Need help with Windows mishap

[elmateo487]

Believe me or not, my roommate installed Windows XP after (not on top of) my Windows 7 installation. Just found out a few hours ago, and am super stressed trying to figure this one out.

K so... When he installed, he left the old windows folder there, and renamed the new one Windows2, so guides referring to windows.old actually are referring to my "windows" folder technically.

- Here is the run down. This HD of my Mac Pro is a 1TB, has 261GB of free space. (important because some guides say you need at least half free??)
- Windows XP (probably 32bit) was installed AFTER Windows 7 64bit
- New boot folder is called WINDOWS2
- Old boot folder is called Windows
- Technically nothing has been moved, program files, program files (x64) etc are all in the same place, just now there is a WINDOWS2 folder.

Also, I found some guides on how to revert by googling. But it is all so confusing because my situation is so weird. XP after 7 is nothing normal. And since he didnt do it normal with a windows.old it is even more so confusing.

I am just looking for help. I am getting married soon, and have no time to spare for such time consuming things... That maybe someone else knows how to do already. Not to mention I am Mac through and through and all of this stuff is not my forte.

Thank you for the time spent so far

Edit: here is a link as an example of a guide I am referring to

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933168

 

[Grannyville7989]

I'm not sure that guide will work for you situation because it asks you to restores files that Windows 7 no longer uses.

Could you not pull off you personal data, erase the Windows partition and put Windows 7 back on?

 

[Grannyville7989]

Actually, upon looking closer at the support page you linked to, it MIGHT work. But I don't know, it looks more like a stab in the dark with you situation.

 

[Berlepsch]

Since all your system and program files of the Win7 installation are still in place, you only need to reinstall the Win7 boot manager. To do this, run the command

C:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All

from the command prompt. (If this doesn't work, try /NT61 instead of /NT60).

 

[elmateo487]

Since all your system and program files of the Win7 installation are still in place, you only need to reinstall the Win7 boot manager. To do this, run the command

C:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All

from the command prompt. (If this doesn't work, try /NT61 instead of /NT60).

Thank you so much. This worked perfectly! So when people install operating systems alongside older install why do they not do it this way, name the new install something else? So reverting back is easy? I didn't have to rename any folders or anything! In fact after looking into it, renaming the new system folder to something obsolete, and JUST running the startup repair tool does this exact same thing in this situation. So easy.

Thank you so much

 

[Berlepsch]

Thank you so much. This worked perfectly! So when people install operating systems alongside older install why do they not do it this way, name the new install something else? So reverting back is easy? I didn't have to rename any folders or anything! In fact after looking into it, renaming the new system folder to something obsolete, and JUST running the startup repair tool does this exact same thing in this situation. So easy.

Thank you so much

Good to hear that you're back in business. I didn't mention it before, but you can even add your XP installation to the boot menu, and select between Win7 and XP during startup.

There are a number of possible pitfalls, though. For example, if you are using the same user directory, important data, such as the user part of the registry, can be overwritten by the 2nd install. The same goes for the Program Files folder - software installed for XP may not work with Win7 an vice versa.

So it is usually the best to keep different installs on different drives to avoid these problems.