Hi, Philip.
My favorite is the Windows XP Professional Resource Kit. That's a big
(1700+ pages) expensive ($59.99 list price) book. Half of it is written for
the "big boys" who need to roll out WinXP to thousands of PCs in their giant
corporations, or to install it on their network. Still, I find that the
half that applies to a one-computer guy like me is worth the price of the
whole book. After all, the understanding I gain from this will benefit me,
not for just my immediate problem but for as long as I continue to use PCs
and Windows, which might be for the rest of my life. So I've invested the
money - and the time - to read most of the resource kits for WinXP and its
predecessors (Win98 and Win2K).
You can read the resource kits for free online; select from the menu at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/default.asp
For this specific topic, drill down to Chapter 28:
Troubleshooting Startup
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...indows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prork_overview.asp
This includes a section on:
Understanding the Startup Process
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmc_str_nzwt.asp
But Chapter 27 might be more appropriate to your current problem:
Troubleshooting Disks and File Systems
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmc_str_nzwt.asp
(These links don't always land on the exact page I have in mind, but you
should be able to find the information nearby.)
There's also a lot of information about disks and file systems in the Help
file reached from Disk Management.
When you post back here, Philip, please include some basic information about
your computer, especially how many hard disks, which interface (IDE, SCSI,
SATA?) do they use, how are they partitioned, and where is WinXP installed?
Without that info, I'm shooting in the dark, and who knows what I might hit.
And NONE of that info is in your prior posts. :>(
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
R. C. White said:
Hi, Philip.
Whoops! I didn't notice that you had joined the thread and thought your
boot.ini was David's.
I did notice that my 'SYSTEM' disc is set as D:
This might be a LOT harder to fix. It might even require a re-install, or
at least an in-place upgrade. I don't have time to get into that today,
but I'll try to get back tomorrow - unless someone else jumps in with a
better answer.
In the meantime, you might want to read this KB article:
How To Restore the System/Boot Drive Letter in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;223188
It's easy to use Disk Management to change drive letters EXCEPT for the
System and Boot volumes. Those are established at Setup and aren't easy
to change except by running Setup again.
RC
philip said:
Its Philip actually but thx for your response.
I tried it without sucess, and then some more things
eventually having to a restore as the boot just failed.
I did notice that my 'SYSTEM' disc is set as D:
Does this mean the BIOS goes straight there and anything
in C: is ignored? Maybe there is some other MS url I
should go to to read about the boot process?
Actually I think I can live with this transient errormsg
and I thank you again for your time.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
Hi, David.
Is it possible to get rid of the boot up errormsg please?
Yep. Easy. Just a couple of edits in C:\boot.ini. ;^}
Thanks for posting your boot.ini. It shows an inconsistency that is
tripping up the boot process.
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINNT...
Your boot.ini defaults to rdisk(0), but the only installation listed under
[operating systems] is on rdisk(2). You apparently should have an
additional line under [operating systems]:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="win2k on C:" /fastdetect
That oughta do it. Your opening menu will offer both C: and D:, but will
default to C:. If you want to change the default to D:, then change the
line under "timeout=30" to rdisk(2).
HDs are counted starting with zero. So, rdisk(2) would be your THIRD HD
(after 0 and 1). Partition numbers start with one on each HD.
And, of course, you can reduce the timeout; I like about 5 seconds, but
that's up to you. When there is only one choice available, the boot menu
flashes by so quickly that we don't see it. If you haven't seen the menu,
it may be because you've had only one option under [operating systems].
RC
Thanks R.C.White for the info on boot.ini
I too have my W2k in D: (this is disk2,partition1).It
boots and runs ok but I get errormsg
"invalid BOOT.INI file
Booting from C:\WINNT\"
(maybe I should leave well alone?)
My boot.ini in C: looks like
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINNT="win2k on
D:" /fastdetect
Is it possible to get rid of the boot up errormsg please?
tia
Philip
-----Original Message-----
Hi, David.
Terminology is likely to trip you up here. We use words
like "drive" and
"disk" and "system" and "boot" as though they were
interchangeable - but
sometimes the distinction is critical.
A hard disk gets partitioned into primary partitions
and/or an extended
partition, which will include one or more logical
drives. Each primary
partition and each logical drive is a "volume" and gets
assigned a "drive"
letter and formatted.
From your message, we have no way to know whether Drive
D: is the second
partition on your first HD, or the first logical drive on
your third HD - or
something else. Assuming a single HD and just two
partitions, then...
No matter where you install Win2K, the computer will
start the boot in the
"system partition", which will be the first primary
partition. The few
"system files" (usually just NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and
Boot.ini, much less
than 1 MB total) MUST be in the Root of this Drive C:.
All the rest of
Win2K can be on just about any volume on any HD in your
computer. When you
boot from the Win2K CD-ROM, tell it to do a "clean
install" into Drive D:.
It will create a new "boot folder" (D:\WinNT, by default)
and install the
many megabytes of operating system files there. There
can be multiple "boot
volumes", one for each Windows installation, but only a
single "system
partition" for the whole computer.
If Setup detects that you already have Win2K installed
(in C:\WinNT), it
will add your new installation to C:\boot.ini, creating a
dual-boot setup.
If you look at boot.ini, you will see that it is a simple
text file, easily
edited with Notepad or any other editor, although it has
Hidden, System and
Read-Only attributes. Boot.ini refers to the boot folder
using the disk
NUMBER (starting with zero) and partition NUMBER
(starting with one on each
HD) as rdisk(#)partition(#)\WinNT. In our assumed one-
disk system, C: would
be rdisk(0)partition(1); D: would be rdisk(0)partition
(2). When you boot
and are presented the menu to choose, the two
installations will look
identical. You should manually edit the labels (in
quotes) in boot.ini so
that humans can tell the difference.
Even when you choose to boot into the Win2K on D:, the
computer must still
start in C:, then follow C:\boot.ini's pointer to find
D:\WinNT.
If you choose, you can then delete C:\WinNT to reclaim
the disk space, then
edit C:\boot.ini to remove the line that would try to
boot from
partition(0). When only one Windows is installed, the
boot menu will no
longer appear on reboot.
RC
message
I have Windows 2000 runninning on C drive, I want to Make
the larger D drive the system disc. I've tried to
install
windows2000 but it keeps reinstalling(multiple operating
sysytem) on C, with no system on D. Is there support to
help me do this. Can some one help me, or do I have to
pay
a gut to come to my office?
Thanks David
