Member Avatar for Odie1978

I had a problem with my pc earlier with vista ultimate not wanting to boot if not installed on the sata 0, but now I downed Windows 7 beta and I want to use it in dual boot... is this possible??

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As and show, many people run Vista alongside Windows 7 on different SATA ports. The issue saw — Vista only booting when it was on SATA0 — usually happens because the Windows boot manager and the "System" (or System Reserved) partition live on a specific physical disk. Windows will put boot files on the disk the firmware treats as the boot device or on an existing active system partition, so changing ports or drive order can make an OS stop booting.

Practical, low-risk approach: make a full backup first. For a clean dual-boot, disconnect all other drives and install Windows 7 to a separate partition on the target disk; that forces the installer to write the boot manager to that same disk. Reconnect the other disks and set the BIOS/UEFI boot order to the drive you want. If you cannot disconnect drives, ensure the firmware boot order points to the intended disk before installing. Also make sure both OS installations use the same firmware mode (both Legacy/BIOS or both UEFI/GPT), because mixed modes do not share a single boot menu.

If booting breaks, boot from the Windows 7 install media and run Repair -> Startup Repair. If needed, open the Recovery Command Prompt and try these commands:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

You can also run bcdboot C:\Windows to rebuild the BCD. Proceed carefully when marking partitions active or changing firmware settings.

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Member Avatar for Doctor Inferno

Yes, I am running Vista dual booted with my Windows 7.

Member Avatar for jbennet

yup. Ive got xp on SATA 0 and Win 7 on SATA 1

Member Avatar for Odie1978

thx guys

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