I think Win 8.1 kills my Vista OS.

[Baron]

Currently I like Win 8.1 and it runs (so far well) since I applied the update a little while back.

Now, I install my OS's on separate HDD's of their own.

I used to have Vista, Win 7 and Win 8 (a few months ago when I bought Win 8 when it was on offer (£25) running which I could choose through the BIOS as to which one I wanted to boot up with no problems.

Recently I upgraded the vanilla Win 8 to 8.1 I found that it had somehow knackered the Vista installation, as using 'This PC' to view my drives I found that the drive for Vista was labelled 'NTFS' and any access was denied.

I found this out because I tried to boot up with Vista, and found that it wouldn't, even after the CHKDSK routines it ran, so looked in 'This PC' to see what was what, and clicking on that drive I got the 'access denied' info box.

So I just formatted that drive and left it alone for a few weeks.

I reinstalled Vista on to it's HDD yesterday, with just the SP2 pack, chipset and LAN drivers.
All other HDD's had been disconnected, as is my usual procedure.

Win 8.1 killed it and labelled the drive 'NTFS'.

Also the CHKDSK routine kicked in on every reboot, the same as before.

So, today I tried again installing Vista on different HDD (in case the other one was a bit 'iffy')..and I know that drive was OK because it was running Windows 7..which I don't like that much.

Again, when I shut down and connected the Win 8.1 HDD, the Vista drive was again labelled 'NTFS' and 'access denied'.

All is fine until the Win 8.1 HDD is re-connected, which is when it all goes wrong.



Now, I actually like Win 8.1, but I also like Vista (yes, I know I am a leper ) and just wanted the option to run them both as only Vista will work on one site I need to use, which will only accept IE8/9 32bit browsers............I have tried a couple of other browsers, but - no go.

I suppose I could re-install Win 7, as I think it will run with Win 8.1 installed, but, I am not keen on it.

Has anyone any ideas as to why when I try to run two different OS's (on separate HDD's) Win 8.1 will kill it ?

Sorry for the long post, but was just trying to give all info...

[Baron]

I have managed to be able now to boot up with either Vista or Win 8.1.

So far so good, apart from a CHKDSK routine which I didn't cancel and let it run.

[Jon Gerow]

Wow! You had me worried.

I haven't dual booted in a while.

I got my wife's PC up to 8.1, but I think I'll stick with 7 for a while on my rig.

[c_hegge]

After I had a play with 8, I just said to myself "Wow! And I though Vista was bad!"

Yeah, I hated vista for how much of a memory hog it was, but I can't stand the metro and the fact that there's no longer an F8 boot menu for safe mode.

[Baron]

Thank you for your replies Gentlemen.

I thought I had it cracked as two Sata data cables seemed to cause problems on boot up, either not booting, or, booting up causing the chkdsk routine to run.
This involved a lot of faffing about with just having the OS drive connected and booting up, shutting down to try out the Sata cables I have, and two seemed dodgy, so I have filed them in the bin.

So I have ordered a few new cables....

However, The Vista drive on its own had to go through a rather tedious chkdsk routine before it would arrive at the desktop in fully working order.

I even cloned the Vista drive onto a spare empty one, and then disconnected that drive as a 'standby'.
Well, that didn't go to well because as the original was sodding about, I then replaced that with the 'clone' drive, and that then refused to boot properly..etc..

For now, I have had enough, and have disconnected the Win 8.1 drive and will carry on knocking Vista into shape to include some software and games, now that it is running very nicely.

When Win 8 came out, I tried it and didn't like it much. Then I installed the 8.1 preview version, and didn't much like that either, so formatted the HDD and installed Win 8 again and left it unconnected to await the 'proper' 8.1 version.
So later when it was released, I connected up the Win 8 drive and installed 8.1 over it.

I use 'Classic Shell' to knock the menu and start button to how I like things (the old way ), and (ordinarily) it runs very nicely, and I like it with the 'start screen' out of the way.

Now I also very much like Vista (sorry about that) but that also runs very well and never causes me any grief and does all that I want with the option of a 32/64 bit IE8 browser (I don't like 9 or 10 much for that matter) and as I say I need a 32bit browser of IE8/9 for a site that I need to use, which is another reason why I need Vista.

So, for the time being until the 'fix it Fairy' appears, I shall just plug in either Vista or Win 8.1 to run that day.....as it seems that having the two drives plugged in causes a bit of havoc.

Sorry about the ramble, but my 'mileage' is a little high from being made in 1945...

[Jon Gerow]

Don't be sorry about liking Vista. I didn't hate it as much as everyone told me I should.

[Baron]

Don't be sorry about liking Vista. I didn't hate it as much as everyone told me I should.

Phew, I am not alone.

Trouble is, apart from my recent problems, Vista just runs very nicely without fuss, plays all my games from UT99 - BF3. It has the option of an IE 32/64bit browser (Yes I know most people hate IE and I prefer IE8) but for me it works just fine...I click on a link, and the page opens.

I will just have to wait and see if new data cables make any difference, but I am not holding my breath.

The future looks like I will have to decided on either running Vista, or, Win 8.1.
The problem is I like both of them, but Win 8.1 is limited by a 64bit browser, which a site I use is not geared up for...yet, so it is useless for that.

Thank you anyway for taking the time to reply, as I guess you are very busy, but since I am a Pensioned off old fart, I have plenty of time on my hands.

[xnd_bogdan]

After I had a play with 8, I just said to myself "Wow! And I though Vista was bad!"

Yeah, I hated vista for how much of a memory hog it was, but I can't stand the metro and the fact that there's no longer an F8 boot menu for safe mode.

No worries, good friend.
You can get rid of the metro UI by installing "Classic Shell". It's a free piece of software.
And the F8 boot menu can be brought back with some modding.