Win 2000 won't load on dual boot machine.

[SnailUK]

Here’s what I did! I previously had two machines, one running Win 2000pro and one Win XP pro. I decided to install both on a new 60 GB HD so I had a single machine that would dual boot.

I created three partitions on the new HD and using ‘Drive Copy’ copied the Win 2000 into the first partition on the Win 2000 machine. I tested it and it booted up fine.

I then installed the HD to the other machine (Win XP) and performed a clean install of Win XP pro onto the second partition. This worked fine and the system booted up offering the dual boot choice and XP loaded ok. However when I tried to boot to Win 2000 on this machine it just hangs and won’t run.

What worries me is that if I now try to re-install Win 2000 it will mess up the boot sector and the ‘XP’ will then not load!

Can anybody advise me if it is safe to do this or if not what other options are open to me please?

 

[xyrx]

Just to further clarify, exactly what is the boot process for Win2k? Does it come up with the splash screen, does it hang at a black screen, etc?

 

[SnailUK]

xyrz-to clarify: When it askes you to select the operating system, I select Win 2000 and hit 'enter'. I imediatly get a black screen and it hangs there. I have to turn off and re-start, ctrl-alt-del doesn't work.

 

[wolluf]

Did you ever run the copied 2000 installation on its own in the new machine? Point being - it was a copy of installation from a different machine (ie, different hardware components). In this situation, Windows usually has to reinstall a number of drivers to get itself working with new configuration. So, I would have got the win2000 installation working before installing the XP (by the way, have you tried safe mode on the win2k?). Also, what did you use to partition the new disk (as 2k and XP can get upset with partitions not created with their own partitioning tools).
I think I would tend to start again (ie, install 2k and XP from scratch - removing all existing partitions during the win2k install - and creating one for itself - leaving enough space for others. Create second during XP install).

If you want to try just reinstalling 2k, you could save the boot files (boot.ini ntldr & ntdetect.com - ) and reinstall 2k to 1st partition. This will stop XP booting - but if you replace the boot files above after 2k reinstall, it should boot XP again. If problem after this, boot PC from XP CD and go into Recovery Console & use the fixboot command on the C: drive.

 

[SnailUK]

wolluf- Thanks! No, I realise I was silly but I never ran the 2k on the new system before loading XP.....I partitioned the HD origiaally using the win 2K computer management admin tools from the original 2K installation with the new HD installed as a slave.

I like the idea of trying to re-install 2K, but can't find the three files you mention to save, can you tell me where they will be please?

If I make a ghost image of the XP partition to be safe, as I now have it fully loaded up, and if I have to re-install XP again on the second partition can I then copy the ghost image back over this, will it then still boot to this ok?

 

[m4526]

set the hard disk as primary dos parton
then install windows setup it will ask do you want to change it (ie fat fat32 )use fat32 afer installing windows2k
then install xp.If you are using sdram xp wont run right
you need DDR ram to run xp good fast Cpu

 

[wolluf]

The 3 files should be in the root of your win2k system drive (c:?) - you'll need to have 'show hidden files and folders' enabled and 'Hide protected operating system files' disabled to be able to see them in explorer (folder options, view tab). As 2k and XP share these files (and latest version prevails), the ntldr & ntdetect.com should now be XP version (so dated 23/8/2001 I think). If you ghost the XP as backup you should be ok restoring it if necessary as long as you have the boot files ok. You can also make a boot floppy with these 3 files - just format floppy in XP or 2k and copy the 3 files to it. If anything goes wrong with boot sector on hard drive (use recovery console & fixboot if it does), you can still boot using this floppy.