.

Thanks for any answers!

Hi and welcome to tenforums.com,

First of all, I believe you shoudn't be using bcdboot with windows xp install (so, basicaly, there is no correct syntax). Since you are currently at a state of installing systems, I would recommend you follow this guide as it looks to fit your use case pretty well:

Installing XP as a second OS

I would also recommend you read through this, as it seems to be very good explanation of differences between boot process NTLDR vs post-vista BCD:

Windows XP

Hi Msprg,

Thanks for the response and the links to the articles. I was already aware of the differences between the newer boot manager and the older NTLDR. I had also read that EasyBCD substituted its own NTLDR program, so thought it was best to avoid this 3rd party utility. I notice in the write up it says it will display its own EasyBCD boot menu.

Since my first post, I deleted the XP partition, and reinstalled a clean XP. I tried the bcdboot command again, and it still failed. I conclude that bcdboot only works on boot manager type boot entries, not the older NTLDR type entries. I have found explanations of how do what I want using the bcdedit command. I will likely have time to play with it tomorrow.

I think I will try see if I can get it to work with bcdedit before resorting to EasyBCD.

Thanks again.

I have finally got my XP added and working in the W10 boot manager.

I used the bcdedit commands as described in the thread mentioned below to update the BCD.
I found out that the XP initial boot files must be copied from the XP boot partition root folder to the active partition on the SSD with the BCD - that is boot.ini, ntldr, NTDETECT.com .
I was getting boot errors - not finding the ntldr file. I had to turn off fast startup to get past this problem.
I also had to edit rdisk value in the boot.ini file in the BCD active partition. It was 0 on the XP HDD drive, it is rdisk(1) from the perspective of the BCD system partition.

After all this, I discovered it is actually quicker to just use the boot override (F11) from the restart splash screen to directly boot from the XP HDD partition. When booting from the BCD, the system resets after I select the XP boot option.






bootrec /rebuildbcd does not find Windows XP

JKB123 said:

I have finally got my XP added and working in the W10 boot manager.

I used the bcdedit commands as described in the thread mentioned below to update the BCD.
I found out that the XP initial boot files must be copied from the XP boot partition root folder to the active partition on the SSD with the BCD - that is boot.ini, ntldr, NTDETECT.com .
I was getting boot errors - not finding the ntldr file. I had to turn off fast startup to get past this problem.
I also had to edit rdisk value in the boot.ini file in the BCD active partition. It was 0 on the XP HDD drive, it is rdisk(1) from the perspective of the BCD system partition.

After all this, I discovered it is actually quicker to just use the boot override (F11) from the restart splash screen to directly boot from the XP HDD partition. When booting from the BCD, the system resets after I select the XP boot option.






bootrec /rebuildbcd does not find Windows XP

Hi there

Another possible issue with trying to fiddle BCDboot with multiple OS's is that unless you are running the 64 bit version of XP (was actually a good OS but didn't survive long due to lack of hardware drivers) is that you probably will have 32 bit OS (XP) and 64bit OS's (W7/W10). I think (not sure here BTW) that XP boot doesn't like UEFI boot either so some computers have a problem in that they need to set either UEFI or MBR to boot -- modern machines can handle this though - they will boot either without default having to be set. Some old machinesmight need the CSM module to be enabled for UEFI boot.

If you want a boot menu that can handle all the OS's from a single file - then you can use GRUB which seems to handle anything thrown at it - just install a minimal Linux (you don't need to actually use it !!!) and at grub install time the grub prompt will say "Check for other OS's on the Disk" and create appropriate boot entries. With grub you can also set default OS if you don't want to make a manual choice each time and you can set a delay so you can still select manually ifg you want but if nothing entered it will boot to your default OS.

Cheers
jimbo

Thanks for the tip but I am OK as is for my boot setup.

I do have the 32 bit XP, which does not handle GPT. I can set my BIOS to Legacy+UEFI boot, so I am OK. I prefer to stick with vanilla MS configurations, rather than introducing third party solutions. I could have tried EasyBCD, but wanted to try this way first. I hadn't noticed before, but even selecting W7 with the Boot manager sends me back to the BIOS reset page, I was thinking that only happened when selecting XP.

I like to tinker and find out how things work as I go, so don't mind doing things the hard way.