Installation: doesn't see setup files on hard drive?

[That guy.]

I'm booting off the CD (Win2kpro) and after it formats the drive and copies
files to C: drive it says its going to reboot. It says to remove any floppy
(but doesn't mention CD's) that might be in a drive. Upon reboot if I
remove the CD it stops with the message "Boot disk failure. Insert system
disk......" If I leave the CD in, the install process described above
begins again. Then it reboots, and on it goes. Just an endless loop. What
fun. This is the second CD that this has happened with and the second hard
drive. Checked hard drive jumpers, switched IDE cables, etc. Any
suggestions?

 

[Dave Patrick]

To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup
disks. The set of four install disks can be created from your Windows 2000
CD-Rom; change to the \bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute
makeboot.exe (from dos) or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the
prompts.

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions
found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

Be sure to apply these to your new install before connecting to any network.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

You didn't mention the drive controller (possibly SCSI, or ultra DMA, or
ATA100, or raid, or serial ATA), but you may need to boot the Windows 2000
setup disks or CD-Rom and *F6* very early and very important (at setup is
inspecting your system) in the setup to prevent drive controller detection,
and select S to specify additional drivers. Then later you'll be prompted to
insert the manufacturer supplied Windows 2000 driver for your drive's
controller in drive "A"

If you wait and then S to specify additional drivers, then it may be too
late as Windows 2000 Setup at this point may have already assigned the
resources your drive's controller is wanting to use.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| I'm booting off the CD (Win2kpro) and after it formats the drive and
copies
| files to C: drive it says its going to reboot. It says to remove any
floppy
| (but doesn't mention CD's) that might be in a drive. Upon reboot if I
| remove the CD it stops with the message "Boot disk failure. Insert system
| disk......" If I leave the CD in, the install process described above
| begins again. Then it reboots, and on it goes. Just an endless loop.
What
| fun. This is the second CD that this has happened with and the second
hard
| drive. Checked hard drive jumpers, switched IDE cables, etc. Any
| suggestions?
|
|

 

[That guy.]

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other
partitions

found.

I didn't want to delete a partition I created before. It is formatted.
Shouldn't that be OK to install to?

After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

Be sure to apply these to your new install before connecting to any network.http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

You didn't mention the drive controller (possibly SCSI, or ultra DMA, or
ATA100, or raid, or serial ATA), but you may need to boot the Windows 2000
setup disks or CD-Rom and *F6* very early and very important (at setup is
inspecting your system) in the setup to prevent drive controller detection,
and select S to specify additional drivers. Then later you'll be prompted to
insert the manufacturer supplied Windows 2000 driver for your drive's
controller in drive "A"

If you wait and then S to specify additional drivers, then it may be too
late as Windows 2000 Setup at this point may have already assigned the
resources your drive's controller is wanting to use.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| I'm booting off the CD (Win2kpro) and after it formats the drive and
copies
| files to C: drive it says its going to reboot. It says to remove any
floppy
| (but doesn't mention CD's) that might be in a drive. Upon reboot if I
| remove the CD it stops with the message "Boot disk failure. Insert system
| disk......" If I leave the CD in, the install process described above
| begins again. Then it reboots, and on it goes. Just an endless loop.
What
| fun. This is the second CD that this has happened with and the second
hard
| drive. Checked hard drive jumpers, switched IDE cables, etc. Any
| suggestions?
|
|

 

[Dave Patrick]

Probably as long as it is a primary partition and is marked as active.
(assuming one partition)

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:

| I didn't want to delete a partition I created before. It is formatted.
| Shouldn't that be OK to install to?

 

[That guy.]

it is. Any suggestions? I was reading on the microsoft website where the
boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect folders might be erased thereby prohibiting the
hard drive to be recognized. Now I can't find it.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Those are files not folders. Best to follow the steps I outlined.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| it is. Any suggestions? I was reading on the microsoft website where the
| boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect folders might be erased thereby prohibiting
the
| hard drive to be recognized. Now I can't find it.

 

[That guy.]

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other
partitions

found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

I'm not understanding the relevance of drive letter assignments. Wouldn't
they always be C:?

You didn't mention the drive controller

Just a normal IDE.

| I'm booting off the CD (Win2kpro) and after it formats the drive and
| copies files to C: drive it says its going to reboot. It says to remove any
| floppy (but doesn't mention CD's) that might be in a drive. Upon
| reboot if I remove the CD it stops with the message "Boot disk failure.
| Insert system disk......" If I leave the CD in, the install process
| described above begins again. Then it reboots, and on it goes. Just an
| endless loop. This is the second CD that this has happened with and the
| second hard drive. Checked hard drive jumpers, switched IDE cables,

etc.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Not always. Sometimes the previously used drive letters aren't released for
use.

