2 HDD's: 1 with Win7, the other w/XP Pro. Can I choose which boots?

[roosta]

Hey guys,

Like the title states, i have 2 HDD's (well 4, two with OS's on them)...One has newly installed Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit, the other XP Pro 32 bit. IN my BIOS, i can change the HARD DRIVE PRIORITY on which goes into #1 spot so i can specify what OS I want to boot...

However, it's a little annoying having to make bios changes all the time, is there any program/shortcut I can utilise so at startup, i can CHOOSE the OS (or HDD) that I want to boot from? As I only know of this option being available with OEN hard drive carrying TWO OS's on each partition...

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers
RoOSTA

[WhiteOx]

You need to try EasyBCD, have a look here:

[mickc]

do you get the boot option on startup
f12 i think if your m/b supports it

[ageno2gen1]

Type msconfig in run, under the boot tab there is some options to which os you want to boot, you can make it let you choose everytime , if noyhing chosen then will start default os after 30 seconds.

[casull]

As said before EasyBCD is the way to go gives you a boot screen to choose which drive you want to boot to first or times out and boots to the default drive.

Cheers
Casull

[baseel]

try this:
boot to widows 7-System properties-advance-system startup- default operating system-
choose either windows 7 or XP.(chnage the time to 10 seconds)
after reboot you should be presented with both OS's options( press enter or wait 10 seconds) the Os of choose should load.
the above method will only work if you have installed XP first then windows 7 later, as windows 7 will re write the boot loader.
good luck
cheers

[RHCP]

Installing GRUB bootloader will allow you to do this.
Some motherboards also allow you to select your boot device WITHOUT entering the bios e.g. pressing Esc during the post on DFI boards will present you with a boot selection screen.

Cheers.

[roosta]

do you get the boot option on startup
f12 i think if your m/b supports it

The idea is to not have to manually select and/or changer settings, the only thing I want to do it quickl;y choose an OS by pressing enter, or just let PC load up a default or the 'currently selected option'.

You need to try EasyBCD, have a look here:

Thanks, I have downloaded this. Can someone please step me through it? I'd prefer to configure it via Win XP only because i want XP to be the default loaded OS unless I specifically CHANGE my selection to Win7. What do i need to do?

Type msconfig in run, under the boot tab there is some options to which os you want to boot, you can make it let you choose everytime , if noyhing chosen then will start default os after 30 seconds.

Unfortunately that option doesn't help, only shows the 1 OS (Win XP) on the currently selected HDD even though both are connected and running, but using msconfig i did turn off some much wasted slow loading startup programs, so cheers for the advice.

Thanks to everyone who has actually replied, I've nearly fixed it.

RoOSTA

[RHCP]

The idea is to not have to manually select and/or changer settings, the only thing I want to do it quickl;y choose an OS by pressing enter, or just let PC load up a default or the 'currently selected option'.

Using a boot manager is no different to using this method - neither changes your bios, or adds a substantial time to the bootup.

[roosta]

Yes but what I was referring to is the fact that F12 on startup is the same as going into the bios and selecting a HDD to boot, nothing really different, its not a shortcut. So can someone help me step through the EasyBCD program?

[DeepEarth]

May be a bit late, but if you havn't solved it.
I have dual boot Win7 & XP, 2 drives.
The rules are you MUST have XP on Before you install Win7.
Win 7 will create a bootloader file, at startup after post, and let you choose which op system to choose.
Win7 is set to default with 30 secs. As sugested earlier, you need to run EasyBCD to set which drive to default and how many secs.
But......
As said before, EasyBCD will do this for you.
Install and check the online Help section. You can dual,triple Quad, ect, boot anything.