bootup files for XP, how does it determine where they go?

[Jerry Davis]

When I install XP the bootup files NTLDR, Boot.ini,
Ntdetect.com, etc seem to go on another partition than the
windows install itself. How does XP determine what
partition they go on. I would like these files to go on
my 'C drive' along with the Win XP install.

Using XP Pro, installing from the CD with a raid0 array
with 3 partitions.

Only thing I can think of is maybe it puts them on the
active partition, and when doing a partition in the setup
it moved the active partition to another one, still i dont
know.

Also will XP ever put these files on a Logical drive?
Also if I installed XP and it did this to me, could I just
copy over boot.ini, NTLDR and Ntdetect.com to my C: drive
and make it active to fix my issue.

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

When I install XP the bootup files NTLDR, Boot.ini,
Ntdetect.com, etc seem to go on another partition than the
windows install itself. How does XP determine what
partition they go on. I would like these files to go on
my 'C drive' along with the Win XP install.

Using XP Pro, installing from the CD with a raid0 array
with 3 partitions.

Only thing I can think of is maybe it puts them on the
active partition, and when doing a partition in the setup
it moved the active partition to another one, still i dont
know.

Jerry,

yes, that's correct. These files have to be in the first active
partition, that's where the BIOS finds the boot sector and the
boot sector finds the files.

Also will XP ever put these files on a Logical drive?

I don't know.

Also if I installed XP and it did this to me, could I just
copy over boot.ini, NTLDR and Ntdetect.com to my C: drive
and make it active to fix my issue.

Yes, but you may also have to put a proper boot sector there if
it doesn't exist yet.

Hans-Georg

 

[Guest]

Jerry said they go on a different partition by "default". I have run into
this same issue. If you view the partion information with a third party app
like Drive Image, you will see a smaller partion set aside (I guess for those
two files). Thanks for the post Jerry. I have been curious about this for a
long time. I think the purpose of this is to make windows harder to image.
I could be way off base on this. What does everyone else think?