"Boot disk failure"

This is an error message returned from your system bios and may indicate
some hardware has failed.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|> When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other
| partitions
| > found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
| > restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected
drive
| > letter assignments with your new install.
|
| I'm not understanding the relevance of drive letter assignments. Wouldn't
| they always be C:?
|
| > You didn't mention the drive controller
|
| Just a normal IDE.
|
| > | I'm booting off the CD (Win2kpro) and after it formats the drive and
| > | copies files to C: drive it says its going to reboot. It says to
remove
| any
| > | floppy (but doesn't mention CD's) that might be in a drive. Upon
| > | reboot if I remove the CD it stops with the message "Boot disk
failure.
| > | Insert system disk......" If I leave the CD in, the install process
| > | described above begins again. Then it reboots, and on it goes. Just
an
| > | endless loop. This is the second CD that this has happened with and
the
| > | second hard drive. Checked hard drive jumpers, switched IDE cables,
| etc.
|
|

 

[That guy.]

Not always. Sometimes the previously used drive letters aren't released
for use.

Interesting. I noticed that after I renamed a card reader and set its drive
letter @ Y: everything else that I installed as Y: would be also renamed the
same name as the card reader. How does one get it to release the drive
letter? I notice that if its installing in the beginning of the alphabet,
its overwritten automatically.

 

[Dave Patrick]

That might be an entirely different issue. The fix for the issue I mentioned
is to restart the pc.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|> Not always. Sometimes the previously used drive letters aren't released
| for use.
|
| Interesting. I noticed that after I renamed a card reader and set its
drive
| letter @ Y: everything else that I installed as Y: would be also renamed
the
| same name as the card reader. How does one get it to release the drive
| letter? I notice that if its installing in the beginning of the alphabet,
| its overwritten automatically.

 

[That guy.]

To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup

disks.When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other
partitions found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install,

Is this after or before it wants to format the disk?

then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

I installed from the CDrom and it wants to restart......obviously I have to remove the CDrom, then when
it starts it has a boot disk failure - it just doesn't see the files it just copied on to the hard drive.

Question: I have several hard drives. Would it be easier to install from a hard drive instead of from
the CDrom?

 

[That guy.]

I should have mentioned that it doesn't allow me to create 2 partitions. When I try to change the
partition size from 100% of the drive to something smaller it doesn't input the numbers (from either the
numberic keypad or the normal one). Would that be because I have to first create a parition at 100%
before I subdivide that partition into 2 smaller parts of that 100%?

 

[Dave Patrick]

:
|> To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or
setup
| > disks.When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other
| > partitions found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install,
|
| Is this after or before it wants to format the disk?
* Before

| > then again
| > restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected
drive
| > letter assignments with your new install.
|
| I installed from the CDrom and it wants to restart......obviously I have
to remove the CDrom, then when
| it starts it has a boot disk failure - it just doesn't see the files it
just copied on to the hard drive.

* This is an error message returned from your system bios and may indicate
some hardware has failed or the setup doesn't recognize the drive
controller.

You didn't mention the drive controller (possibly SCSI, or ultra DMA, or
ATA100, or raid, or serial ATA), but you may need to boot the Windows 2000
setup disks or CD-Rom and *F6* very early and very important (at setup is
inspecting your system) in the setup to prevent drive controller detection,
and select S to specify additional drivers. Then later you'll be prompted to
insert the manufacturer supplied Windows 2000 driver for your drive's
controller in drive "A"

If you wait and then S to specify additional drivers, then it may be too
late as Windows 2000 Setup at this point may have already assigned the
resources your drive's controller is wanting to use.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[Dave Patrick]

This article may help but you'll still need to get past the controller
driver issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=227707

