Acronis OS selector doesn't recognize XP

Discussion in 'Acronis Disk Director Suite' started by Scareface, Feb 13, 2008.

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  1. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    I'm having some problems whit Acronis OS selector (Acronis Disk director 10 build 2610), this is my situation:

    - hard disk nr.1 whit Win Vista Ultimate [ITA]
    - hard disk nr.2 whit Win Xp Pro SP2 [ITA]


    both are formatted as primary NTFS and have no partions


    getting a dual boot should be very easy: install the OS selector, he recognizes automatically the present operating sistems.

    but Acronis OS selector won't recognize correctly Windows XP, it says unknowing Operating system, trying to attemp booting I get this error message

    http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=immaginexk2.jpg

    - booting Windows Vista with Acronis OS selector is no problem
    - I tried installing Acronis OS selector on the Vista hard disk, on the XP hard disk, and on both: the result is always the same
    - setting the XP hard disk as first (via BIOS) booting is ok

    any idea what I did wrong?!

    thanks for support!

    cheers,

    .:scare:.
     
  2. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Were you dual-booting XP and Vista before installing OSS?
    If so, what method were you using (BIOS boot order, Vista's boot manger, etc.)?

    You probably didn't do anything wrong. OSS sometimes doesn't detect an OS correctly. Take a look a this thread: Windows XP detected as "Unknown". The idea is to fix the XP entry in the BOOTWIZ.OSS file so it's correct. Yours won't be the same as in that thread, but the same process is used.

    Also, take a look at this thread: Need help with dual boot Vista & XP. Since you're using separate disk, you may need to make sure your Disk Order is correct for each OS.

    If you want to attach your BOOTWIZ.OSS file to a post, I'll take a look at it. You'll need to make a copy of the file and rename the copy to BOOTWIZ.TXT to be able to attach it.
     
  3. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    thanks for answering!

    UPDATE:


    as the XP hard disk was giving me an error by OSS and I was not able to boot correctly so I reinstalled XP again.

    Now I get this error message booting up the machine:
    Error reading the disk.
    Press CTRL + ALT + CANC to reboot


    in order to boot Vista or XP I have to disconnect the cables of the other Hard disk!o_O (boot device order, via BIOS, seems not related as I tried several combinations)

    I have no idea on ho on how to fix that, I didn't had that problem before.

    yes, I tried whitout success EasyBCD and VistaBoot PRO.
    now both unistalled.

    I had a look to this two threads, in particular the second situation is very similar to mine one.

    I will attach you the bootwiz.oss file when I've fixed the error message problem.


    thanks again
     
  4. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    well I managed to fix the problem mentioned before, now I've got Vista and XP installed on two different HD, OSS won't recognize XP.


    here is the file bootwiz.sys (found in the folder C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\MediaBuilder I hope it's the right file)

    I had a look to the file with notepad but I unterstand almost nothing, seems to be something like hex coded...


    thanks for hepling!
     

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  5. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    The file you need to attach is the BOOTWIZ.OSS file (it's a text file).

    It will be in a hidden folder name BOOTWIZ on the drive in which you installed OSS. You may have to enable viewing of hidden and system files in order to find it.
     
  6. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    thanks,
    finally I found it in the folder C:\BOOTWIZ
     

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  7. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    I made some changes to the XP entry in the BOOTWIZ.OSS file:
    Code:
    		<id1925675963 boot_as_ms71="0" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="2494965522" bootname="bootsect.sys" icon="icon_sys_win" language="english" lba="1" multi="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS" name_template="XP Pro" nthide="0" os_type="ntxp" uninstall_info="1" use_manual_disks_order="1" write_boot="1">
    			<partitions>
    				<id3691833568 active="1" />
    				<id2494965522 active="1" />
    				<id177906252 active="1" />
    			</partitions>
    			<disks>
    				<disk bios_num="129" id="1859322489" />
    				<disk bios_num="128" id="2767143932" />
    				<disk bios_num="130" id="1970242969" />
    			</disks>
    		</id1925675963>
    Since this is changing several settings, you'll need to verify that the Disk Order is correct along with your other settings. You may also need to verify that the boot.ini file for XP is correct. Check this from the boot files in OSS for the XP entry.

