Installing Win2K Pro

[rn5a]

Due to some reasons (God knows what they are), Win2K which was
installed in the C:\ drive got corrupt. I now want to re-install Win2K
in the C:\ drive. I have the Windows 2000 Pro CD with me but when I try
to boot my m/c from the CD-ROM (with the Win2K Pro CD inside), my m/c
doesn't boot from the Win2K CD. I was told by one of my friends that
the reason why the m/c isn't booting from the Win2K CD is because the
Win2K CD is not a bootable CD although he wasn't very sure about it.

Is he correct? If yes, then isn't there any other way by which I can
re-install Win2K Pro in the C:\ drive of my m/c?

Or is there any way by which I can convert the Win2K CD that I have
with me into a bootable CD?

Please help......I desperately need a concrete solution.....

 

[John John]

Genuine Windows 2000 CD's are bootable. Did you go in the BIOS and set
the Boot Order so that the CD drive boots before the hard disc? If you
cannot boot from the cd then you can try this:

How To Create Setup Boot Disks for Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/197063

Make sure you have your Windows 2000 product key before you begin, you
cannot install Windows without it.

John

 

[rn5a]

Did you go in the BIOS and set

the Boot Order so that the CD drive boots before the hard disc?

Yes, I did.

Make sure you have your Windows 2000 product key before you begin, you
cannot install Windows without it.

I do have the Win2K Product Key.

How To Create Setup Boot Disks for Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/197063

I followed the steps outlined in the article at the above URL & created
the 4 floppy disks but how do I use them to install Win2K? Do I have to
go to the BIOS & change the boot order so that my m/c boots from the
floppy disks? If yes, which of the 4 floppy disks do I use to boot? The
first one???

 

[NewScience]

I followed the steps outlined in the article at the above URL & created

the 4 floppy disks but how do I use them to install Win2K? Do I have to
go to the BIOS & change the boot order so that my m/c boots from the
floppy disks? If yes, which of the 4 floppy disks do I use to boot? The
first one???

Yes. Change BIOS and use Floppy Disk 1.

Did you try booting in Safe Mode and could you? You could run the CD from
there.

 

[rn5a]

Did you try booting in Safe Mode and could you? You could run the CD from

there.

Yes, I did try booting in the Safe Mode but that didn't help me out.

 

[rn5a]

I just forgot to mention one point - the article under the topic titled
"Create Boot Disks" says to run MakeBoot.exe from the BootDisk folder
on the Win2K CD-ROM. This creates 4 floppy disks.

Thereafter the 3rd point under the same topic says to run the command

drive:\bootdisk\makeboot a:

(where 'drive' is the CD-ROM drive). This step again asks for 4 floppy
disks - the contents of which are exactly identical to the contents of
the 4 floppy disks that were created earlier.

So why create a second set of the 4 floppy disks?

Moreover, floppy disks are highly unreliable. So why does Microsoft
advice to use floppy disks to create the set of Setup boot disks for
Win2K? Why not some other removeable media (like CDs) which are far
more reliable than floppy disks?

 

[David Webb]

You're getting the instructions confused. The first statement simply tells one
what has to be done to create the four floppy disks, it's then followed by a
step-by-step procedure. If you've already created the disk set, there's no need
to do it again.

The four floppy disks are used to bootup from a system that cannot boot from the
CD-ROM or if the CDR disc itself is not bootable. After the last disk has
completed its tasks it asks for the Windows 2000 installation disc. This is
simply an alternate method to startup a PC in order to install or repair Windows
2000, it's not a method to start an existing Windows configuration.

