Help: Vista BCDedit location

1732 Views 4 Replies 2 Participants Last post by getbigtony, Nov 24, 2009

getbigtony

Discussion Starter · Nov 22, 2009

Hey fellow OCNers,

Could anyone tell me where the bcdedit file in vista is located? I was trying to remove my whole server2008 partition, first by removing the boot menu and just keeping XP. I deleted both w/ easyBCD and now it won't boot. I thought that naturally, the XP boot.ini file would take over, but nope. I left my book of cds at my cousins house 100miles away so i can't use that. So i'm trying to hook up that hard drive to another computer, and accessing the file to edit it.

After finding where it is, can it be edited, since it's not going to be on this boot drive, but a second hard drive.

Why I concluded the XP boot.ini would take over: First tried to delete server08 boot selection in XP, but it only stated XP was there, so I switched OS to remove them all.

Thanks,
-Tony

If it cannot be edited, would deleting the whole server08 partition enable the boot.ini in XP to take over?

Yes, I've searched for the past hour and came up with no results.

Save

1 - 5 of 5 Posts

billbartuska

· #2 · Nov 22, 2009

You're confused about how post and boot work.

At post a snipet of code from the boot sector on the boot drive is read into memory and executed. This code runs the boot loader. If you delete the boot loader, no post. If you modify the boot loader, you are still using the old (Vista/Win7) boot loader, just calling the XP boot loader with it.

Do your OS deletion and run an XP repair install. That will overwrite the code on the boot sector of the boot drive and it will then call the XP boot loader (boot.ini).

Save

getbigtony

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 22, 2009

all my software/OS discs are 100miles away, so i can't do xp boot repair
i'm gonna keep the drive until i get the discs, but wonder if i can do windows7 upgrade on a blank drive
i've read i can install and leave the key blank, then activate w/ key after it is installed
i ask this because i received my windows7 upgrade disc last week in the mail

EDIT: installed windows7 on another hard drive and xp boot selection came back up

Save

billbartuska

· #4 · Nov 24, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by getbigtony

...wonder if i can do windows7 upgrade on a blank drive

EDIT: installed windows7 on another hard drive and xp boot selection came back up

ARRRGGGGHHH!

Win7 Install "sees" the XP install and, when it modifies the boot sector, leaves the XP boot loader intact and calls it as an option also.

You could pull out the XP HDD and install Win7 to the other HDD, then put the XP HDD back in. Then you have to choose a different boot disk to boot the other OS (two boot sectors). But that leads to many, many unintended consequences.

As for doing a clean install with a Win7 upgrade disk, that's contrary to the EULA. But Google is your friend.

See less See more

Save

getbigtony

Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 24, 2009

it didn't recognize my server08 partition though
not that i really care about that, since i wanted to rid my drive of it anyway

on the windows7 part, i just put custom and left the cdkey blank; it did it's purpose, but this disc is only 32-bit! i need to burn my 64bit discs that i got from msdnaa or whatever

Save

1 - 5 of 5 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month