Which Drive Is Boot Drive

[Dr. Dunk]

How do I tell which drive my computer is being booted from? When I go to
Computer Management | Disk Management, my C drive shows as status Healthy
(Page File) and my D drive shows as Healthy (System). Does this mean I'm
booting from the D drive

 

[Kevin]

the partition with windows in it will be the one that boots

 

[Dr. Dunk]

I have cloned the C drive to the D drive, so they both have should have
Windows

 

[T.C.]

The boot.ini file from which Windows XP gets its boot info is on the C hard
drive/partition, even if Windows XP is installed on another drive/partition.
So, the C drive is actually the hard drive/partition which must boot first,
in order for Windows XP to load.

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

The boot.ini file from which Windows XP gets its boot info is on the C hard
drive/partition, even if Windows XP is installed on another drive/partition.
So, the C drive is actually the hard drive/partition which must boot first,
in order for Windows XP to load.

Not necessarily. Boot.ini (and NTLDR, etc. etc.) are on the active
partition of whatever drive the BIOS boots from (these days some BIOSs
can boot from drives other than HDD0), but there is no particular reason
(these days) why that partition should be called 'C:' rather than 'D',
'F:' or even 'X:'.

Many folks write in here moaning about how XP has installed itself on
the HDD0 partition1 and decided to call it E:, there then being no C:
partition at all (which screws up some programs).

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Control Panel/folder options/view tab, set it to see hidden and system
files.

Locate boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com on the root of one of your drives,
this is the boot drive.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Alex Nichol]

How do I tell which drive my computer is being booted from? When I go to
Computer Management | Disk Management, my C drive shows as status Healthy
(Page File) and my D drive shows as Healthy (System). Does this mean I'm
booting from the D drive

MIcrosoft has perverse nomenclature in this.

The one the initial boot is on will be C:. check for presence of the
(hidden, protected) boot.ini and ntldr and possible hiberfil.sys, none
of which will be elsewhere. Also the page file will be there unless you
deliberately move it. But Microsoft officially call this the System
drive.

The one where the System (windows folder) resides is sensibly (including
I think by Disk Management) described as 'System'. But Microsoft
officially call it the boot drive.

So you need to be careful whether you are talking to someone who is
logical, or someone talking 'officialese'

 

[Bee]

MIcrosoft has perverse nomenclature in this.
The one the initial boot is on will be C:. check for presence of the
(hidden, protected) boot.ini and ntldr and possible hiberfil.sys, none
of which will be elsewhere. Also the page file will be there unless you
deliberately move it. But Microsoft officially call this the System
drive.
The one where the System (windows folder) resides is sensibly (including
I think by Disk Management) described as 'System'. But Microsoft
officially call it the boot drive.
So you need to be careful whether you are talking to someone who is
logical, or someone talking 'officialese'

I have WinXP in both C drive and D drive.

When the active partition is C, Device Manager shows Status:
C Healthy (System)
D Healthy
When the active partition is D, Device Manager shows Status:
C Healthy (System)
D Healthy (Boot)
Search including hidden files and folders, active partition in either:
boot.ini not found
ntldr C drive only
ntldetect not found

Thank you Alex for clearing up the confusion. I am going to do some
experimentation: if C is completely cleared to a raw state and WinXP in D is
cloned and put to C, will ntldr then be missing in C? D is bootable while C
is intact with ntldr, but when C has the identity of D, will C be bootable,
D being deprived of ntldr?

 

[Bee]

I have WinXP in both C drive and D drive.
When the active partition is C, Device Manager shows Status:
C Healthy (System)
D Healthy
When the active partition is D, Device Manager shows Status:
C Healthy (System)
D Healthy (Boot)
Search including hidden files and folders, active partition in either:
boot.ini not found
ntldr C drive only
ntldetect not found
Thank you Alex for clearing up the confusion. I am going to do some
experimentation: if C is completely cleared to a raw state and WinXP in D is
cloned and put to C, will ntldr then be missing in C? D is bootable while C
is intact with ntldr, but when C has the identity of D, will C be bootable,
D being deprived of ntldr?

Sorry, ntdetect (not ntldetect) is found, but only in C. Strange, boot.ini
is absent in both drives.

 

[T.C.]

Have you opened My Computer (or Windows Explorer), clicked the Tools menu,
clicked Folder Options, clicked the Views tab, and selected: Show Hidden
Files and Folders, and UNCHECKED: Hide Protected System Files?

 

[Bee]

Have you opened My Computer (or Windows Explorer), clicked the Tools menu,
clicked Folder Options, clicked the Views tab, and selected: Show Hidden
Files and Folders, and UNCHECKED: Hide Protected System Files?

Thanks, T.C. Boot.ini is indeed a hidden protected system file. Now all
three are found, all in C. My mistake, for I took "Show Hidden Files and
Folders" to be inclusive, and to uncheck "Hide Protected System Files" would
be superfluous. I should have double checked that to be sure.

Following my last post, I attempted to boot from a byte-by-byte copied (from
C) WinXP on a G drive (hitherto unmentioned). Failed, right at the start
with an error message stating that hall.dll was missing. Not surprisingly,
as the copying engine was based on NTBackup, which would not have picked up
the Pre-installation Environment set of files.

I am getting an insight into the secret technique of hiding the OS from
being copied, all be it rather cloudy.