Win2k install problem with 2 primary partitions?

[Steve Evans]

I have been running 2k on a hard drive with 2 primary partitions (c:
windows, d: data) for some time now, and recently decided it was time
for a fresh install.
i Went through the usual process of booting from the win2k cd,
deleting and fat32 formatting the existing windows partition and then
installing windows. The install process didn't give me any options as
to where I wanted the boot files and proceeded as normal.
After installation and about 2 hours of updates/program installs etc,
I discovered that it had put the boot files on d: and made that drive
active but the \winnt was on c: as normal.
After much faffing with partition magic and boot files, and making the
system completely unbootable, I gave up and restored a drive image of
the system - phew!

I have never seen this problem when installing on another system,
however, that system has 1 primary and 1 extended partition. Could it
be that win2k gets confused when there are 2 primary partitions
involved?

Cheers

 

[Bjorn Landemoo]

Steve

Win2000 setup will not create a primary partition if one already exists.
Instead it creates a logical drive in an extended partition. This probably
is a backwards compatibility issue with DOS/Win9x.

In order to circumvent this, in your situation, you would need to create
the primary partition by other means, for instance by using Partition
Magic, and set it active before starting Win2000 setup.

Best regards

Bjorn

 

[Steve Evans]

Steve

Win2000 setup will not create a primary partition if one already exists.
Instead it creates a logical drive in an extended partition. This probably
is a backwards compatibility issue with DOS/Win9x.

In order to circumvent this, in your situation, you would need to create
the primary partition by other means, for instance by using Partition
Magic, and set it active before starting Win2000 setup.

Best regards

Bjorn

Bjorn
The 2 primary partitions already exist on the drive, and c is set
active. I'm not asking setup to change the drive partitioning scheme,
just to install itself on the currently active drive - which it
doesn't do.
I shall try changing the second primary to a logical and see if it
installs properly, if it does then I guess 2k can't handle 2 primaries
on 1 disk.

Cheers

 

[Bjorn Landemoo]

Bjorn
The 2 primary partitions already exist on the drive, and c is set
active. I'm not asking setup to change the drive partitioning scheme,
just to install itself on the currently active drive - which it
doesn't do.
I shall try changing the second primary to a logical and see if it
installs properly, if it does then I guess 2k can't handle 2 primaries
on 1 disk.

Cheers

Steve

You wrote that you used Win2000 setup to delete your first partition and
create a new one. This will create an extended partition and a logical
drive within it, and keep your second partition as primary and active, and
store the boot files there, exactly like you described.

Check again that C: really is a primary partition, and active. If it is,
then Win2000 should use it, and your issue shouldn't come up.

Win2000 can handle up to four primary partitions on each disk.

Best regards

Bjorn

 

[Wolf Kirchmeir]

Steve

You wrote that you used Win2000 setup to delete your first partition and
create a new one. This will create an extended partition and a logical
drive within it, and keep your second partition as primary and active, and
store the boot files there, exactly like you described.

Check again that C: really is a primary partition, and active. If it is,
then Win2000 should use it, and your issue shouldn't come up.

Win2000 can handle up to four primary partitions on each disk.

Add: "But if you have four primary parttitons, you can't have an
extended partition."

NB 1: that an extended partition can have any number of logical
partitions in it, up to the limit of drive letter availability.

NB 2: if you have no primary partitions, you cannot boot from that
drive, leastways not with W2K or its relatives. AFAIK, only Linux and
its relatives can boot from logical partitions. Just in case you wanted
to know.

HTH&GL

 

[Bjorn Landemoo]

NB 1: that an extended partition can have any number of logical
partitions in it, up to the limit of drive letter availability.

Wolf

You can have more logical drives than drive letters. You can mount them as
folders on another partition. This MS Knowledge Base article has more
information:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314449

Best regards

Bjorn