[GaWd]

Hello all!

I'm trying to "recover" from a dual boot situation, and I can't seem to get my boot.ini file properly formatted.

I installed a copy of Longhorn on a second hard drive. I removed the hard drive with Longhorn, and have a disk with Win2K still in my machine. Now on reboot, it automatically tries to boot to the old OS which is no longer there.

In Boot.ini Win2K is set as partition 1 for default. Should it be partition 0 or something? I just want my machine to boot directly into windows 2000 again because I have some apps that run all day long and if my machine restarts, it sits at an error screen all day long while I'm at work.

TIA,

Sam

 

[LONGHAIR]

Longhorn is the newer OS, so it overwrote the original boot.ini file when you installed it. You could try repairing the Win2000 install. Just insert the CD and follow it to repair it.

 

[GaWd]

Still, it should be a simple text edit to repair. With the longhorn entries removed, the Win2K entries are set as partition 1, does anyone know if partition 0 will fix it?

I'm not much of a Boot manager guy.

Sam

 

[jameso321]

I think what he is saying is you may have an NTLDR from longhorn now. Newest NTLDR are made to recognize all the older OS like 2000 XP etc.

Which may not be a bad thing, I have to read more about it.

Here is a normal XP boot.ini

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

That's all I can offer at this point.

A "dual-boot guru" can for sure answer this

 

[GaWd]

Sorry I misunderstood!

He may be right, too. Here is my boot.ini currently:

[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional"
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /FASTDETECT

It will only load Win2K if I select it from the list when starting up. Is that because it's a Longhorn loader? If so, I'll pull out my trusty, very dusty Win2K disk and repair the bootloader.

Thanks,

Sam

 

[LONGHAIR]

Yes, the Longhorn bootoaler is the problem. Your Win2000 CD should be able to fix it.

 

[crjdriver]

After you do a repair of win2k, you will need to do some other things as well.

Reapply service pack 4
Reapply chipset / mb drivers [not absolutely necessary, however I always reapply the drivers]
Reinstall DirectX9b
Reinstall any patches, hot fixes, updates to IE [you will now have IE5, if you upgraded to IE6, the setup files should be in the winnt\windowsupdate folder]
I generally like to reapply the video driver as well.

 

[crjdriver]

That post was for a repair install of win2k. If you are using the win2k cd to boot into the Recovery Console and edit the boot.ini file, you will not have to do the steps I posted. If you do a repair install of win2k, you will need to do them.

You can copy the ntldr, ntdetect.com from the win2k cd and overwrite the ones you have now. If you want instructions on how to do that, post back. The repair install will also fix the problem; you just have more work to do when you finish the repair.

 

[GaWd]

Thanks crj,

I shouldn't have to do any repairing other than the bootloader. The ONLY thing affected was the bootloader, not my Win2K install.

Thank you very much for your instruction!

Sam

 

[DaveBurnett]

You might need to do a FIXMBR and a FIXBOOT, in fact I think that is all you should need to do.

 

[Boo_Compaq]

Hello all!

I'm trying to "recover" from a dual boot situation, and I can't seem to get my boot.ini file properly formatted.

I installed a copy of Longhorn on a second hard drive. I removed the hard drive with Longhorn, and have a disk with Win2K still in my machine. Now on reboot, it automatically tries to boot to the old OS which is no longer there.
Sam

Im a little confused on how your win2k boot record got changed when you said you installed longhorn on a 2nd hard drive....if they are 2 different hard drives, there would be two different boot records...maybe im just misunderstanding...

 

[GaWd]

Feel like letting me in on the operation of those commands?

Thanks!

Sam

 

[GaWd]

Beats the hell out of me Boo.

My Primary drive is a 80GB drive. I have a secondary drive which was 20GB. I installed the infernal Longhorn "glut system". Thoroughly disgusted, I deleted the OS. I actually think the hard drive is still installed, but I haven't paid much attention lately.

Ever since then, it is as I described.

Sam

 

[Boo_Compaq]

lol...well i guess thats windows for ya huh?

Well as far as i know, there are a few tools out there to fix the mbr...i didnt know there was a builtin function, but try reading up on fixmbr then...i dont know much about it really....

Hope you get it fixed soon