In Acronis Os selector winxp option boots win7???

Something is probably set wrong or got configured incorrectly by OSS. Usually, when attempting any Windows auto-repairs, it's important to make sure that only the OS needing repaired is visible. Having more than one visible usually will mess up any type of non-Microsoft multi-boot system.

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

Ok it should be attached... changed it to .txt like you said in the guide.

It looks like both of them are being booted from the same partition (the first partition on the drive). It isn't clear how XP was configured so I don't know if it originally booted from the XP partition or not.

Do the XP booting files exist on the XP partition? These would be ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini. You may need to enable viewing of hidden and system files to see them. If the files are missing, try moving them from the first partition to the XP partition and see if OSS can pick it up.

OK I went in and moved ntdlr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini from the windows 7 partition's root to XP partition's root, but when I click on XP in OSS I still get windows 7. Now there are 2 windows 7's displayed in OSS but thats prob just a glitch I can boot win7 so I don't care that I have 2 icons for it.

Now that the three XP boot files are in the right partition do we need to link the xp icon to the right partition in bootwiz.oss?

Drives are still as follows
C:\ Windows 7 (active, system, boot)
E:\ XP
D:\ Reserved for Linux
Z:\ OSS

All are Primary NTFS

a fresh bootwiz.oss and boot.ini are attached if you need them

Edit: Oh I just realized... in win7 in the root there is a folder called .999-trash or something weird like that... and inside it has info files on the 3 xp boot files... does this have to do with anything?

Try the attached file and see if it will let you into XP. If it doesn't work, I may need to create a new manual entry for it.

I put the new bootwiz.txt into the root of the boot loader partition and changed it to .oss

Sooo close...
Now xp initially boots and it goes through its loading windows xp thing with the bar with teh green squares running across... but then it gets to the windows login screen and is kind of stuck there. Im not sure If I need to repair xp??? Im afraid that If I do it will mess everything else up.

Check if the Driver Letter assignment is correct for XP. I assume that XP's partition should be assigned C: when XP is booted (hopefully, you can remember this).

When you boot to the DD CD and start DD, select the Disk Layout link in the top-right corner of the DD window. Select the XP installation from the list. Then check the drive letter assignment for the XP partition. If it's wrong, use DD to change it (DD has an option for it). For example, if it's supposed to be assigned C: and it has a different value, change it to C:.

It doesn't give me the disk layout option of XP... only windows 7 and bootable media. Although it has offered XP before in the past...

Do you have DD installed in Windows 7? If so, when you boot into Windows 7, is the "XP" layout available there?

If it's not, we can check the assignment manually.

I just installed it... I looked at it while on Windows 7 and the only option in Disk layout was Windows 7. Still looks like this...

C:\ Windows 7 (active, system, boot)
E:\ XP
D:\ Reserved for Linux
Z:\ OSS

Now that you mention it before I had repaired windows 7 and i could go log onto XP, XP thought of itself as C: even though I have things set up differently in DD. And would this be a matter of changing xp so it thinks of itself as E: instead of C:? Id rather keep Win7 as my C: because Win7 is what I will use the most by far.

XP's partition needs to keep the same assignment that it originally had. It sounds like that was C: (which is what it normally is). Can you load the XP system hive and take a look at what MountedDevices shows? If it's incorrect, it can be changed.

From Windows 7, find out the MountedDevices value for E: when booted to the raptor (E: is the XP partition):

1. Run Regedit.
2. Browse to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
3. This will list your drive letter assignments (shown as \DosDevices\C:, for example).
4. Look at the data assigned to E:. You may want to write it down or take a screenshot for easy reference.

Load the XP System Registry hive and check the E: assignment:

1. Click on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key to select it.
2. Click on the File menu and select Load Hive...
3. Select the XP (E:) partition.
4. Browse to the E:\Windows\System32\config folder.
5. Select the system file and click the Open button.
6. A box will come up asking for the Key Name.
7. Type in XP_System and click the Ok button.
8. You should now see the XP_System entry added to your local registry under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key.
9. Browse to the MountedDevices under the XP_System entry. (It should be XP_System\MountedDevices.) 
10. You should see the list of drive letter assignments as seen by the XP system. Scan through the list and find C:. Check if the data assigned to it is the same as what you noted for E: on in Windows 7. If the data is different, check which drive letter has the same value (it may be D:, for example). What you need to do is swap those drive letters back to what is correct. You can do this by renaming the drive letter keys. For example, to swap C: and D: you would rename \DosDevices\D: to \DosDevices\C: and \DosDevices\C: to \DosDevices\D:. The main thing is to get the letters assigned back to the original partition assignments.
11. When finished, unload the Hive by clicking on XP_System to highlight it, selecting the File menu, and then selecting Unload Hive... Finally, click Yes and then close the registry editor.

