Removing hard drive from multiboot computer that won't boot withou

[Guest]

I have a multi boot system with 2 hard drives configured as follows:

I have one hard drive with Windows ME. One partition. Checking in Windows XP
under Disk Managment, this drive is labeled as: Disk2-Vol 1 (C. Primary
partition. (It, also, states SYSTEM).

On the second hard drive I have two partitions:

a) First partition is Drive D and is labeled as DRV2_Vol 1 (D Primary
Partition. (It, also, states BOOT). This partition has Windows XP with FAT
32 format, not NTFS.

b) The other partition on this second drive is Drive E and is labeled as
DISK2_Vol 1 (E Logical Drive. This partition has Windows ME operating
system. (FORGET THIS PARTITION AS IT IS MEANINGLESS AND I WILL BE DELETING
IT AS SOON AS I CAN REMOVE THE HARD DRIVE WITH WINDOWS ME (C.)

I want to remove the hard drive with Windows ME (C from the computer, but
I cannot as the system will not boot without it. There is no boot.ini file
in Windows XP (D on the second hard drive; the boot.ini file is on the hard
drive with Windows ME (C.

The boot.ini file in Windows ME (C reads as follows:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

(I know, there are two entries for Windows XP; don't know why, but they both
work, and I am sure I could just delete one from the boot.ini file and get
rid of the redundancy. Just haven't done it. On the screen where I get to
select the operating system, there are the two Windows XP (D entries and
one for Windows, which is the hard drive with WINDOWS ME (C.)

My question is what do I need to do to get the computer to boot without the
hard drive with Windows ME (C being installed in the computer.

Do I need to modify and copy to / place a boot.ini file someplace in Windows
XP?

Do I need to do anything with the 'NTLDR' and 'NTDETECT.COM' files?

Do I need to do anything with a 'paging file'?

Thanks for your assistance.

gman

 

[Rich Barry]

You could try copying ntldr, ntdetect.com, bootsect.dos and boot.ini to
drive D: Then use the recovery console to
do a rebuild of boot.ini and mbr. Check this article on Recovery
Console.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058

You are primarily interested in the commands: bootcfg /scan and
rebuild Fixboot Fixmbr

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Rich, for your response. This sounds very complicated and I am
concerned about doing something that would require an entire reinstall. I
cannot risk that as it would take too much time (although I do have a back up
of D.

Can you tell me -- in layman's terms -- exactly why the computer will not
boot without the C: drive present. Is it just that the boot.ini file is
missing on D:? Or, is it more complicated?

Thanks,

gman

You could try copying ntldr, ntdetect.com, bootsect.dos and boot.ini to
drive D: Then use the recovery console to
do a rebuild of boot.ini and mbr. Check this article on Recovery
Console.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058

You are primarily interested in the commands: bootcfg /scan and
rebuild Fixboot Fixmbr

I have a multi boot system with 2 hard drives configured as follows:

I have one hard drive with Windows ME. One partition. Checking in Windows
XP
under Disk Managment, this drive is labeled as: Disk2-Vol 1 (C. Primary
partition. (It, also, states SYSTEM).

On the second hard drive I have two partitions:

a) First partition is Drive D and is labeled as DRV2_Vol 1 (D Primary
Partition. (It, also, states BOOT). This partition has Windows XP with
FAT
32 format, not NTFS.

b) The other partition on this second drive is Drive E and is labeled as
DISK2_Vol 1 (E Logical Drive. This partition has Windows ME operating
system. (FORGET THIS PARTITION AS IT IS MEANINGLESS AND I WILL BE
DELETING
IT AS SOON AS I CAN REMOVE THE HARD DRIVE WITH WINDOWS ME (C.)

I want to remove the hard drive with Windows ME (C from the computer,
but
I cannot as the system will not boot without it. There is no boot.ini
file
in Windows XP (D on the second hard drive; the boot.ini file is on the
hard
drive with Windows ME (C.

