Re: involuntary logical drive in extended partition
- From: "R. C. White" <rc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 10:31:41 -0600
Hi, bgd.
Let's start with some basic questions. We may not need to know all this, but we do need to know some of it to give you helpful advice.
Will you be dual-booting Win98 and WinXP? Or do you want to "clean install" WinXP, deleting Win98 in the process? Or do you want to "upgrade" from Win98 to WinXP? How many hard drives are in your computer? How are they partitioned and formatted? Where (which volume) do you plan to install WinXP? It might help if we know the make and model of your computer, especially if Windows came pre-installed on it.
How do i make it primary? Reformatting?
You'll need to do more than reformat. You'll have to create a new primary partition, by booting from an MS-DOS floppy and using FDISK.exe. If you don't have any unallocated space on that HD (maybe because the extended partition is using it all), then you will have to delete one or more partitions (primary or extended) to make room for your new primary partition. AFTER the new primary partition is created, then you can format it. (I think that some third-party utilities, such as Partition Magic, can convert a logical drive to a primary partition in some circumstances, but nothing Microsoft sells will do this.)
But are you sure you need to make it a primary partition? Except for the System Partition, which must be a primary partition, WinXP is just as happy in a logical drive.
Depending on the answers to my basic questions above, you might not need to do any of this. If you just want to install WinXP from scratch, then boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and follow the prompts. One of the first questions is whether you want to create and format partitions on your HD. Tell it yes IF there is nothing on that physical drive that you want to save. Be sure to back up any irreplaceable files (family photos, financial records, etc.). Don't bother to back up applications; you'll need to install them again in WinXP from the original disks so that their setup programs can make the proper entries in WinXP's Registry. And don't bother to back up Win98's files; if you need them later, you can get them from the Win98 disk.
If you tell WinXP Setup to upgrade from Win98 to WinXP, then it will try to migrate your applications and drivers to the WinXP environment - and this usually works quite well. Have backups of your precious data, just in case.
To set up a dual-boot system, be sure to clean install WinXP into a separate volume from Win98. When WinXP's Setup detects that Win98 is already installed, it will copy the Win98 boot sector to a new file, then overwrite the boot sector with the WinXP version and write WinXP's startup files into the Root of the System Partition (the Active (bootable) partition on the HD currently designated in the computer BIOS as the boot device), typically C:\, but not always. The rest of WinXP's many megabytes of files will be installed into the \Windows "boot folder" on whichever volume you choose. By "volume", I mean any primary partition or any logical drive in an extended partition on any physical drive in your computer. Thereafter, each reboot will start in the System Partition and then branch to the operating system you choose by following the "road map" in C:\Boot.ini.
If you want to learn more about all this stuff, you might want to check out the online version of the WinXP Pro Resource Kit at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/reskit/c29621675.mspx
Much of this RK is aimed at IT departments of large organizations, but I find plenty of information that is useful to me in my single standalone computer situation. Check out the Troubleshooting sections in the back of the book, especially "Understanding the Startup Process" and "Troubleshooting Disks and File Systems". A few hours invested here can pay dividends for today and for as long as you continue to use computers.
"bgd" <bgd73@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:BeGKf.7293$Td2.5173@xxxxxxxxxxx
my C drive upon checking is not even primary. I did not use a win98 floppy disk to prepare drive for xp, i used its cd.
How do i make it primary? Reformatting?
Also, as usual, i have an 8mb unpartitioned, unnamed space at root of drive involuntarily because of doing this chore with cd..
This has happened to me several times already on previous systems with nt kernel (xp, 2k).Does it when it feels like it, i use cd all the time without this happening in exact same scenario, same pc sometimes.What does this so I can remember what not to do next time?
.
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