[comradec]

My desktop computer was configured to dual-boot between Windows XP and Windows Vista. Both operating systems were on the same drive in a three-drive system, each showing as drive C but hidden from each other.

Due to various issues, I backed up the Vista system partition's image to an external drive and wiped the whole drive. I then did a clean install of XP to a newly created primary partition occupying the first 30GB of that 74GB drive.

I created a new hidden primary partition on the remainder of the drive and restored the Vista installation to that partition.

Unfortunately, though, I can't get my boot manager to recognise the Vista installation. Each time I ask it to search for bootable operating systems, it only recognises the XP installation.

My boot manager is Acronis OS Selector, which comes with Disk Director Suite 10. I've been using TeraByte Unlimited's Image for Windows 2.51 for the drive image copying.

Is there a way I can ensure that both operating systems are recognised by the boot manager?

[kimsland]

This guide may help: How to dual-boot Vista with XP (with XP installed first) - step-by-step guide with screenshots
Looks like Page3 is where you are up to, but note: this guide informs you to install Vista again on the new partition using DISKPART

[comradec]

Originally Posted by kimsland

This guide may help: How to dual-boot Vista with XP (with XP installed first) - step-by-step guide with screenshots
Looks like Page3 is where you are up to, but note: this guide informs you to install Vista again on the new partition using DISKPART

Thanks for the link.

In the end, I managed to resolve the issue, but I had to do a clean install of Vista (with XP already installed). I wasn't able to get the saved version of Vista to work - neither the one I'd copied using Acronis Disk Director Suite nor the one copied with Image for Windows. Presumably it was a problem with the boot files, which probably could have been sorted, but it seemed easier to reinstall. The installation I'd saved was copied not long after a clean install anyway, so not much time was wasted.

I installed Acronis Disk Director Suite, including the OS Selector, on the XP partition and then installed Vista on another partition. Next I booted from the Acronis Disk Director CD and reactivated the OS Selector feature in the software, which instantly recognised the two WIndows installations (XP and Vista) on my computer and has been working reliably since then.