booting vista external hdd

I am having issues booting Windows Vista. I have installed it successfully with no issues. I change my boot sequence form my CD drive to boot from external HDD (where I installed Vista, a 100gb partition you know just in case). I have 3 HDDs one has XP on it and the other has data on it and the third of course has Vista on a partition. My boot sequence for my HDD’s is my local HDD, the data HDD and then the external HDD, I use this same boot sequence all the time. If I have the external HDD on and boot, various error screens pop along the way of booting. The first one is to fast for me to read but I think it says something about Windows Diagnostic. The next screen- Windows has recovered from a serious error- (windows root) system32/intoskrnl and it gives me the start windows normally option, safe mode. None of the options work because it starts to reboot and gets to the point where the Windows Vista loads with the progress bar and then restarts again. I think there may be a BSOD in there also but it goes by rather quickly. Now if the external HDD is off. When I boot it gives me this error. F/Windows/system32/winload.exe (F is my HDD with all my data on it- and I realize it is in the boot sequence but it never gave me this error before unless if I accidently changed something in the BIOS…). Anyway a screen promotes me with the F/Window… error and gives me an option to start Windows with an earlier edition or use Vista. I am able to click on XP and everything works fine like expected. It should also be noted my external HDD is a logical not a primary drive, I do not know if that makes or a difference or how to change it but this may be the issue. My goal is to do a dual boot with Vista on my external or data drive and Windows XP on my local HDD. Thanks any help in advance and if this is very confusing because it is for me you are welcome to ask questions.

I am having issues booting Windows Vista. I have installed it successfully with no issues. I change my boot sequence form my CD drive to boot from external HDD (where I installed Vista, a 100gb partition you know just in case). I have 3 HDDs one has XP on it and the other has data on it and the third of course has Vista on a partition. My boot sequence for my HDD’s is my local HDD, the data HDD and then the external HDD, I use this same boot sequence all the time. If I have the external HDD on and boot, various error screens pop along the way of booting. The first one is to fast for me to read but I think it says something about Windows Diagnostic. The next screen- Windows has recovered from a serious error- (windows root) system32/intoskrnl and it gives me the start windows normally option, safe mode. None of the options work because it starts to reboot and gets to the point where the Windows Vista loads with the progress bar and then restarts again. I think there may be a BSOD in there also but it goes by rather quickly. Now if the external HDD is off. When I boot it gives me this error. F/Windows/system32/winload.exe (F is my HDD with all my data on it- and I realize it is in the boot sequence but it never gave me this error before unless if I accidently changed something in the BIOS…). Anyway a screen promotes me with the F/Window… error and gives me an option to start Windows with an earlier edition or use Vista. I am able to click on XP and everything works fine like expected. It should also be noted my external HDD is a logical not a primary drive, I do not know if that makes or a difference or how to change it but this may be the issue. My goal is to do a dual boot with Vista on my external or data drive and Windows XP on my local HDD. Thanks any help in advance and if this is very confusing because it is for me you are welcome to ask questions.

I have also tried to use the recovery tool in the Vista CD but it was unable to automatically repair it due to a booting isssues. Sorry forget to include.
"Octopus" wrote:

I am having issues booting Windows Vista. I have installed it successfully with no issues. I change my boot sequence form my CD drive to boot from external HDD (where I installed Vista, a 100gb partition you know just in case). I have 3 HDDs one has XP on it and the other has data on it and the third of course has Vista on a partition. My boot sequence for my HDD’s is my local HDD, the data HDD and then the external HDD, I use this same boot sequence all the time. If I have the external HDD on and boot, various error screens pop along the way of booting. The first one is to fast for me to read but I think it says something about Windows Diagnostic. The next screen- Windows has recovered from a serious error- (windows root) system32/intoskrnl and it gives me the start windows normally option, safe mode. None of the options work because it starts to reboot and gets to the point where the Windows Vista loads with the progress bar and then restarts again. I think there may be a BSOD in there also but it goes by rather quickly. Now if the external HDD is off. When I boot it gives me this error. F/Windows/system32/winload.exe (F is my HDD with all my data on it- and I realize it is in the boot sequence but it never gave me this error before unless if I accidently changed something in the BIOS…). Anyway a screen promotes me with the F/Window… error and gives me an option to start Windows with an earlier edition or use Vista. I am able to click on XP and everything works fine like expected. It should also be noted my external HDD is a logical not a primary drive, I do not know if that makes or a difference or how to change it but this may be the issue. My goal is to do a dual boot with Vista on my external or data drive and Windows XP on my local HDD. Thanks any help in advance and if this is very confusing because it is for me you are welcome to ask questions.

you can't boot Vista from an external hard drive. If you install it to the data drive, it will probably work, but I'm not sure how it will be affected by having two different internal hard drives.
"Octopus" wrote:

I have also tried to use the recovery tool in the Vista CD but it was unable to automatically repair it due to a booting isssues. Sorry forget to include.
"Octopus" wrote:
I am having issues booting Windows Vista. I have installed it successfully with no issues. I change my boot sequence form my CD drive to boot from external HDD (where I installed Vista, a 100gb partition you know just in case). I have 3 HDDs one has XP on it and the other has data on it and the third of course has Vista on a partition. My boot sequence for my HDD’s is my local HDD, the data HDD and then the external HDD, I use this same boot sequence all the time. If I have the external HDD on and boot, various error screens pop along the way of booting. The first one is to fast for me to read but I think it says something about Windows Diagnostic. The next screen- Windows has recovered from a serious error- (windows root) system32/intoskrnl and it gives me the start windows normally option, safe mode. None of the options work because it starts to reboot and gets to the point where the Windows Vista loads with the progress bar and then restarts again. I think there may be a BSOD in there also but it goes by rather quickly. Now if the external HDD is off. When I boot it gives me this error. F/Windows/system32/winload.exe (F is my HDD with all my data on it- and I realize it is in the boot sequence but it never gave me this error before unless if I accidently changed something in the BIOS…). Anyway a screen promotes me with the F/Window… error and gives me an option to start Windows with an earlier edition or use Vista. I am able to click on XP and everything works fine like expected. It should also be noted my external HDD is a logical not a primary drive, I do not know if that makes or a difference or how to change it but this may be the issue. My goal is to do a dual boot with Vista on my external or data drive and Windows XP on my local HDD. Thanks any help in advance and if this is very confusing because it is for me you are welcome to ask questions.