Installation question for Windows NT 4.0

[wisdomwarrior23]

Frequently when I'm installing Windows NT Workstation or Server once I'm done with the installation I go into NT and configure my second partition in disk administrator. Once I do that I restart my system for changes to take effect and alot of times I get this kernel error missing kernel, please insert system disk and restart. It always happens when I configure and format that second partition on any computer I'm using. Can anyone give me any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong? The two partitions are both on the same physical hard disk.

 

[butchrecon]

I believe the problem has to do with your ARC naming.How are the partitions set up? FAT? NTFS? Aer you using SCSI or IDE drives? It sounds as if when you create the second partition that the ARC in the boot.ini file is modified to reflect the changes. Once this happens the system can no longer find the boot loader or kernal. AS soon as you finish the initial install you need to creat an Emergancy repair disk just incase of problems like this. Next when you are done creating the second partition and formating it, BEFORE you reboot, you need to edit the boot.ini file to reflect the changes mad.

 

[Voyager1]

Disk Administrator doesn't modify boot.ini - it only warns you that you have to...

Are you installing NT on the very first partition? If not, chances are pretty good that you are installing to an extended partition/logical DOS drive. If this is the case, when you create a new partition in DiskAdmin, it will create a primary, which will renumber everything except partition 1. DiskAdmin should warn you, but most people just blow off the warning. Edit your boot.ini and increase every instance of "partition(#)" by one - so "partition(2)" becomes "partition(3)". A better way is to go ahead and create all the partitions during setup - you can go back and format them later (it's much quicker in DiskAdmin).

Hope this helps - Bill

"You can get anything you want out of life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want" - Zig Ziglar

 

[wisdomwarrior23]

Thanks for the advice, I'll give this a shot. I just have one Ultra SCSI drive that I'm using on this system. I've been reinstalling NT on alot of machines lately and this seems to always give me trouble. I'm using Fat on my C partition and NTFS on my D partition. Sometimes I go with NTFS on both partitions and I've gotten the same results. I always end up reinstalling NT a bunch of times before it finally works properly. What do I need to edit in the Boot.ini file? I mean specifically is it intuitive as to how to change the arc names.

 

[butchrecon]

What partition are you putting the System files on? To edit the boot INI you need to do the following:
Go to a command prompt (DOS Prompt) and type attrib -s -h -r c:\boot.ini. You must disable the attributes for the boot.ini file in order to changer it.
Your boot.ini needs to look similar to the following:
[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="Windows NT Version 4.0"


Since you are using an SCSI dirive your boot syntax will either be multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows NT Version 4.0"
The multi(0) stands for SCSI with its BIOS turned on.
disk(0) is the first disk on the chain.
rdisk(0) is the chain number
partition(1) is the partition # the system files are on.
(If your SCSI bios is off then your multi(0) becomes scsi(0))

WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED EDITING THE BOOT.INI FILE YOU NEED TO REENABLE THE ATTRIBUTES! Very important.
attrib +s +h +r c:\boot.ini.


To help us out I need to know what partition your System files are on.

Jim

 

[wisdomwarrior23]

Hey thanks for all your guidance, my system files are on my C:\Winnt partition and then I have my D partition which will hold the rest of my programs and data. I have a 9 gb disk and I use about two and a half gig for Windows NT and the rest on my other partition. Everything is usually straight forward in the setup, especially since I've reinstalled NT so much, but I always get stumped on that part and it gets me everytime. Why does it do that? As soon as I format the other partition, reboot my system it gives me that kernel error. Thanks again.

 

[Mubashir]

From what you are saying Wisdomwarrior23, I think you are erroneously marking the second partition "D" as "Active", not knowing what it will do to your system.

As I see it when you install NT, reboot and make changes to Disk Administrator to create second partition whether FAT or NTFS you just seem to mark the new partition as "Active" that's why you get the message "kernel error missing kernel, please insert system disk and restart" on restarting.

Normally, you select the primary partition that contains the startup files for the operating system as "Active Partition".

If you are using "C" partition as you system and boot partition, "C" should be "Active", which is the default.

Technically speaking, the BIOS looks at the partition table found at 0 Track, finds the Active Partition and loads the OS from there. If it's NT, the NTLDR takes control from there onwards. It calls Boot.ini which further points towards the OS files you pick. Then the NTDETECT.COM comes into action and checks the hardware. From here, NTOSKRNL takes command from NTLDR and loads what you call Windows NT.

Now that's the little mistake you are making; marking "D" as "Active" when there's practically nothing on it.

If that's the case, I think there's a remedy too. If your primary partition is FAT, and you erroneously set "D" as active, boot the system with a DOS disk, run "FDISK" and set "C" as "Active" partition. Reboot the system and you should see your NT blue screen (ntoskrnl) again.

Go ahead if that's the mistake you are making and tell me about it as I have never done it!

Hope this helps.

Mubashir