Where is my Vista?

[Diehard]

I just had a problem. I have 2 partition C and D. C is installed with Vista. Yesterday, I've tried to install Windows server 2003 into D and expected that I would have 2 OSs running in my z61t. Unfortunately, I can only load Windows Server 2003.
Where is my Vista? I have tried to edit boot.ini but could don't find the file.
I don't have Vista DVD to restore. God! What should I do?

[Diehard]

I opened boot.ini

old version
-------------

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Standard" /fastdetect
-----------

then I added new line for vista

---------
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Vista" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Standard" /fastdetect
----------

restarted the laptop, chose Vista, and saw only the cursor on the screen. What is going on?

[erik]

you have to use vista's boot manager to load vista.   unfortunately, i don't know how to fix this without using a vista DVD.   if you can find an "anytime upgrade" DVD then all you have to do is run the boot repair function from the DVD.

[Diehard]

I was able to fix it by EasyBCD, but now I have 3 days to active my Vista. It says the keys are invalid????!!!

Before this incident, the keys were valid. I checked it, and it shown on my screen!

[DAH]

At this point your best bet might be doing a restore to factory defaults to recover a working Vista environment. I believe I can provide a link to extend how long you have to activate, but it's not going to truly address your activation problem, and may create other problems as well. Your activation problem is tied into Vista security and I think it's unlikely you'll find an answer.... It's an area that people aren't happy to talk about, because it helps pirates.

Vista wants to be installed last. You can't do that with your installation. So please take a look at this thread, Installing XP on T61 dual boot problems ! and my last post in it. It provides instructions for how to get Vista to see XP, this should also work for your Windows Server 2003.