I recently reinstalled Windows XP SP2 while having Windows 7

Question

I can't boot Windows 7 and I don't have the bootable Windows 7 DVD to repair, but I have a DVD image from which I installed it, but when I start setup it shows only the option of installing it.

How can I repair the existing installation instead of reinstalling?

Answer 1

What's probably happening is that you have no boot loader that's capable of detecting/booting windows 7.

If you had XP installed then installed windows 7, it'd install a boot loader capable of loading both OS'.

But since you installed 7 first, then XP, there's no valid boot loader since XP doesn't know anything about booting Windows 7.

At this point, you need to use your Windows 7 DVD to re-instate a valid boot loader. Here's a guide for doing that, skip to 'Method 2'.

Answer 2

1. Burn the ISO image to a CD
2. Boot to the CD
3. Click the Repair link in the lower right corner of the first screen