OSS and Vista...

Hi everybody,

I've read a lot of what is here regarding OSS and Vista, and need someone to look at my BOOTWIZ file to fix it up for me. I have an OEM Vista, and borrowed a Vista disk to try to fix the boot sector, but got nowhere. (My system did not come with a disk.) OSS will not recognize my Vista partition, and I cannot get it to see anything in my DVD drive either for some reason. From what I have read, BOOTWIZ.OSS is the file you guys need to make Vista visible (?)

My system has three partitions on it - one is a hidden restoration partition, one is the C drive (Vista). This partition is called "OS". I recently partitioned a third partition to install Win 7, and this partition is called "Win7 OS".

If possible, could someone edit my BOOTWIZ file so I can get my Vista to be recognized by OSS?
And, could I get a second set of BOOTWIZ edits for my future upgrade to having a dual boot?

If there is only time to do one, please fix my current setup with Vista alone.

I really appreciate any help you guys can provide.

Dave

 

Dave,

Try the attached file for Vista (I assume you know to rename it back to BOOTWIZ.OSS and use it in place of the original).

If Windows 7 isn't already installed, OSS will probably fuss if I enter it in the file. When you install Windows 7, make sure to hide the Vista partition and make the Windows 7 partition Active. Otherwise, the Windows 7 booting files will end up on the Vista partition and cause problems with OSS. See if this file works okay for Vista and then repost your file when you're ready for Windows 7 to be added.

 

Mudcrab,

You absolutely rock! Thank you very much. System is up and running again. I do plan on installing Win 7 either today or tomorrow. If you have time to build that bootwiz for the dual boot Vista/Win 7, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you again!
Dave

 

A new problem arose. Whenever I tried to reboot, I get to Acronis OSS and if I wait for the OSS GUI to load, I get one long continuous beep, and the system freezes there. If I can catch OSS beforehand by hitting F6, it will take me to a menu showing Vista and I can boot normally. Any idea what is causing this?

Thanks!
Dave

 

Just so it's clear, Windows 7 needs to be installed first before it's added to the BOOTWIZ.OSS file.

An example installation would be this:

1. Deactivate OSS (don't uninstall it). Select Vista as the default OS.
2. Boot to the DD CD and set the Windows 7 partition Active and hide the Vista partition. Apply the changes.
3. Boot to the Windows 7 DVD and install it.
4. Once Windows 7 is installed and booting properly, boot back to the DD CD and reactivate OSS. Then post the BOOTWIZ.OSS file again so Windows 7 can be added. (If you don't have the OSS programs on your DD CD, you can also reactivate OSS by booting to the DD CD and using DD to set the Vista partition Active and hiding the Windows 7 partition and then booting into Vista and running OSS in Vista.)

 

Does this hold true if I have WinXP already installed and want to install Win 7 to a different partition?

Thanks

 

It's what I would do for any Windows installation. This gets OSS out of the way while the new OS is being installed.

 

Done, this is the bootwiz from the Vista partition. Currently the Win7 partition is hidden (Win7 installed and it boots fine) and OSS is disabled with Vista as the primary OS. Below is the BOOTWIZ.OSS after installing WinRC7 and booting back into Vista. (Unfortunately, WinRC7 does not currently support my Linksys network adapter, so I will be using Vista until the driver is posted online.)

Thanks for the help, Mudcrab. You rock.

Dave


Oh, both partitions think they are the C drive since I followed your directions of hiding and unhiding to install WinRC7. I don't know if that will come into play with the BOOTWIZ.OSS file adaptation.
My desired partition naming is to have the C drive (485 GB) as the Vista partition and the D drive (100GB) as the Win7 partition. There is a 100GB hidden partition for system restoration (it's a Gateway).

Please check the below BOOTWIZ.OSS for any issues that would cause OSS to freeze as the GUI loads er this thread: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=242434 (Note the BOOTWIZ.OSS in the link to the left is before I installed Win 7. The BOOTWIZ.OSS attached below is more current.)

 

That's how it should be. In fact, even if you didn't follow my instructions, the installer would still have assigned C: to the "main" partition. However, the boot partitions would have become tangled.

Please don't go down that road. It's better to keep the booted Windows partition as C:. Changing it to another drive letter can cause all sorts of problems. With Vista and Windows 7, it's even harder to do because it pretty much forces C: as the Windows partition (which is a good thing).

