Please help me with os selector and windows 7

Before I make any changes to the file, can you answer the following questions:

Was there an OS previously installed in the Primary partition? If so, what was it?

The partition size shown for the Primary partition is closer to 58GB, not 40GB. Is that correct?

Was the "old Windows" entry in the BOOTWIZ.OSS file added by OSS or did you do it? This will be replaced by the Windows 7 entry.

Thanks for attaching the file and not pasting it into the post.

 

There was Windows 7

I cut 20 Gb for disk M: and now there only 40 Gb. I'm really confused about this, so i tried to reninstall OSS. New BOOTWIZ.txt in attach.

No, I didn't change anything.

 

The partition size looks correct now. It just wasn't updated after you made the change.

The "old Windows" entry was actually a CD entry so it shouldn't be a problem.

Here is the updated file. See if it works.

 

OK, now OSS recognized Windows 7. I activated OSS and rebooted a notebook.
But OSS doesn't load at start.
Acronis Loader No configuration file present

I saw this message before, but then it's gone! OSS loaded correctly, but before it didn't recognize Windows 7. Now this message again
What am I to do?

 

Did you reactivate OSS from the DD/OSS CD or from Windows?

You might try deactivating it and reactivating it and seeing if that makes a difference.

 

What I did
1. Reactivate OSS from Windows.
2. Reboot
3. Fix MBR with Windows 7 installation disk
4. Reactivate OSS from Windows again
and this message again:
Acronis Loader: No configuration file present

 

Try reactivating OSS from the DD/OSS CD. If you didn't include the OSS programs on you DD CD, create a new CD with Media Builder and include them.

Which partition contains the main OSS files?

 

Partition C:

 

Hello Mr.MudCrab, you are really helpful person, I have installed Windows 7 on my C: drive and I have Drive D: which I will install MaxOSX on it but first I installed OSS and I dont find the windows 7 shortcut, I've attached the bootwiz.oss so you can tell me what exactly I need to do so I can find the shortcut on OS Selector.
thanks

 

blueman2010,

Try this file and see if it works.

 

Hello again, been a while but I'm back

Just installed Windows 7, OSS can't see it or discover it. There are 2 IDE disks. It is located on partition 5, Disk 2 according to DD. (as opposed to Vistas Computer Manager starts counting disks at "0", I guess DD wanted to be more consumer friendly)

I found bootwiz.oss on the Vista partition

 

Would it be possible to post a screenshot of what DD shows for your partitions in Manual Mode?

Did you install Windows 7 to a Logical partition? If so, which partition is the booting partition?

 

I believe it is on a Primary. I assume the boot partition is the one containing the bootwiz.oss file? If so then the VISTA (C) is the boot partition

 

When you installed Windows 7, did you hide the Vista and XP partitions and set the Windows 7 partition Active?

When you boot Vista, do you get a menu asking if you want to boot Vista or Windows 7?

When you boot into Windows 7, which partition does Disk Management label as the (Boot) partition?

 

1. Nothing was hidden
2. After I select "Vista" from teh Acronis OS selector, it goes to another DOS OS selector choosing from Win 7 or Vista! (no XP!)
3. For some reason, I can't boot into Win 7 now! It goes into a repair mode (for about an hour) only to indicate it can't be fixed with error reporting going to Microsoft. The error was that the boot something couldn't be found.

 

Do you have a problem reinstalling Windows 7? Currently, it's booting from the Vista partition. This is not optimal and may cause more problems later. They can probably be separated, but it may be quicker and easier to just reinstall.

If you do reinstall, make sure to make the Windows 7 partition Active and hide the XP and Vista partitions before you install it. The installer will still see the other partitions so make sure you select the Windows 7 partition as the destination partition.

 

Fantastic work Mudcrab - Here's my dilemma:
I've been sucessfully multibooting via OSS Build 2160
As can be seen on the attached, I have 3 NTFS [Primary] partitions and several Logicals [Linux]. Life was good until Windows 7RC - 7100 arrived. I have been unable to boot it and everything else - after installation in the 'F' partition.
Attached is the Bootwiz.txt file from the Vista installed in the adjacent 'D' partition, as well as the Disk Management map.
Upon receiving your modified 'bootwiz.txt' file - do I insert it into a freshly re-installed Windows 7 [F] partition and then reboot - expecting that (a) OSS will detect the partition and (b) allow booting into it?
Thanks for your instructions, in advance.

 

jahLux,

It looks like each Windows is using the same booting (Active) partition. Is that correct?

How are you booting now if OSS wouldn't boot into any OS?

When you installed Windows 7, I assume you didn't set the Windows 7 partition Active and hide the other two. Can you verify this?

It makes it much harder when you get them tangled, especially when using another boot manager.

 

1. Correct.That's because MS gives no options as to where the boot record will be written.

2.I go in with the desired Installation Disc and do [fixmbr or bootrec.exe fixmbr] as is appropriate and as you've noted that boots XP or Vista from either of the two different OSS options.

3. I'm willing to re-install the Vista and Windows 7 partitions, but doing it right this time.

You're correct, they're TANGLED, but I'm sure they can be untangled - any guidance you could provide would be welcomed.
Cheers

PS: How do I 'SetActive' and "Hide" - I use GParted to partition the HDD.

