How to dual boot Windows Server 2003/Windows Vista, Vista already pre-installed (no CD/DVD available)

If you already have another partition to install to, just insert the 2003 Server CD and start the install process. When you are asked which partition to install to, choose the D:\ partition. Everything should work after that. If you do not get the option to boot to Server 2003, boot to C:\ (Vista), right click on My Computer and select Properties --> Advanced tab --> Settings under Startup and Recovery --> Edit startut options file. Add the following line to the end of the file:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Server 2003" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Oh, and make sure in the Startup and Recovery options, you check the box "Time to display list of operating systems: and select how long you want. Default is 30 seconds, but you can change it to 10 or whatever you choose.

Substitute 2003 for XP!

MotoCrazy: In another PC where i installed Windows Server 2003 i was able to boot to 2003 but was unable to boot to Vista and that's what i think it is going to happen now.

CptnTrips: I will follow the procedure described in your second link: http://www.pronetworks.org/forum/about88231.html

I'm installing Window Server 2003 on D: and as soon as it finishes and i make the changes i will post again with the results.

Johann

In the few times I have done this, I have set XP up first, then installed Vista. Vista seems to do a lot better when it goes on second. Vista does not use the bootloader that XP uses.

excuse me! or 2003.

Thanks for this prompt solution.

After installing Windows 2003 i couldn't boot to Vista so i boot to W2003, installed VistaBootPro and followed those steps like provided in the link:

Ignore backup BCD prompt.
Go to "System Bootloader", select "Windows Vista Bootloader" and "All drives", then click "Install Bootloader"
Go to Diagnostics in the menu and select "Run Diagnostics", when it finished it showed the "Manage OS Entries page"
However in the list of OS entries it only showed Vista, NO Windows 2003 :(
I choosed the option to add an entry, named "Windows 2003", choosed the drive where ntldr was present (C:), choosed a timeout (15 secs), applied the changes, then rebooted and it worked! Dual boot Windows Vista/Windows 2003.

EasyBCD also was useful in order to check that everything was fine.
Best regards,

Johann

hey JohannRamon

i'm glad you solved your problem

i came across this question as I had the same problem as you except my experience was a little different
although similar in that I used the same software

i have a laptop, a lenovo 3000 n 500 with vista installed
i wanted to install windows server 2003 as a dual-boot system

i followed the steps in your solution except they didn't all work out for me here's what happened:

1. in vista I had 3 drives, S: (lenovo service partition active), C: windows vista boot, crash, dump primary), Q: lenovo software partition (primary)

I wanted to shrink the C drive as it had by far the most space but disk manager said I had 0 bytes to shrink down so I couldn't do that so I used a highly recommended software - Acronis Disk director suite 10.0 to create a D: partition for windows server 2003

2. i made it a primary partition with windows disk manager and did a quick format as NTFS

3. here's where I messed up, i though I should make D: active, reboot and load w2k3 from the dvd
as it turned out I wasn't able to install w2ks anyways at this point (more later) and my problem was that I couldn't get back into vista to make S: or C: the active partition (as it turns out S: was the active partition from the factory and that's what the primary partition was when I finally got the dual-boot working)

so I tried using the startup repair features from the vista disc but they didn't work, with the automatic repair and some manual commands with the vista startup repair command prompt tool I went from error
ntldr missing to bootmgr missing to just a black screen with a blinking underscore cursor

good thing I had another pc with Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0, in there, there is an program called OS Selector, being on another PC you can't just run it right so I used the feature to create a "Bootable Media" and burnt a dvd

I then booted up the laptop with the Acronis Bootable Media dvd that I created on the pc with this software and it gave me the option to boot into vista.. and it worked

4. so now.. back in vista again, i made the c: drive the active partition (i thought this was ok because windows disk manager identified it as a "boot" partition

fine, then I rebooted with the w2k3 dvd and I got the setup, after it loaded the drivers I got the blue screen of death

now worried.. I thought that maybe i didn't have the drivers, when w2k3 (and xp as i understand) there's an option to hit f6 and load drivers from a floppy, but i don't even have a floppy

so thinking i didn't have some scsi drivers or whatnot and without a floppy drive (as you can only load additional drivers from a floppy in setup) i used a software called nLite to slipstream drivers onto a new "win 2k3" dvd

if you don't know this software (nLite) i would highly recommend it

to be sure i loaded some "driver packs" i found on the internet, as well as all the "XP" drivers for my model of laptop - slipstreamed onto a new win2k3 dvd

5. i tried again to setup win2k3 with the new dvd and all the drivers.. same blue screen of death

6 i found the problem was actually in my advanced BIOS setting for "Sata Controller" , i found out that win2k3 doesn't like the "AHCI" setting so i changed it to the only other possible value on my laptop "IDE"

then when i ran w2k3 setup from the dvd again it worked and i was able to install w2k3 onto the D: partition I created in Vista

it was good that i slipstreamed the lenovo xp drivers (which work for w2k3) because i didn't have to install them 1 by one, the w2k3 setup had already installed them)

7. so then i wasn't able to get back into vista at this point, i had to use the Acronis Bootable Media- OS Selector to select vista, then I got the 1 second vista boot options but vista wouldn't load
the power would just go out

problem was again with the "Sata Controler" Advanced BIOS setting on the machine, I had to change it this time from "IDE" back to "AHCI" and then, through the Acronis OS Selector I was able to get back into vista

if i didn't use the Acronis OS selector it would just keep booting w2k3,

at this point I had overlooked that I should have tried to use the vista boot loader on w2k3 like you did but I didn't realize that so I use the Acronis OS selector (then I probably would have been able to get the windows boot menu choices)

7 so then I was in vista, and i tried to use vista boot loader like your solution but wasn't able to add an entry for w2k3 on the d: drive, the active partition on my system was the S: but windows 2003 was installed on D: so i couldn't figure it out

i used instead EasyBCD to add an entry for a "Windows Server 2003" OS to the boot manager with the drive being S: (even though that OS was actually installed on D:) and deleted the entry for "Previous version of windows", renamed them nicely and it works (also changed timeout to 15 seconds

vista boot loader can't even recognize the new entry I created in EasyBCD even though it is really there and working (maybe I just don't know how to use the vista boot loader)

8: i deactivated the Acronis OS selector and now only get the windows boot manager and can dual-boot between w2k3 and vista

my only catch is that I have to go into the machine BIOS - Advanced and change the "Sata Controller" to "IDE" when i want to go into Windows Server 2003 or "AHCI" when I want to go into Vista and it works everytime

it was real "mouth frothing" let me tell you :)

thanks again for your question !