Windows 8 missing on Bootmgr after Windows 7 install

Hello there,
I have been using windows 8 for quite sometime and wanted windows 7. What i did was install windows 7 fresh on another hard drive and windows 8 on another hard drive. My setup looks like the on below.

320GB HD - Windows 8

500GB HD - Windows 7

Now my problem is: When i installed windows 7 fresh on the 500GB hard drive. I can only Boot windows 7. Windows 8 has been removed and missing from the boot MBR. The only way i can boot windows 8 is disconnect all my hard drives and only boot from the 320GB hard where windows 8 is installed. When i have all hard drives connected Windows 7 is only listed on the Bootmgr. I am trying to figure out how i can add Windows 8 back to the Bootmgr.

- I have tried putting in the windows 7 disc and used the startup repair option no go.
- I have tried using the windows 8 advanced options CMD and using the following commands
bcdedit
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

Still not working?

Any ideas?

-Boot Manger looks like this
----> Windows 7 320 GB
----> no Windows 8

Boot Manger with all hard drive disconnected besides the 500GB Windows 8
--->500 GB Windows 8
---> No windows 7


please help.

Make sure that Win7 is working properly.
Then reinstall Win8 completely.

Please post a screenshot of disk management with both HD connected.

Here is the screenshot you requested. I used Partition manger instead, but should give you the same results.



I made a few changes from my last post. I installed Windows 7 on the 320GB hard drive which made windows 8 inaccessible on the boot manger. I then tried to fix the BootMBR by using some dos commands along with easyBCD which nothing seemed to work.

I then decided to reinstall windows 8 by backing up my data via windows easy transfer. Once i migrated all the data back on the clean windows 8 slate. I rebooted my PC and now i can only access windows 8 after freshly installing Windows 8. Windows 8 rewrote the bootMGR like windows 7 did. Right now i can only boot windows 8 and can't see windows 7 on the bootMBR.

Can you guys please help me fix the bootmgr, so i can access windows 8? I have tried Easy BCD and pointed Windows 7 to the correct drive, but it still will not find windows 7.

Hope the screenshot helps!

Thanks.

Any ideas?

We're really out of my depth here.
Does the Win8 installation use SecureBoot?

Lot's of interesting info on the process here (particularly disabling Fast Boot): How to Dual Boot Pre installed Windows 8 with Windows 7
Also, have a look at this Google search: https://www.google.com/search?q=dua...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

usasma said:

We're really out of my depth here.
Does the Win8 installation use SecureBoot?

Lot's of interesting info on the process here (particularly disabling Fast Boot): How to Dual Boot Pre installed Windows 8 with Windows 7
Also, have a look at this Google search: https://www.google.com/search?q=dua...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Click to expand...

No secure boot my motherboard doesn't support UEFI boot. I might try enabling fast boot to see if that fixes the problem.

I really need help with rewritting the BootMGR, so i can add Windows 7 because it is missing on the boot manger? Another way i had this working in the past was install a Linux distribution, which would install grub boot loader. Grub automatically found both Windows 8 and Windows 7.

Can anyone here step me through how to correctly rewrite the bootMGR? Otherwise i might give the Grub boot loader a try? Also is there any other third-party boot loaders that would fix this problem?

I'd try posting over in the General Forums both here and at Windows 7 Help Forums for advice on rewriting the bootMGR files.
I have a basic working knowledge of them, but not enough to add a new OS that isn't being recognized.

Good luck!