    Before replacing or editing the existing BOOTWIZ.OSS file with these changes be sure to make a backup of the original file.

    If you have further problems, can you provide more details on the process you used to install Vista and XP? For example, did you install each OS with only that OS's drive connected? Which OS did you install first? Did you get Vista's boot manager involved? Etc.
     

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  8. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    :cool: great it's now working!

    thank you very much for helping!!


    cheers,

    scareface
     
  9. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Did you have to make any changes to the settings in OSS or did it work by just using the modified BOOTWIZ.OSS file?
     
  10. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    I just replaced the old bootwiz file whit the new one, and it works.

    the last desire I have is to hide the XP hard disk from vista whitout influencing OSS. I tried disabling the HD but obviously OSS goes crazy
     
  11. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    If hiding the XP partition for the Vista OSS entry doesn't work, you should be able to use Vista's Disk Management and unassign a drive letter to the XP partition. That way it won't show up in My Computer.
     
  12. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    sadly I'm having again problems whit the OSS:

    while booting the machine the sequent message appears:

    Starting Acronis Loader...

    Acronis Loade: No configuration file present.

    Press <Enter> to reboot..._


    obviously pressing enter the same message appears again and again, as a result of this I'm not able to boot MS Vista.


    Thinking that something changed in the bootwiz.oss file (even if I did no changes) I accessed the vista HD via XP and overwrited again the bootwiz file whit that one you attached here.
    No luck.

    I think I should be able fixing the vista boot via comand prompt in the recovery utility included in the vista disk.


    What can be the cause of the problem?!
    How to fix it? How to prevent that it happens again??

    please help!

    cheers,

    scareface
     
  13. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    well I managed to fix the problem. Everything is working fine now.

    What to do to prevent that this happens again?
    Are there any programs that are not compatible whit OSS?!
     
  14. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    What did you do to fix the problem?
     
  15. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    I used the command promt (bootrec.exe /fixmbr and bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd) in the recovery tool included in the vista cd.

    Then I reactivated the OSS.


    I still do not understand what caused the problem.
     
  16. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Did you try reactivating OSS before you used the Vista DVD to fix it?

    There may not have been anything wrong with your Vista booting files. The problem may have only been with OSS.
     
  17. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    No: I was not able to reactivate OSS whitout using the vista DVD because I was not able to boot vista, where the OSS is installed.

    I was thinking about that too, but I can not match what caused the problem.
     
  18. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    If you have included the OSS programs on your DD CD, you can install, reinstall, activate and deativate OSS from the CD. This is normally what I would have tried first (reactivating from the DD CD).

    There's nothing wrong with how you did it, though. When reactivated, OSS will find its files and put things back like they were.
     
  19. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    thanks!

    an other question:
    from time to time OSS deactivates whitout that I do anything to I it.
    The acronis boot menu does not appear and Vista boots (as I set the vista HD as primary in the bios)
    In order to reactivate I've to open OSS selector from the program list and choose Activate OS Selector, than OSS works. Until it deactivates again.

    It's not really a problem but's annoying.
     
  20. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    I think I have had that happen a few times in testing and possibly once on my running machine. I don't know what causes it. I have had OSS do this to external USB drives when it takes over the MBR of the drive. Perhaps OSS is taking over itself on the internal...

    Try and notice if it just happens or if it only happens after another program has run or a particular situation has occurred.

    It can be really hard to track down the causes of problems that only happen once in a while.
     
  21. Scareface

    Scareface Registered Member

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    I'm getting increasingly this error message, while booting:
    It's really annoying because I've always to rebuild the vista bcd from scratch (via the installation cd).

    maybe all this problems are someway related to vista? could a installation of OSS on the xp hd reduce the compatibility problems!?

    really no idea about this
    My most frequently used programs are firefox, IE7, MS office, google Ea, nero, corel draw, cc cleaner and a few more...


    thnx for support!;)
     
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