The boot.ini file in Windows ME (C reads as follows:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

(I know, there are two entries for Windows XP; don't know why, but they
both
work, and I am sure I could just delete one from the boot.ini file and get
rid of the redundancy. Just haven't done it. On the screen where I get
to
select the operating system, there are the two Windows XP (D entries and
one for Windows, which is the hard drive with WINDOWS ME (C.)

My question is what do I need to do to get the computer to boot without
the
hard drive with Windows ME (C being installed in the computer.

Do I need to modify and copy to / place a boot.ini file someplace in
Windows
XP?

Do I need to do anything with the 'NTLDR' and 'NTDETECT.COM' files?

Do I need to do anything with a 'paging file'?

Thanks for your assistance.

gman

 

[SeaMaid]

I found the files you mentioned in the root directory but do not see
bootsect.dos. (View hidden and protected system files is enabled.) Is
bootsec.dos in the C root directory? If so, will I only see it if I boot
with recovery console? It does not show up in Windows. Or, will it not show
up at all since my drive is NTFS? What exact syntax would I use if I ever
have to do repair my MBR?

bootcfg /scan /rebuild

-or is it-

bootcfg /scan
bootcfg /rebuild

-and then-

fixboot [drive name]:
(C in my case, drive letter where boot sector will be written)
fixmbr

- or is it-

fixboot [drive name]:
fixmbr \device\harddisk[number]
(harddisk0 in my case, not sure what to put for [device])

Finally, is there a way to back up the boot sector without cloning the
entire hard drive? I'd like to be able to back up and restore just the boot
sector in case there's a problem. Right now I can restore the operating
system partition through cloning -- so long as the boot sector and boot
record are not damaged. If they get damaged, I have no way to repair or
restore them. Thanks.

SeaMaid
(formerly ForestSpirit)

You could try copying ntldr, ntdetect.com, bootsect.dos and boot.ini
to drive D: Then use the recovery console to
do a rebuild of boot.ini and mbr. Check this article on Recovery
Console.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058

You are primarily interested in the commands: bootcfg /scan and
rebuild Fixboot Fixmbr

I have a multi boot system with 2 hard drives configured as follows:

I have one hard drive with Windows ME. One partition. Checking in Windows
XP
under Disk Managment, this drive is labeled as: Disk2-Vol 1 (C. Primary
partition. (It, also, states SYSTEM).

On the second hard drive I have two partitions:

a) First partition is Drive D and is labeled as DRV2_Vol 1 (D Primary
Partition. (It, also, states BOOT). This partition has Windows XP with
FAT
32 format, not NTFS.

b) The other partition on this second drive is Drive E and is labeled as
DISK2_Vol 1 (E Logical Drive. This partition has Windows ME operating
system. (FORGET THIS PARTITION AS IT IS MEANINGLESS AND I WILL BE
DELETING
IT AS SOON AS I CAN REMOVE THE HARD DRIVE WITH WINDOWS ME (C.)

I want to remove the hard drive with Windows ME (C from the computer,
but
I cannot as the system will not boot without it. There is no boot.ini
file
in Windows XP (D on the second hard drive; the boot.ini file is on the
hard
drive with Windows ME (C.

The boot.ini file in Windows ME (C reads as follows:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

(I know, there are two entries for Windows XP; don't know why, but they
both
work, and I am sure I could just delete one from the boot.ini file and
get
rid of the redundancy. Just haven't done it. On the screen where I get
to
select the operating system, there are the two Windows XP (D entries
and
one for Windows, which is the hard drive with WINDOWS ME (C.)

My question is what do I need to do to get the computer to boot without
the
hard drive with Windows ME (C being installed in the computer.

Do I need to modify and copy to / place a boot.ini file someplace in
Windows
XP?

Do I need to do anything with the 'NTLDR' and 'NTDETECT.COM' files?

Do I need to do anything with a 'paging file'?

Thanks for your assistance.

gman