Dual Boot Problem

[thewind27]

So here what I did:

I have 1 SSD and 1 HDD

-I installed Lion 10.7.2 on SSD using Unibeast method
-Then I used disk utility to format the HDD to MASTER BOOT RECORD and MS-FAT
-I unplug the SSD and install Windows 7 on the HDD
-After the installation is done. I plug the SSD back in and set boot priority to the SSD (which carries the Chameleon bootloader)

So here the problem: Boot to MAC OS is ok, but boot to Windows 7, it says BOOTMGR is missing, ctrl alt del to restart.

I research over tonymac + web and found no solution (I even reinstall Windows 7 with GUID partition table)

I really appreciate your solution.

Thank you very much.

 

[thewind27]

Answer anyone? please

 

[schoolsearch09]

I also have the same problem.
There is two ways to deal with this problem.

1. Press F12 if you are using Gigabyte motherboard to get to the boot menu and select your window 7 hard drive there and boot it. It is the better solution. I will tell you later..

2. Wait unitl chimera menu comes out , and it will show all partitions ( mac and windows). In window, you will have two partitions . Select System partitio and you would be able to boot but it takes more time to boot to window 7 and if you boot that way, you cannot backup your window 7. If you try to make a system backup , you will get an error. So I prefer the first one. I think there should also be a way to make chimera to understand window boot but I haven't tried it yet.

If it doesn't work, check whether you need to repair your window bootloader by booting with a single window hard drive. You can even put Ubuntu on window drive. Cheers!!!

 

[thewind27]

I haved installed Mac and Windows on 1 hard drive and its pretty easy to boot 2 os. But then i bought the ssd and thats where everything get harder. I have no experience install 2 os on 2 different hard drives. I appreciate your help but your solution is just temporary. I am still trying to figure it out. So please let me know if there is anything new.


Btw. Ur #2 is a littile confused. When it shows 2 partitions to choose. I chose the windows partition and it gave me the error bootmgr is missing. I cant to nothing about it.

 

[camden_guitarist]

Hi, I had exactly the same problem, it's posted somewhere in the forum, it does not involve specifically an SSD drive but from your explanation of your problem that doesn't seem relevant anyway.

Here's the deal, first of all, Windows on GUID is a bad method, Windows always goes on FAT, FAT32 or NTFS. Second, to install the OS X you tinkered with your BIOS to set the SATA setting in Storage Configuration to AHCI, now here's the kicker, if you installed Windows when this setting was set to IDE, it will no longer detect your Windows drive as bootable after you've changed it.

You'll have to either reinstall Windows while the BIOS setting is set to AHCI, or download a fix from Microsoft and install that on your Windows drive when it is booted when you temporarely set the setting back to IDE. After the installation, set the BIOS setting back to AHCI and the dual boot should work correctly.

For reference, here's the link to the topic I posted a while back:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=41391&p=260871#p260871

I hope it helps.

Cheers!

 

[TheSmartGuy]

You're choosing the System Reserved partition when you try to boot Windows from the Chimera menu, right? Because that's what you're supposed to do.

 

[schoolsearch09]

In your Chimera boot menu, like "TheSmartGuy" said, you should see at least 3 partitions, one is Macos, one for Window System Reserve Partition( it is kind of hidden partition) and one for window partition you are using. I don't know why you only see two partitions. Did you delete the hidden partition? Or maybe when you installed window 7, you didn't keep the System Reserve Partition. I think it is optional whether you want to keep it or not when you install window 7 if I am not wrong.
In my mac hard drive, I even keep Recovery partiton but I can't se it on chimera boot menu. So I only see three partitions.

 

[Going Bald]

In your Chimera boot menu, like "TheSmartGuy" said, you should see at least 3 partitions, one is Macos, one for Window System Reserve Partition( it is kind of hidden partition) and one for window partition you are using. I don't know why you only see two partitions. Did you delete the hidden partition? Or maybe when you installed window 7, you didn't keep the System Reserve Partition. I think it is optional whether you want to keep it or not when you install window 7 if I am not wrong.
In my mac hard drive, I even keep Recovery partiton but I can't se it on chimera boot menu. So I only see three partitions.

Since he preformatted the drive, he may not have a System Reserved partition.
One way to find out: boot to OS X, open terminal and type

diskutil list

and hit enter.

If it doesn't list a System Reserved partition, he doesn't have one.

 

[Going Bald]

I haved installed Mac and Windows on 1 hard drive and its pretty easy to boot 2 os. But then i bought the ssd and thats where everything get harder. I have no experience install 2 os on 2 different hard drives. I appreciate your help but your solution is just temporary. I am still trying to figure it out. So please let me know if there is anything new.


Btw. Ur #2 is a littile confused. When it shows 2 partitions to choose. I chose the windows partition and it gave me the error bootmgr is missing. I cant to nothing about it.

Try this - erase the Win7 hd with OS X disk utility write zeros 1 pass.
shutdown and disconnect the OS X drive.
Boot with the Win7 install DVD.
Select the partition on the drive and delete it.
Now do a clean install of Win7, using the Win7 installer to create and format your partitions.
In OS X Chimera boot screen you should see OS X drive icon, System Reserved icon and Windows NTFS icon. Choose System Reserved icon to boot Win7.
If this is not aesthetically pleasing to you, in Win7, open windows explorer by clicking on the Library folder in the command bar.
Right click on the C:\ drive and select properties.
In the upper left is a drive icon and to the right is a box. Type a name in the box and click on apply. Exit explorer.
Now in Chimera screen, instead of Windows NTFS you should see the name you just typed in.
If you do not wish to see this drive (you can't boot from it, after all) and would prefer something other than System Reserved as the Win7 icon, edit your org.chameleon.boot.plist

<key>Hide Partition</key>
<string>"name you just called c:\"</string>
<key>Rename Partition</key>
<string>"System Reserved" "New Name"</string>

make sure you use the " " around the names or it won't work.

 

[SHPMac]

This thread raises an interesting question. Do you have to have the System Reserved partition to dual boot with Lion? I installed my W7 without one. I believe I can create one after-the-fact but do I need to?