I recently installed Windows 7 in a triple boot setup alongside XP and Linux. When I was finished and was in the process of restoring the bootloader for Linux I discovered something strange about what Windows 7 had done. I discovered that Windows 7 had not installed a bootloader to it's own partition, and instead had instead set up a bootloader on the pre-existing XP partition that offers a choice between 7 and XP.
This behaviour has been noticed by others.
Now my booting is slightly odd. I have GRUB on the MBR which lets me choose between Linux and Windows. When I select Windows I have Grub boot to the XP partition where I get the 2nd choice between 7 and XP.
Why doesn't the Windows 7 installer put the Windows 7 bootloader on the Windows 7 partition like all previous MS OSs?
This is now going to be a real problem for me, as I now want to wipe the XP partition and install something else there (probably another non-MS OS).
How can I move the bootloader for Windows 7 onto the Windows 7 partition, thus making it bootable and allowing me to safely wipe the XP partition?
Best Answer
I have struggled this and the best solution I have come up with is http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-next-generation.htm
This has worked like great and makes a lot of these multi-boot issues go away. If you just need to move the boot loader the site has a article explaining how to do this (does not require their product): http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/category.php?id=61 This is probably what you want: http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=324
Using this, BootITNG and their image product I was able to setup independent installations of Ubuntu, Vista and Win7. This makes restoring one OS mush easier but the information on moving the boot manager is very helpful on it's own.