"Repair your computer" option fails

I realize the resident experts must be sick to death of telling yet
another guy how to solve their dual boot issues, but this is genuinely a
problem I can't seem to find discussions on anywhere. Any help would be
greatly appreciated. Anyway, to make this short, I had Vista ultimate
x64 installed. I repartitioned the drive and installed XP (32 bit) fully
expecting my vista installation to disappear. Instructions on the net
say to use the "repair your computer" option off the Vista dvd. I did
that, then I got an error saying "your version of windows is not
compatible" and that to repair my computer, I needed to install a
different version of VIsta. It's the exact same DVD I used to install it
initially. Why could this be happening? I realize there are ways to
manually fix the boot.ini, boot.bak files using bcdedit and such. Only
problem is, bcdedit won't run on WIndows XP. Where do I go from here?
Thanks a bunch in advance,

Shant D.


--
shantd

shantd;816333 Wrote:
> I realize the resident experts must be sick to death of telling yet
> another guy how to solve their dual boot issues, but this is genuinely a
> problem I can't seem to find discussions on anywhere. Any help would be
> greatly appreciated. Anyway, to make this short, I had Vista ultimate
> x64 installed. I repartitioned the drive and installed XP (32 bit) fully
> expecting my vista installation to disappear. Instructions on the net
> say to use the "repair your computer" option off the Vista dvd. I did
> that, then I got an error saying "your version of windows is not
> compatible" and that to repair my computer, I needed to install a
> different version of VIsta. It's the exact same DVD I used to install it
> initially. Why could this be happening? I realize there are ways to
> manually fix the boot.ini, boot.bak files using bcdedit and such. Only
> problem is, bcdedit won't run on WIndows XP. Where do I go from here?
> Thanks a bunch in advance,
>
> Shant D.

Hello Shant,

This is because with the Vista SP1 installed, you have a newer version
installed than what is on the Vista installation DVD. To workaround
this, you will need to either:

1. Uninstall the Vista SP1, then use your Vista installation DVD to run
the Repair.
'How to uninstall Windows Vista SP1 as a troubleshooting step'
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948537/en-us)

2. Create a Vista SP1 Sliptream Installation DVD and use it to do the
Repair instead.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/15...ation-dvd.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn


--
Brink

*There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask
them.*
'*VISTA FORUMS*' (http://www.vistax64.com)
*Please post feedback to help others.*

Oh wow that is beautiful, thank you. I haven't tried it yet but I can't
imagine it being anything else. Will have to decide whether to uninstall
SP1 (to be honest I don't even remember installing any service packs
yet, but it could've easily happened in the background) or whether to
try the slipstream disc. Which way would you go? Which is more of a pain
in the ***, uninstalling and reinstalling SP1, or creating a slipstream
disc? Thanks again, I wish I could return the help.

Shant


--
shantd

Shant,

They are both a bit if a pain to do. It depends on what you are willing
to do.

If you uninstall the SP1, then you will have to install it back
afterwards. Plus, if something goes wrong during the uninstall, you may
need to do a clean reinstall of Vista again.

If you create a Vista SP1 Slipstream DVD to use, then there is a small
chance it will not work. It take about as long to create this DVD as is
does to only install Vista in the first place. However, you will not
have to uninstall and reinstall the SP1 everytime you need to do the
Repair.

Hope this helps,
Shawn


--
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*There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask
them.*
'*VISTA FORUMS*' (http://www.vistax64.com)
*Please post feedback to help others.*

It absolutely helps. I will try the slipstream dvd first because if that
works, I won't have any of the issues that go with
uninstalling/reinstalling a service pack. If it doesn't work, no harm
done other than time spent. I'll let you know if it works. Thanks again!


--
shantd

One more quick question, how can you determine exactly what version of
vista you're running, and/or what service pack you have?


--
shantd

Wait...I just realized something. I can't try the SP1 uninstall option
because I don't have access to my Vista installation. Right now
everything I'm doing has to be through Windows XP, my other
installation. So the slipstream is my only option then, yes?


--
shantd

Shantd,

Yes, slipstream would be your only option for now then, other than a
clean reinstall of course.

The SP1 version is just the 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64) version of
Vista you have.

I hope it goes smoothly for you.


--
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*There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask
them.*
'*VISTA FORUMS*' (http://www.vistax64.com)
*Please post feedback to help others.*

It did, thanks to you. I've since installd easybcd and added the XP
installation info. Now when I reboot, I do get the dual boot option for
either Vista or XP. Vista boots fine, but if I try to boot XP, I get the
"ntldr is missing or corrupt" error or some such. Any ideas? Thanks
again.

Shant D.


--
shantd

Shant,

This link may be helpful.

'Troubleshooting Windows XP - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki'
(http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBC...ing+Windows+XP)

Hope this helps,
Shawn


--
Brink

*There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask
them.*
'*VISTA FORUMS*' (http://www.vistax64.com)
*Please post feedback to help others.*