Question：
After rolling-back a failed upgrade from Windows Vista Home Premium to Vista Ultimate on a dual boot computer, XP fails.
Trying to repair the XP installation results in a stop error during the final reboot. Subsequent reboots result in an endless loop of :
"You must activate this copy of windows do you want to activate now?"
Answer: "Yes."
System reboots.
There is no way to load the XP OS, not even in Safe Mode, so trouble shooting is impossible. The Windows Activation by telephone system requires that the computer be on the activation screen which never appears.
My instincts tell me that the initial Vista upgrade failed because it somehow confused the drive letters and then somehow messed up the boot sector when it rolled back. I'm afraid to attempt to fix the XP boot sector since that might blow up the Vista partition.
This is a build box that was set up to be able to compile the same source files on either XP or Vista so reinstalling XP from scratch is a bad option.
There are two IDE hard drives on the system, the first drive has two partitions and the second has only one. Drive letters in Windows are assigned as C:, D:, and H: with E: and F: being optical drives and G: a portable USB drive.
Answer 1：Hello JSHepple,
Thank you for using Microsoft Windows Vista Forums.
Sorry you are having issues with this. Since you have recently performed this upgrade have you tried a 'System Restore'?
Also what is happening when you select 'yes' to "You must activate this copy of windows do you want to activate now"? What happens when it reboots and what are you seeing?
Using the System Restore tool may not necessarily help you determine the issue. The System Restore tool uses restore points to return system files and settings to an earlier point in time. You can use it to restore the operating system to a point in time in which you did not experience the issue.
Please let me know if restore has resolved this problem or if you are still having any questions.
How to repair the operating system and how to restore the operating system configuration to an earlier point in time in Windows Vista?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936212/
How to turn off and turn on System Restore in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310405
James
Answer 2：
Thank you for your reply, James.
>> Since you have recently performed this upgrade have you tried a 'System Restore'?
If you mean a system restore in XP, there are no restore points available in XP running from a command prompt in Safe Mode. I'm not sure what would happen if I could access the OS but I suspect the restore points were cleared when I ran repair.
If you mean in Vista, no I have not.
>>so what is happening when you select 'yes' to "You must activate this copy of windows do you want to activate now"? What happens when it reboots and what are you seeing?
The log on screen opens with the Windows Genuine Advantage notification that Windows must be registered in the bottom right of the screen. When I enter my password the message box pops up saying that I must register my copy of Windows asking if I want to do it now. If I say yes there's no screen activity for perhaps a minute, then the system reboots. If I say no the system reboots and we go through the same loop.
I've tried renaming the WGA files to *.old and then expanding the files from the XP CD to the Windows\system32 folder to no avail.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Jeff
Answer 3：Hi JSHepple,
It seem like you have quite a problem on your hand. When you press F8, is there an option to Turn off automatic reboot? If yes, try that. You probably will get a blue screen error with some error code. Post back with that error code.
If there is no such option, there two things you can try but they are darastic. First, you need Vista and XP boot disk.
Use the Vista boot disk and attempt a Startup Repair. It might resolve the issues with the partitions without affecting the Vista partition.
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/5c59f8c1-b0d1-4f1a-af55-74f3922f3f351033.mspx#ESG
Your second options is to do a repair installation using the XP boot disk, backup your data if possible or access your hard drive and manually save your data before attempt this:
The XP Pro operating systems offers a clean system install that keeps your current profile settings.
1. Place the XP CD in the CD Drive and restart your machine
2. Press F12 upon bootup and select to boot from the CD...make sure to press a key when prompted
3. At the Welcome to Setup Screen, press Enter to Setup Windows XP now
4. Press F8 to accept the license agreement
5. Once Windows searches and Finds your instance of XP, Press R to repair that installation. The Repair process then selectively deletes system files in the \Windows folder and subfolders and copies undamaged replacement files from the setup CD to their proper locations.
6. Your system will reboot and take you through the XP setup process, not to worry. Your repairing an existing version of XP, your not replacing it. Continue through the Setup and you should be good to go.
Let us know if this work,
Kevin
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