Reboot the computer and try booting into the XP system.

I was able to get the windows7 reg entry for E:...
62 50 1b a3 00 00 80 06 32 00 00 00

But I am unable to load the XP hive. The E:\Windows directory is empty. I thought windows 7 was lieing to me so I booted ubuntu off my flashdrive but that too shows that E:\Windows is empty.

I made an image to save this as a checkpoint then tried reinstalling everything... I think I have everything matched up as the same drive letters this time, but in OSS clicking on xp gives me an OSS error message that said the partition could not be found, and when i click on win7 I just get emptiness with a blinking white dash in the upper left... which i believe means it just isn't booting.

I can restore my checkpoint image I made if you know how to fix from there... or if you think this way is better since I have the drive letters matched up we could stay this way.

What did you reinstall? XP? Windows 7? OSS?

It's possible the OSS "OS protection got activated for XP and moved its files into the BOOTWIZ folder on the XP partition. However, if you have installed XP, they probably don't exist anymore (except in the backup).

Heres what I did:

1) Formated E: ... reinstalled E on it, but on xp it views it as D:
2) Hid all partitions except C and then reinstalled Win7 on C... I believe win7 accepted the xp disk layout
3) unhid partitions and repaired OSS

currently partitions are:
C: win7
D: XP
E: reserved for linux
F: OSS

Disk layout is XP

If you think OS protection moved xp folders into Bootwiz folder I can just load the image I made and it will effectivly restore my disk to where it was where we left off yesterday working with regedit

If XP is viewing it's partition as D:, then it wasn't installed correctly (at least, not what I call correctly). It's generally best to have each Windows OS see its partition as C: when booted. XP would see its partition as C: when booted. Windows 7 would see its partition as C:. The reasons for this are because it's much simpler to repair and the booting files for each OS end up on the OS partition (recommended when using a non-Microsoft boot manager). Remember, drive letter assignments only mean anything to the running Windows system.

Windows XP will need to be reinstalled to fix the drive letter problem. That can be done a little later.

First, can you please attach the current BOOTWIZ.OSS file so I can see it.

oh alright that makes sense. Heres the latest bootwiz from the OSS partition

edit: Xp might see the drive as C: if that is what it is supposed to do... I just know that I installed it on what it was seeing as partition d:

And Windows 7 is still not booting properly from OSS?

I assume you have a standard Microsoft Windows 7 DVD and XP CD. Is this correct?

I have a Win7 home premium re-installation dvd and a windows xp pro re-installation cd.
Sorry I was mistaken when I said Windows 7 doesn't work... turns out it does. Windows 7 boots fine, OSS tells me the boot partition is missing when I try to boot xp.

Okay, that makes more sense. So you just need to install XP again and OSS should find it.

This is what you need to do:

1. If ntldr, boot.ini, or ntdetect.com exist on the Windows 7 partition, delete them. They may cause problems later.
2. Boot to the DD CD.
3. Set the XP partition Active.
4. Hide the Windows 7 partition.
5. Apply the changes.
6. Insert the Windows XP CD.
7. Reboot the computer. Press a key (if necessary) to start the XP installation.
8. The XP partition should show up as C: in the installer. If it does, select it and proceed with the installation.
9. When XP is up and running okay, reactivate OSS (can be done from Windows or using the DD CD).
10. OSS should automatically detect XP.

Yes Thank you so much you are awesome!!! We have success!!! :)
I still want to install OpenSUSE linux but I will just create my base image now to be safe. As long as I follow the same procedure: hide both win7 and xp partitions and make my empty partition active while I install linux and then restore OSS will I be alright? And do I need to unhide my partitions?

Linux is different than Windows. Linux does not require an Active partition and does not care about Windows. However, it will add Windows to the GRUB menu if it finds it.

Once Windows is installed and OSS recognizes it and boots into it successfully, you can change the hidden status of the other Windows partitions as needed (edit the OSS menu entry properties). Personally, I prefer to keep them isolated from each other.

When installing Linux, if you are given the choice, it's usually best to install GRUB to the Linux partition instead of the MBR.

I have used OpenSUSE in the past and it lets you opt out of installing a boot loading program... I will try it out now and see how it goes.

Ok It's done! All three operating systems are bootable!! Mudcrab thank you so much you are the best! Whoever you work for should give you a raise! :)

You're welcome. I'm glad it worked out for you.