For years, I used a program called Bootpart to add non-Windows NT operating systems to the NT boot loader. When I played around with Linux, for example, I’d skip installing GRUB or LILO; instead I’d boot into Windows and use Bootpart to add the Linux partition to BOOT.INI. Since I never really got the hang of Linux – or had specific issues with specific distros – I was always going to want to boot into Windows by default. By using Bootpart I could continue using the NT Boot Loader; when the time came to uninstall Linux, I only needed to delete the Linux partitions and make a couple of tweaks to the BOOT.INI file… and Linux was gone!
Sadly, Bootpart hasn’t been updated in ages, and is not compatible with Windows Vista’s new bootloader. So last night, when I installed Windows XP on a system with Windows Vista already installed, I needed some way to add XP to Vista’s bootloader. Enter EasyBCD. This handy (and FREE!) program can add entries for NTLDR-based Windows operating systems (Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP) to the Vista boot loader, and also supports adding Linux, Mac OS X and BSD installations as well. It’s fast and easy, and it does what it says it’ll do. If you need to add a new operating system to your Vista bootloader, EasyBCD is the way to go!