| I just forgot to mention one point - the article under the topic titled
| "Create Boot Disks" says to run MakeBoot.exe from the BootDisk folder
| on the Win2K CD-ROM. This creates 4 floppy disks.
|
| Thereafter the 3rd point under the same topic says to run the command
|
| drive:\bootdisk\makeboot a:
|
| (where 'drive' is the CD-ROM drive). This step again asks for 4 floppy
| disks - the contents of which are exactly identical to the contents of
| the 4 floppy disks that were created earlier.
|
| So why create a second set of the 4 floppy disks?
|
| Moreover, floppy disks are highly unreliable. So why does Microsoft
| advice to use floppy disks to create the set of Setup boot disks for
| Win2K? Why not some other removeable media (like CDs) which are far
| more reliable than floppy disks?
|
|
| NewScience wrote:
| > > I followed the steps outlined in the article at the above URL & created
| > > the 4 floppy disks but how do I use them to install Win2K? Do I have to
| > > go to the BIOS & change the boot order so that my m/c boots from the
| > > floppy disks? If yes, which of the 4 floppy disks do I use to boot? The
| > > first one???
| >
| > Yes. Change BIOS and use Floppy Disk 1.
| >
| > Did you try booting in Safe Mode and could you? You could run the CD from
| > there.
| >
| >
| > | > >> Did you go in the BIOS and set
| > >> the Boot Order so that the CD drive boots before the hard disc?
| > >
| > > Yes, I did.
| > >
| > >> Make sure you have your Windows 2000 product key before you begin, you
| > >> cannot install Windows without it.
| > >
| > > I do have the Win2K Product Key.
| > >
| > >> How To Create Setup Boot Disks for Windows 2000
| > >> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/197063
| > >
| > > I followed the steps outlined in the article at the above URL & created
| > > the 4 floppy disks but how do I use them to install Win2K? Do I have to
| > > go to the BIOS & change the boot order so that my m/c boots from the
| > > floppy disks? If yes, which of the 4 floppy disks do I use to boot? The
| > > first one???
| > >
| > >
| > > John John wrote:
| > >> Genuine Windows 2000 CD's are bootable. Did you go in the BIOS and set
| > >> the Boot Order so that the CD drive boots before the hard disc? If you
| > >> cannot boot from the cd then you can try this:
| > >>
| > >> How To Create Setup Boot Disks for Windows 2000
| > >> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/197063
| > >>
| > >> Make sure you have your Windows 2000 product key before you begin, you
| > >> cannot install Windows without it.
| > >>
| > >> John
| > >>
| > >> (e-mail address removed) wrote:
| > >>
| > >> > Due to some reasons (God knows what they are), Win2K which was
| > >> > installed in the C:\ drive got corrupt. I now want to re-install Win2K
| > >> > in the C:\ drive. I have the Windows 2000 Pro CD with me but when I try
| > >> > to boot my m/c from the CD-ROM (with the Win2K Pro CD inside), my m/c
| > >> > doesn't boot from the Win2K CD. I was told by one of my friends that
| > >> > the reason why the m/c isn't booting from the Win2K CD is because the
| > >> > Win2K CD is not a bootable CD although he wasn't very sure about it.
| > >> >
| > >> > Is he correct? If yes, then isn't there any other way by which I can
| > >> > re-install Win2K Pro in the C:\ drive of my m/c?
| > >> >
| > >> > Or is there any way by which I can convert the Win2K CD that I have
| > >> > with me into a bootable CD?
| > >> >
| > >> > Please help......I desperately need a concrete solution.....
| > >> >
| > >
|

 

[rn5a]

I could finally manage to repair (& not re-install) Win2K Pro in the C:
drive using the 4 floppy disks but had to pay a price for it. Actually
I also have WinXP installed in the D: drive. After repairing Win2K,
when I tried to start WinXP, the following error was generated:

----------
Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupt:

\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEMd
----------

Note that the above error gets generated when I try to start WinXP Pro;
Win2K Pro is working fine now.

What I fail to understand is when I am trying to start WinXP, why does
the error message point to Win2K?

Moreover, after repairing Win2K, what I find is the D: drive got
changed to F: drive & F: drive got changed to D: drive (there are 3
drives in my m/c - C: where Win2K Pro is installed, D: where WinXP Pro
is installed & F: drive)! Now why has this happened?

Someone please help me out.....

Since long, my m/c is dual booted with Win2K Pro & WinXP Pro & this
eccentricity started about a week back.

