Dual boot Win 7-Vista followup question

[tutor772]

OK, I know I am way jumping the gun here, but I feel "unprotected" without FD-ISR installed on my Windows 7 installation. I'd like to install it before my Win 7 installation gets too complicated, and even before the Win 7 compatible version is released.
Here's my setup. I had Vista setup as my C: drive--primary, active partition. Before installing Win 7, I created a new partition in front of the Vista partition. I then did a "custom install" of Win 7 into the new partition. Everything went well, and when I boot the computer, the Windows Boot Manager comes up and gives me the choice of booting to Win 7 or Vista. If I boot to Win 7, the Win 7 partition is listed as C: drive, and my old Vista install is the D: drive.
But, here's where I run into trouble with FD-ISR. The Win 7 C: drive is NOT the active partition--the Vista drive is. If I try to install FD-ISR in Win 7, it gives me the error message saying FD-ISR requires the installation drive to be the system boot drive. (Makes sense.) I used Acronis Disk Director Suite to change the Win 7 partition to the "active" partition, but when I reboot, I get the "NTLDR missing" error.
Is there any way to work around this problem? Or am I stuck without ever being able to install FD-ISR on Win 7?
Thanks for any suggestions.

[pandlouk]

Originally Posted by tutor772

OK, I know I am way jumping the gun here, but I feel "unprotected" without FD-ISR installed on my Windows 7 installation. I'd like to install it before my Win 7 installation gets too complicated, and even before the Win 7 compatible version is released.
Here's my setup. I had Vista setup as my C: drive--primary, active partition. Before installing Win 7, I created a new partition in front of the Vista partition. I then did a "custom install" of Win 7 into the new partition. Everything went well, and when I boot the computer, the Windows Boot Manager comes up and gives me the choice of booting to Win 7 or Vista. If I boot to Win 7, the Win 7 partition is listed as C: drive, and my old Vista install is the D: drive.
But, here's where I run into trouble with FD-ISR. The Win 7 C: drive is NOT the active partition--the Vista drive is. If I try to install FD-ISR in Win 7, it gives me the error message saying FD-ISR requires the installation drive to be the system boot drive. (Makes sense.) I used Acronis Disk Director Suite to change the Win 7 partition to the "active" partition, but when I reboot, I get the "NTLDR missing" error.
Is there any way to work around this problem? Or am I stuck without ever being able to install FD-ISR on Win 7?
Thanks for any suggestions.

Hi tutor772,

I do not get it. Since you do have the original/legendary FD-ISR workstation wouldn't it be simplier to install both Vista and 7 in different snapshots on the same partition?

Panagiotis

[tutor772]

Yes, that would make sense, wouldn't it? That's how I had Vista and XP installed--each in its own snapshot. Then I could boot to either by selecting the proper snapshot.
The reason I have Win 7 and Vista in their own partitions is that I want to be able to access both Vista and Win 7 at the same time. I want to be able to copy files from Vista to Win 7. If Win 7 and Vista are in separate partitions I can use my file manager to copy files back and forth. When they are in separate snapshots, I have to boot to the Vista snapshot, copy the files to another drive, then boot back into Win 7 and copy the files into Win 7. It's just more convenient for my use to have the operating systems in separate partitions.

[tutor772]

I think I answered my own question. I used Acronis Disk Director Suite to set the Win 7 partition "active". Then I followed the directions in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 927392 to "repair" my boot disk. The process is similar to that posted on the "mission accomplished" thread: boot to the Win 7 DVD, select Repair my computer, and let Windows do its thing. I had to do the "repair" twice before I could get to a command prompt, and then I used bootsec /fixmbr and bootsec /fixboot to repair everything. Knock on wood, it seems to be working. When I tried to install FD-ISR on Win 7, I received the "boot sector is an unknown type" error message--no surprise, I guess. I don't think I'll press my luck at this point, and I'll just wait for the Win 7 version of FD-ISR. After all, it's just over a week before the "within 30 days" deadline in the note from Todd, so I should be golden in a few days