I think it's more like 10GB.

---

I've attached the updated BOOTWIZ.OSS file with the Windows 7 entry added.

I don't know what is causing the beeping problem and the lock-up. Has anything changed between when OSS was working and when it started doing this? Any BIOS changes? Drive changes (including any media card readers, external drives connected, etc.)?

Is Legacy USB Support enabled in the BIOS?

Are you using a USB keyboard and a USB mouse?

 

Thanks, Mudcrab.

The only reason I am concerned about both drives being "C:" is because of files I had planned to share between them. But, I can always create a data drive to share between the two, which is what I do on my XP/OS X dual boot laptop.

You are correct, it is 10GB.

No drive changes, although my built-in media readers alternate between being seen and not seen. I am unsure if I am using Legacy USB support in the BIOS, but will check. I am using a USB mouse, but a PS2 keyboard. I didn't change anything between boots to cause OSS to begin beeping. The system booted fine once and then the second time (and all subsequent) it would beep when it started loading the GUI. Hopefully, the work I have done disabling and reenabling with the dual boot here will correct the issue. I will let you know.

Thanks again.
Dave

 

Mudcrab,

I reactivated OSS via the DD boot disk, and there was a Windows 7 icon there, but it had a red X on it and would not boot to that OS. It boots to Vista fine through OSS. I am using the BOOTWIZ.OSS you posted in your last post. Any ideas why it wouldn't see the OS?

The beeping issue is gone now. I guess when I installed DD on the Win 7 partition, it corrected whatever glitch was there.

Would installing DD and selecting Activate OSS during the installation have caused the Win 7 partition to not be seen in OSS? There is no BOOTWIZ.OSS on the Win 7 partition in the BOOTWIZ folder. Should I copy the file you provided in the Win 7 partition's BOOTWIZ folder?

Thanks!
Dave

 

Just post the current BOOTWIZ.OSS file. It's possible that OSS changed the ID value of the Windows 7 partition. I can also try using a different OS ID.

 

Here you go. Thanks,
Dave

 

The partition ID value did change. OSS updated it in the partitions section, but didn't update the booting partition value.

See if this works.

 

That did the trick! Now, it's a fully functioning dual-boot Vista/Win7 system. Thanks!

One last question - If I repartition to create a data drive that cane be seen by both systems, will I need a new bootwiz file, or will OSS automatically change it correctly now?

Thanks!
Dave

 

OSS should retain the existing partition ID values. I've moved and resized partitions without OSS having a problem. The main thing is to not remove the existing partition (move it or resize it). If you remove the partition and then recreate it, OSS will probably assign a new ID and it won't update it for "unrecognized" OS entries.

 

Are you equating removing and resizing partitions as both having the same effect on the parition's ID? I would have to take part of the Vista drive to make a partition for data. I don't plan on moving paritions around, just reducing the size of the Vista partition to make a data drive.

I could always just buy another drive. A 500GB drive is not very expensive...

Thanks,
Dave

 

OSS keeps track of the partition ID values in the BOOTWIZ.OSS file and in the BOOTWIZ folder on each partition. Whatever happened (or whatever you did) that caused the ID to change, OSS did update the BOOTWIZ.OSS file. The problem is that it does not completely update OS entries that it didn't create or it doesn't redetect. It's a simple fix and one I can show you how to do if it comes up again.

OSS sometimes does funny things so I can't say for sure that moving and/or resizing a partition won't cause a problem in this case. However, I think it should be okay.

Any partitioning procedure that changes the partition will cause OSS to "redetect" it. I'm assuming if it finds a valid ID on the partition, it will continue to use it. If you delete the partition or reformat it and the ID is lost, OSS will most likely reassign a new ID. I say "most likely" because if the new partition created exactly matches the old partition, OSS may reassign the previous ID to the partition. I haven't run tests on this, so I'm just guessing.

If it were me, I'd just go ahead and do the resize.

 

I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks!

 

I have the same problem on my notebook. Vista Ultimate was already installed on it. After installing of OSS it doesn't see Vista (DD 2161). Is this possible to fix my oss if I'll send it?

 

Just in case. Here is my bootwiz.oss

 

v_sarzhinskiy,

I'm assuming that Vista is on the second Primary partition (size @ 185.26GB).

Try the attached file and see if it will boot into Vista.