Acronis OS Selector + boot.ini file?

Are you sure the problem is in the boot.ini file?

Exactly what happens when you try to boot into XP?

A plain boot.ini file looks like this (of course, with the correct drive/partition values for the system and some options may vary):

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

Also, be careful when editing files in the BOOTWIZ folder and sub-folders. Some changes will make OSS "reset" and cause other problems.

Can you post a screenshot of what DD or <em>Disk Management</em> shows for the drive(s)?

Dear Mister Crab, here is the code in my boot.ini file:
[boot loader]
;timeout=30
default=multi[0]disk[0]rdisk[0]partition[1]\WINDOWS[operating systems]
multi[0]disk[0]rdisk[0]partition[1]\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
I'm not pretending I know what this means, but it seems to me I'm missing code that should be there to identify my Ubuntu 10.04 installation. I'm not for certain what DD (Disk Director??) or DISK Management mean or where they are located, but I'll look around this evening. Thanks again for your help.

Dear Mister Mud Crab-

My attachment is a screen shot of an Ubuntu 10.04 window called: Disk Utility. Hope this helps!

Did you type in your boot.ini file contents? I assume the [] are actually () in the file.

Ubuntu doesn't usually use the boot.ini file and OSS does mix them either. Can you provide some more details on how you setup the dual-boot system?

When you boot the computer does OSS show the menu entries for both XP and Ubuntu?

Also, as previously asked, exactly what happens when you try to boot into XP?

Can you post a copy of the BOOTWIZ.OSS file (instructions can be found here)?

DD is Disk Director. Disk Management is the built-in Windows disk management program.

Dear Mister Mud Crab- Thanks for the help. Here is a copy of my BOOTWIZ.OSS file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

When I turn on my computer I see the HP splash screen and then the Acronis OS Selector menu. If I left click on Windows the screen goes black but then soon returns to the original Acronis OS S menu. I can click on Ubuntu which takes me to the Grub2 menu. If I try to boot into windows I get a black screen. Unfortunately, none of the safe mode options on the black screen get me into windows. They take me to the windows welcome screen but that just leads to a brief glance at a blue screen of death. The BSOD says the usual things about disabling anti virus software and running chkdsk. At the bottom of the BSOD the error message numbers read: 0x00000024 (0x00190203, 0x8F005C58, 0xC0000102, 0x00000000) Don't know what this means but in the past, a lot of times when I ran chkdsk in windows I would have to use my Acronis rescue media to re-install Acronis OS Selector.
Thanks again for your help.

From a quick search, it looks like the BSOD 0x00000024 error is caused by a corrupted file system. Can you boot to a Windows or WinPE CD and run chkdsk /f on the Windows partition?

Dear Mister Mud Crab! You are exactly correct! On your advice I ran chkdsk from my Windows XP Pro installation disc. Just now I can boot into Windows and Ubuntu off my Acronis OS Selector without any problems. But, and it's a large but, my Windows Install has gone corrupt. All the home remedies I tried from inside of Ubuntu have rendered my Windows system nearly useless.
I have tried going to an old restore point. But Windows tells me that System Restore cannot be started and I need to restart my computer. I've tried that a few times. Nothing happens. Do you have any more suggestions?

Well, you might be able to manually recover an older restore point (assuming any exist). However, unless there is an important reason to keep the existing installation, I would recommend copying off any important files and doing a clean install.

What kind of problems is Windows having?

1. How, pray tell, does one accomplish a 'manual restore'? 2. A clean install sounds like an option. However, it would be a catastrophe if I lost my Ubuntu partition. Does Windows know to install itself on it's old partition and leave Ubuntu alone? 3. Right now, Windows is barely there. I can't pull up Winamp. There is no sound. My skype install has disappeared and left me with an obscure error message. It takes 10-15 minutes for the blue ribbon with the start button to appear at the bottom of the screen. (I can however, run chkdsk from off of My Computer).

This Microsoft KB article has details on manually copying the saved System Restore registry files. Basically, you're doing what System Restore would do if it was working.

I'm putting a SSD drive in my laptop and want to know how to copy my whole HDD. I have a dual boot Ubuntu/Windows 7. When I check all partitions to backup, it says I should check the partition, because it is broke. Do I not check it and still back up? I attached a print screen to show what I'm talking about.

David Young,

TI is probably fussing about the Ubuntu partition (it says ext3, but it's probably ext4). However, it wouldn't hurt to check the C: partition before backing it up. TI won't resize partitions with errors and you'll probably need to resize for the SSD.

If you still need more help, please start your own thread in the TI forum.

Dear Mister Mud Crab- Good News! (1) Spurred by your remark about a file corruption problem I dug out my Windows XP Pro installation disc and ran chkdsk off the recovery console on my HP Compaq 6730s laptop. As soon as this was accomplished I was able to boot into Windows as well as Ubuntu 10.04. The problem remaining, I had corrupted my Windows install with a number of foolish efforts at pulling my anti-spyware apps out of Windows through Ubuntu. (2) So next I made a rescue CD iso off of the copy of Acronis True Image Home 2009 resting on my desktop. Shortly thereafter I linked an external hard drive to my lap top, booted into the True Image Rescue Disc, and restored a lap top backup I had saved to my external hard drive. (3) All that remained was to re-install Acronis Operating System Selector. With that, I had a complete recovery of my system. In fact, it seems to me that running chkdsk off of an installation CD yields a very, very, stable dual boot system. Thanks again for all your time and effort on my behalf!! Thanks!!