Re: How do I solve this boot.ini problem with WinXP?

microman wrote:


"RajKohli" wrote:


This is a little bit not understandable that why are you configuring 2 different "Primary Partitions" for dual boot between Win2K and Win XP. If you have already Win2K installed then you easily install WinXP on a Logical Drive.

It doesn't matter that you are creating 2 Primary Partitions on a Single HDD or Multiple Hard Disk only one can be set as a "Active Partition". You can use XOSL (Extended Operating System Loader) kind of program to boot between different Primary Partitions. But I don't think that it will be a good idea and it is a little bit complicated too. The main function of XOSL is to detect different OS from different partitions and make a partition active when you use a different Primary Partition to boot from.

I will suggest you that if you already have Win2K in working condition then run Windows XP setup through it and make a "Clean Install" on a different Logical Drive not Primary Partition.

Hope this is what you are missing, let us know!


"microman" wrote:


I've been trying to dual-boot WinXP Home with Win2K (having now used Win2K for several years), and yes it IS possible; even the readme file on the WinXP CD says you can, provided the two OSs are in separate primary partitions or you're not trying to update one with the other.

Trouble is that I boot to the WinXP CD and go through the WinXP Setup, it completes, the PC automatically reboots and the splashscreen of WinXP shows and WinXP starts to open. But there it ends. The screen goes blank and stays like it.

To cut a long story short, I've concluded that the problem lies with the NT Loader, in that the system files of Win2K called NTLDR and NTDetect.com differ from those of WinXP, the Win2K ones dating back to 1999. Win2K is the OS in the boot partition (C:) and so the choice between the two OSs is there when I then boot the PC but (as I understand it) WinXP picks up the wrong NTLDR and NTDetect.com files and so fails to boot to screen.

The article at:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3bEN-US%3bQ315233

gives some insight into this and gives a possible solution. This involves copying the XP versions of the two files to the Win2K partition. Since I can still run Win2K and can also explore the WinXP CD, to get at the two newer files, I could copy them across, as suggested.

However, the article is ambiguous, in that it's not clear whether identical pairs of these files need to exist in both XP and 2K. Also, whether you're supposed to delete the Win2K's versions of these files before then copying across from the XP CD. Does anyone know the answer to this? Has anyone met this problem?

Actually, when you look in an up-to-date Win2K, the existing files NTLDR and NTDetect.com get used in other folders, other than just residing in the root folder. This means that if you changed the versions in the root folder, you'd end up with two different versions of the files in Win2K. Some of the existing ones are involved in uninstalling service pack files, etc., so are quite important.

If this grabs your interest, go to Windows Explorer in each of Win2K and WinXP, and go to Tools/Folder Options and untick Hide System Files (Recommended), then search for these files in the respective root areas. Better still, do Search/Files & Folders. You'll see what I mean.

I'm anxious to get WinXP booted to screen but this seems the only hope in doing it. A problem peculiar to dual-booting, it seems.





Thanks, everyone, for your various suggestions.

Jerry,

I've read what you've written and am not sure to which part of the whole WinXP Setup cycle you're referring. I'm certainly booting to the XP CD initially, having changed the BIOS to do so. I'm finding that toward the end of the WinXP Setup, the PC reboots itself and that's where the XP splashscreen then appears. But then the screen goes blank and stays blank. I've then had no option but to power off. When I power the PC back on, I get the same result if I choose to go into WinXP. I've tried this last bit, leaving the CD in the drive and then not leaving the CD in the drive, but WinXP still refuses to boot. On the assumption that I'll finally manage to get XP to boot to screen, should I leave the XP CD in the drive until I'm specifically instructed by the Setup or Welcome to WinXP to remove it?

John,

Having unmasked the system files in Folder Options, I yesterday tried to overwrite the ntldr file in my Win2K root folder but the system wouldn't let me do it. I got an error message saying it was a protected file. An example of the files I'm currently seeing in the Win2K partition are:

NTDETECT.COM C:\
ntdetect.com C:\cmdcons
ntdetect.com C:\WINNT\$NtServicePackUninstall$
ntdetect.com C:\WINNT\ServicePackFiles\i386

So, this is why I'm wary of REPLACING ntdetect.com. There are similar folder nestings for the file ntldr. Maybe a distinction has to be made between REPLACING the existing file in the Win2K root or ADDING a new file? And are files that are in different cases (upper/lower) considered different, anyway? Do you see what I mean?

The Upper/lower case makes no difference at all. The file has to be replaced, there cannot be two copies of the files with the same name in the root folder. The boot process uses only the files in the root directory, the other ones are not used. The Windows XP version of the files are aware of earlier Windows versions and know how to boot these earlier versions. Try renaming the existing file or try doing it from the recovery console as it says in the article you mentioned earlier. Are you sure that is the cause of your problem?

Having Windows installed on different primary partitions (as opposed to logical drives) make no difference. You can have up to four primary partitions if you want and have a different operating system on each of them, it doesn't matter to Windows one way or the other, there will only be one active partition, aka the System partition or System volume, and the files necessary to start the operating system will be stored in the root directory of the System partition. What does the boot.ini file contain, what does it say for the XP setup? Does it point to the setup bootsector?

John

John

.

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