This is really driving me crazy. When I repair Win2K Pro, then somehow
WinXP Pro gets corrupted & when I repair WinXP Pro, then Win2K gets
corrupted!

 

[John John]

It's going from bad to worse! Before everything blows up completely
make sure that your data is properly backed up!

When you repaired Windows 2000, the Windows XP copies of ntdetect.com
and ntldr were probably replaced with Windows 2000 versions. These
files are used to boot the operating systems. Find and replace these
two files with the ones on your Windows XP cd and see what happens.
These are hidden files in the root folder of the System partition, to
find them you will have to change the Folder Options to unhide them.
Usually they are stored at C:\ , the ones in other folders are copies
and backups only, the ones in use and to be changed will be in the
System drive's root folder. The Windows XP version of these files are
aware of previous operating systems and are able to boot the older
oprating systems. The Windows 2000 versions are unaware of Windows XP
and may not be able to boot the newer Operating System. You can replace
these files while you are booted in Windows 2000.

After you change these files, if the Windows XP system still refuses to
boot check the boot.ini file to see if the arc path corresponds to the
location of the XP installation. Boot.ini is also a hidden file and it
will also be in the System drive root folder along with the two other
files mentioned earlier. You can copy and paste the contents of the
file here if you wish and someone may be able to decipher the arc path
for you and tell you if it makes any sense. Another way to test the
validity of the boot files would be to make an NT boot floppy and see if
you can boot XP with it. http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/ntboot/ The
boot.ini file there should boot Windows XP. It probably won't boot
Windows 2000 but don bother with that for the time being, that is just a
minor detail, by default Windows 2000 is in the WINNT folder and the
boot.ini file on Bart's site points to the WINDOWS folder, which is
correct for XP. As I said, minor details, for now we just want to find
out if the XP installation is still in one sound piece and if it boots
properly.

John

 

[rn5a]

John, you are great....simply great. I am running short of words to
thank you for your suggestion to replace NTLDR & NTDETECT.COM existing
in C:\ with the ones existing in the WinXP Pro CD. Now I am able to
boot into both Win2K Pro & WinXP Pro.

I never expected the solution to be such an easy one.

Thanks once again a trillion times......

RN

 

[John John]

You're welcome. Glad I could help and thank you for the follow up.

John

 

[rn5a]

John, as already pointed out earlier, when viewing 'My Computer' in
Win2K, I find that the D:\ drive has become the F:\ drive & the F:\
drive has become the D:\ drive. (all the folders & files existing in
these 2 drives also got interchanged accordingly). For e.g. assume that
the D:\ drive is named 'ABC' & the F:\ drive is named 'XYZ' (both
without quotes).

When I am viewing 'My Computer' in WinXP Pro, then the D: drive is
designated as ABC (D & the F: drive is designated as XYZ (F. This
is how it should actually be but when I log into Win2K Pro, I find that
the D: drive is designated as XYZ (D & the F: drive is designated as
ABC (F. Even the files & folders existing in these 2 drives
interchange i.e. when logged into WinXP, the files & folders existing
in the D:\ drive get transferred to the F:\ drive when I log into
Win2K. Similarly when logged into WinXP, the files & folders existing
in the F:\ drive get transferred to the D:\ drive when I log into
Win2K.

Why this discrepancy? Can this be resolved in Win2K?

 

[John John]

While in Windows 2000 go in the Disk Management utility and right click
on the proper disk and volumes (D & then F) and then select "Change
Drive Letter and Path..." Click on "Edit" and move the drive letters of
the volumes up to unused letters to free up the currently used "D" & "F"
letters, like X & Y for example. Now reassign the X & Y drives to the
newly available D & F letters as you want them. You cannot do that with
the System and Boot volumes. These changes will only affect Windows
2000, these letter assignments are held in each operating system's own
registry.

To access Disk Management Right click on "My Computer and select
"Manage". Alternatively it can be accessed via the Start |
Administrative Tools | Computer Management menu, or you can enter
diskmgmt.msc in the Start | Run box.

John