[Ad Lib]

I have a dual-boot of XP Professional and Windows 7. They are on separate primary partitions C and E (D is DVD-Drive) of the same SATA HDD.

I changed the "Active" partition to the E partition, and now when I boot-up, I get the following error:

NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

My version of Windows 7 was an exe (rather than ISO) download from Microsoft and resides on the XP partition as a result. I no longer have the XP Professional recovery disk as the PC is years old, although I have found another Dell XP Home Edition installation/recovery disk.

What I'd Googled seemed to suggest that the problem would be solved by copying back boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com back across to c:\i386 in Windows XP recovery and that it shouldn't be a problem relevant to Windows 7 which doesn't use said files.

I tried using the XP Home Recovery disk on the C partition but it was requesting an Administrator's password which I don't know and it wouldn't let me in (I've tried leaving it blank which didn't work).

Anyone able to venture a solution?

[Mr X]

Ad Lib, on 31 May 2010 - 08:45, said:

I have a dual-boot of XP Professional and Windows 7. They are on separate primary partitions C and E (D is DVD-Drive) of the same SATA HDD.

I changed the "Active" partition to the E partition, and now when I boot-up, I get the following error:

NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

My version of Windows 7 was an exe (rather than ISO) download from Microsoft and resides on the XP partition as a result. I no longer have the XP Professional recovery disk as the PC is years old, although I have found another Dell XP Home Edition installation/recovery disk.

What I'd Googled seemed to suggest that the problem would be solved by copying back boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com back across to c:\i386 in Windows XP recovery and that it shouldn't be a problem relevant to Windows 7 which doesn't use said files.

I tried using the XP Home Recovery disk on the C partition but it was requesting an Administrator's password which I don't know and it wouldn't let me in (I've tried leaving it blank which didn't work).

Anyone able to venture a solution?

Is the admin password not the same as you set on the XP install - or can you not remember what that is?

I would look at google again. I remember reading about issues with boot records with an XP and W7 dual boot and there were quite a few resolutions

[The Master]

Just buy a new PC and be done with it.

[Ad Lib]

Mr X, on 31 May 2010 - 09:09, said:

Is the admin password not the same as you set on the XP install - or can you not remember what that is?

I would look at google again. I remember reading about issues with boot records with an XP and W7 dual boot and there were quite a few resolutions

I've sorted it (I think). I found a Windows 7 ISO and ran the Start-up Repair from it. It seems to mean I can no longer dual-boot (just into W7), but it was my intention to scrub the XP partition at some point later this week when my RAM and HDD upgrades arrive.

Cheers anyway.

[Ad Lib]

The Master, on 31 May 2010 - 09:16, said:

Just buy a new PC and be done with it.

FFS do you never shut up?

[The Master]

This is the first time I've commented on your PC.

[Ad Lib]

The Master, on 31 May 2010 - 09:27, said:

This is the first time I've commented on your PC.

Circa 5-6 months ago when I first mooted the potential of upgrading said PC, your response was to tell me to go and buy a new PC, when I'd already said I'd explored that option and to get something better than upgrading this one would cost more.

I told you at the time it was off the agenda, so I presumed with your exemplary memory that you were trying another shot at a wind-up.

[The Master]

Time of the month, is it?

[Ad Lib]

The Master, on 31 May 2010 - 09:38, said:

Time of the month, is it?

Yeah. Just as well you weren't there man, or it you might have fallen victim to the carnage...