 

I would recommend getting the booting setup fixed before trying to fix OSS. OSS will just have problems again if you fix it now and then untangle the booting.

GParted should have options to hide partitions as well as setting a partition Active (it may flag it as the "boot" partition). I usually use DD or BING to manage my partitions, so I'm not that familiar with GParted.

Do you have a current backup image of your entire drive? If you have the storage space for this, it's highly recommended.

What you want to do is to get each OS booting from its own partition. It's also recommended that the other Windows partitions be hidden (especially when installing and setting up another Windows OS). The Windows installer will always add its booting files to the currently Active partition. If this partition already contains Windows, it will take it over and add itself.

First, get one OS booting normally. XP may be the easiest one to start with.

1. Boot to the DD CD and start DD. Select to use the Manual Mode.
2. Set the XP partition Active (it probably already is, in which case the option won't be available and DD will show it as "Pri,Act").
3. Hide the Vista and Windows 7 partitions.
4. Apply the changes.
5. Boot to the XP CD and enter the Recovery Console.
6. Type the following commands at the prompt (you've probably done this before):
7. fixmbr
8. fixboot
9. This will reset the MBR and boot sector back to the XP standard.
10. XP should now boot automatically when you boot the computer.

When you're ready to install the next Windows OS, proceed as follows:

1. Boot to the DD CD and start DD. Select to use the Manual Mode.
2. Set the partition you're going to install to as Active and hide the other two Windows partitions. Apply the changes.
3. Boot to the Windows DVD and install Windows. Make sure to select the correct partition (Vista and Windows 7 will show the hidden partitions in the list). I also recommend you format the destination partition at this point using the Windows installer (this is especially important if it was formatted using DD). The quick format is fine and, I think, the default for Vista and Windows 7.
4. Once Windows is installed, it should boot into it automatically when you boot the computer.
5. To install the next Windows, just repeat the instructions.

At this point, each Windows OS should be installed to and booting from its own partition. To switch between them you would just boot to DD, set the desired partition Active and hide the other two.

Next, OSS can be installed. To help avoid problems, I would proceed as follows:

1. Make sure your DD CD has the OSS programs included on it. If it doesn't, use the Acronis Media Builder program and create a new CD that does. It's very helpful to have these programs on the CD if you can't get into Windows.
2. Boot to the DD CD and start DD. Select to use the Manual Mode.
3. Setup to boot into XP (set the XP partition Active). UNHIDE (this is important) the other two Windows partitions. ALL Windows partitions should be visible (not hidden). This is to avoid a bug in OSS.
4. Apply the changes.
5. Reboot to the DD CD and select to reactivate OSS. OSS should still have all the Linux OS entries. It should detect XP and, possibly, Vista. Hopefully, it will detect at least XP. If there are "old" Windows entries that are now invalid, you can delete them.

Finally, post a copy of the BOOTWIZ.OSS file (like you did before) so I can see the current version and make the corrections needed to boot Vista and Windows 7.

 

Thanks, in advance. I'll 'attack' the task over the W/E [Mother's Day w/e - ouch] and report back!

 

Followed your advice on modding the bootwiz.oss file to boot windows 7 using the os selector . Awesome - never would have even thought about trying that. Tyvvvm - you made my day. Now I just need an appropriate Windows 7 icon .

Well I actually just stopped in to thank you, but as long as I'm here-
If I clone Win 7 with TI 11 (101) before I create the partitions I'll be copying it to, and then I hide the originial partition before I copy the clone to a new partition, will I have a stable setup or will I have to do all that 'modifying the registry stuff'? (or should I just stick with multiple installations?)

I hope they pay you well Mud - u da man

 

It sounds more like you intend to create an image and then restore it to the new partition instead of doing a real cloning procedure.

I think you should be okay as long as you hide any other Windows partitions and restore the new partition as Active. It should be stable.

If it doesn't work, you can post back with the problem (probably best in a new thread) or you could use DD to copy the partition (though this method requires manual modification of the BCD file since DD won't make any booting corrections).

 

Hey again, a couple things:

1. Did you know that if I set my Win 7 partition to Active it instantly sets the adjacent partition as "Unallocated"? Just wipes it right off the map! (The 'F' drive in my screenshot above) You can see this happen in realtime using Computer Management from Windows. I have to use the DD recovery module to get it back. Scared the crap out of me. I made backups of the image files on that partition now.

2. I hid the XP partition from the OSS disk, then tried to "get it back on the menu" but I can't seem to do so...? I'll proceed after I get it figured out (with a hint or two!)

 

hello, (I am using a translator because I speak Spanish)
I need your help, I can not find the file BOOTWIZ.OSS in windows 7 have read their posts but not
I understand a lot, I have three partitions on my hard drive
sata of 160 gb: winxp (c) 13gb; cosas (d) 111gb and win7 (h) 18.5 GB and others: linux swap 502mb; ext3 5.546 gb
I need the BOOTWIZ.OSS I can say as I can
out, look in the folder but not BOOTWIZ of win7
appeared,