Triple boot mac with windows 7 and xp. HELP!!!

[crazy frog]

How can I get windows 7 from the second partition rather than the third? And xp to boot straight from the third?

DETAILS BELOW!!!
So I've tried to install snow leopard, windows xp and windows 7.

I first partitioned my hard drive on the snow leopard disk to three partitions.
1st partition hfs+
2nd partition fat
3rd partition fat
I then installed snow leopard on the 1st partition.
Installed refit in snow leopard
installed xp on the 3rd partition formatting on xp cd with ntfs quick.

At this point I can boot into snow leopard from the refit menu, and also xp from the third partition.

I then installed windows 7 and formatted the second partition.

After this when I boot from the second partition I get bootmgr is missing, if I boot from the third partition it takes me to the windows 7 boot option screen.

How can I get windows 7 from the second partition rather than the third? And xp to boot straight from the third?

 

[balamw]

I think W7 was just being "kind" to you by putting its boot loader on the third partition, since that was the first active NTFS drive. Does it have an entry for XP? If not, maybe you can create one with EasyBCD or something like that.

B

 

[GDief]

I don't know if this will help, but the Windows 7 requires to be loaded under NTFS not Fat.

 

[crazy frog]

Thanks balamw I repartitioned and reinstalled but marked the partition as active. Works perfectly now!!

I know GDief when you partition in disk utility you can only format as fat not ntfs. You then have to reformat the partition in the windows DVD as ntfs.

I'm gonna write up a "well written" guide over the next few days with photos!

 

[balamw]

Please do summarize your process for others to follow.

This is why MBR and drive letters must die, and yet W7 32 still does not include EFI support.

B

 

[aki]

I'm gonna write up a "well written" guide over the next few days with photos!

Seriously, if you can do this it'll be Christmas. I know it's meant to be possible in theory but I've yet to see a really clear "this totally works" step by step guide. It would make a huuuuge difference to me if I could run an XP install alongside my "real" Win 7 64-bit install. Please please shower us with your wisdom

Much appreciated, anticipatorially.

(PS. I presume this has to be done with internal partitions, ie. it's still not possible/not simple to get windows to boot from an external drive yes?)

 

[Inconsequential]

I *think* i've managed this.

SSD: OS X
500GB HD: 150GB W7 x64, 100GB XP, 250GB HFS formatted for OS X file storage.

Both systems booted, i've got a boot menu but I need to fix the XP boot manager and im all set.

Shall report back.

 

[xaquaticx]

I *think* i've managed this.

SSD: OS X
500GB HD: 150GB W7 x64, 100GB XP, 250GB HFS formatted for OS X file storage.

Both systems booted, i've got a boot menu but I need to fix the XP boot manager and im all set.

Shall report back.

OK I would like to chime in and ask for some help MacRumors folks!

I have had XP on Boot Camp for a while, it's great. I decided to make a 3rd partition and triple-boot with Windows 2008 R2 (It's Windows 7 server, basically it's the exact same thing as Windows 7 64bit).

I made a 3rd partition in Disk Utility. I installed Windows 7 on it. It wouldn't boot. So I installed rEFIt. OK now the Windows 7 boots fine. But the Windows XP Boot Camp will not boot!!!! It says BOOTMGR Missing. It does this in VMWare too. Crap. I'm hosed. I did do a Winclone of it before this..but I'd like to see if anyone knows how to salvage this? I have stuff on there I need. Also I'm aware Windows 7 supposedly has a builtin bootloader which asks if you want to boot Windows 7 or "Earlier Version of Windows". However when I selected Earlier Version, the friendly XP boot screen came up. Great, I thought. But then a Blue SCreen of Death came up saying "ntdll hard error" or something.

Any ideas? What did I do wrong? If I do it over, how should I do it, to triple boot?

edit: well I couldn't get XP to boot even playing around with EasyBCD, a bootloader app. I restored with Winclone thank goodness and nuked my Win7 partition.

Theoretically if you do XP first then Install Win 7 it SHOULD work. Boot Manager when you boot 7 should present the options Earlier Version of Windows and Windows 7 (or 2008 R2 in my case). But it just didn't want to work. I'll take another crack at this some other time. For now, back to what works: XP.

 

[Inconsequential]

OK I would like to chime in and ask for some help MacRumors folks!

I have had XP on Boot Camp for a while, it's great. I decided to make a 3rd partition and triple-boot with Windows 2008 R2 (It's Windows 7 server, basically it's the exact same thing as Windows 7 64bit).

I made a 3rd partition in Disk Utility. I installed Windows 7 on it. It wouldn't boot. So I installed rEFIt. OK now the Windows 7 boots fine. But the Windows XP Boot Camp will not boot!!!! It says BOOTMGR Missing. It does this in VMWare too. Crap. I'm hosed. I did do a Winclone of it before this..but I'd like to see if anyone knows how to salvage this? I have stuff on there I need. Also I'm aware Windows 7 supposedly has a builtin bootloader which asks if you want to boot Windows 7 or "Earlier Version of Windows". However when I selected Earlier Version, the friendly XP boot screen came up. Great, I thought. But then a Blue SCreen of Death came up saying "ntdll hard error" or something.

Any ideas? What did I do wrong? If I do it over, how should I do it, to triple boot?

edit: well I couldn't get XP to boot even playing around with EasyBCD, a bootloader app. I restored with Winclone thank goodness and nuked my Win7 partition.

Theoretically if you do XP first then Install Win 7 it SHOULD work. Boot Manager when you boot 7 should present the options Earlier Version of Windows and Windows 7 (or 2008 R2 in my case). But it just didn't want to work. I'll take another crack at this some other time. For now, back to what works: XP.

Hi mate,

do you get this?

If so boot from the XP install CD and fix the installation as it says there.

When using VMWare it will unmount BOTH partitions (W7 and XP) and then come up with a boot menu, as it would if booting 'normally' IE not through bootcamp. Make sure you change the system type in VMWare before you boot either system.

It was a while since i've done it tho :/

 

[shopkeeper]

Thanks balamw I repartitioned and reinstalled but marked the partition as active. Works perfectly now!!

I know GDief when you partition in disk utility you can only format as fat not ntfs. You then have to reformat the partition in the windows DVD as ntfs.

I'm gonna write up a "well written" guide over the next few days with photos!

Could you PLEASE write this up. I have been struggling with a similiar scenario for weeks!