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|I should have mentioned that it doesn't allow me to create 2 partitions.
When I try to change the
| partition size from 100% of the drive to something smaller it doesn't
input the numbers (from either the
| numberic keypad or the normal one). Would that be because I have to first
create a parition at 100%
| before I subdivide that partition into 2 smaller parts of that 100%?
|
| > > To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or
setup
| > > disks.When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other
| > > partitions found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install,
| >
| > Is this after or before it wants to format the disk?
| >
| > > then again
| > > restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected
drive
| > > letter assignments with your new install.
| >
| > I installed from the CDrom and it wants to restart......obviously I have
to remove the CDrom, then when
| > it starts it has a boot disk failure - it just doesn't see the files it
just copied on to the hard
| drive.
| >
| > Question: I have several hard drives. Would it be easier to install
from a hard drive instead of from
| > the CDrom?
| >
| > > | I'm booting off the CD (Win2kpro) and after it formats the drive and
| > > | copies files to C: drive it says its going to reboot. It says to
remove
| > > | any floppy
| > > | (but doesn't mention CD's) that might be in a drive. Upon reboot if
I
| > > | remove the CD it stops with the message "Boot disk failure. Insert
system
| > > | disk......" If I leave the CD in, the install process described
above
| > > | begins again. Then it reboots, and on it goes. Just an endless
loop.
| > > | This is the second CD that this has happened with and the second
| > > | hard drive. Checked hard drive jumpers, switched IDE cables, etc.
| >
| >
|
|

 

[That guy.]

This article may help but you'll still need to get past the controller

driver issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=227707

Unfortunately this article details problems of Win2k setup not allowing the selection of partition
"type". One problem I had was that it doesn't allow selection of partition "size". I searched the
"size" issue on the Microsoft site to no avail.

 

[Frank W.]

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions

found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

The hard drive still didn't see the new W2k setup files when it rebooted. I aborted the install right
after it deleted the existing partition, upon restart the setup files were copied, then the format, then
the files were copied, then the reboot. Then - boot disk error. Of course the cmos is correct -
starting on C: drive - not the CDrom. Help!

 

[Dave Patrick]

Actually its the other way around. You didn't mention the drive controller
(possibly SCSI, or ultra DMA, or ATA100, or raid, or serial ATA), but you
may need to boot the Windows 2000 setup disks or CD-Rom and *F6* very early
and very important (at setup is inspecting your system) in the setup to
prevent drive controller detection, and select S to specify additional
drivers. Then later you'll be prompted to insert the manufacturer supplied
Windows 2000 driver for your drive's controller in drive "A"

If you wait and then S to specify additional drivers, then it may be too
late as Windows 2000 Setup at this point may have already assigned the
resources your drive's controller is wanting to use.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| The hard drive still didn't see the new W2k setup files when it rebooted.
I aborted the install right
| after it deleted the existing partition, upon restart the setup files were
copied, then the format, then
| the files were copied, then the reboot. Then - boot disk error. Of
course the cmos is correct -
| starting on C: drive - not the CDrom. Help!
|
|

 

[Frank W.]

| The hard drive still didn't see the new W2k setup files when it rebooted.

I aborted the install right
| after it deleted the existing partition, upon restart the setup files were
copied, then the format, then
| the files were copied, then the reboot. Then - boot disk error. Of
course the cmos is correct -
| starting on C: drive - not the CDrom. Help!

Actually its the other way around. You didn't mention the drive controller

Just plain old IDE for the drive I'm installing. BUT...I have been using Win2k on a SCSI drive for 2
years. Is there a chance its still looking for the SCSI drive? I have the CMOS set to start with
"CDrom, C" and its booting off the CD OK. And when I set it to "C only" it doesn't see the CDrom. So
that seems to work.

What about copying all the CDrom files to the hard drive and booting with it? I read in a Windows
Resource Kit book a long time ago that an install from a hard drive is far faster and efficient than from
a CD. Any URL explaingin that procedure would be great. I have several hard drives so its no problem
moving stuff around. As for the problem of not being able to choose the size of the partition during the
install, I'll use Partition Magic later. Not worried about that now.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Is the scsi controller integrated or add-on? Check to see what device is the
boot device in cmos setup and or scsi controller bios (if add-on).

Near the bottom of this article is the procedure for running winnt.exe from
a dos boot disk. But this won't circumvent drive controller issue.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/.../professional/reskit/en-us/part2/proch04.mspx

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Just plain old IDE for the drive I'm installing. BUT...I have been using
Win2k on a SCSI drive for 2
| years. Is there a chance its still looking for the SCSI drive? I have
the CMOS set to start with
| "CDrom, C" and its booting off the CD OK. And when I set it to "C only"
it doesn't see the CDrom. So
| that seems to work.
|
| What about copying all the CDrom files to the hard drive and booting with
it? I read in a Windows
| Resource Kit book a long time ago that an install from a hard drive is far
faster and efficient than from
| a CD. Any URL explaingin that procedure would be great. I have several
hard drives so its no problem
| moving stuff around. As for the problem of not being able to choose the
size of the partition during the
| install, I'll use Partition Magic later. Not worried about that now.

 

[Dave Patrick]

You might also try removing the scsi devices till the OS is installed.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect