How do I install Windows 2000?

[ticketfan1310]

Ok I just formatted the disk on my Compaq Ap550 Workstation because it was running too slow and I wanted to speed it up. Well it turns out I am having trouble installing Windows 2000.

The screen says attempting to boot from

CD Rom
Floppy
Hard Drive

Then it says disk error strike any key when ready. I cannot get the cd too boot any thing up. How do I install it?

[ticketfan1310]

I had Windows XP installed previously.

[pop pop]

If I recall correctly, W2K displays a very brief message that requires you to hit ENTER to begin the boot from the CD and start the installation. Watch for it and do that. Otherwise, it doesn't and will attemp to boot from the other devices listed.

[Paul Komski]

Alternatively -- as long as you have a FAT partition -- boot to Win9X boot floppy (with CDROM support) and successivley enter (substituting the actual CD drive letter for X: below) -- smartdrv is optional but will speed up copying files:-

smartdrv
C:
md i386
copy X:\i386\*.* C:\i386
C:\i386\winnt

[taz480]

I never could get my copy of 2000pro to boot from cd, like my XP discs do, on my Dells that were set to boot from cd. I've installed a million times. I had to go to another computer and make up the 4 boot disks using MAKEBOOT on the 2000 cd. Then install using those like you would with earier versions of windows.

[Paul Komski]

Just one little trick that sometimes works if the CD doesnt spin up fast enough to be involved in the boot processes is to press the pause key soon after startup and then press ESC once the drive is spinning and its LED comes on.

[ticketfan1310]

All I have is the CD I dont have a floppy.

[taz480]

My Pavilion is sort of like that. Instead of letting the bios run the boot order, I can just hit esc at the HP logo(where I would normally hit F1 for setup) and manually choose where to boot from. It will then give me all the boot choices even if they're not in the sequence in bios. Pretty handy.

[taz480]

All I have is the CD I dont have a floppy.
If you want to try the floppies, you have to make them. Put your 2000 cd in a working computer and open the cd(to browse, not auto run) and open the BOOTDISK folder. There's an application called MAKEBOOT and MAKEBOOT32. Since you're in Windows, run MAKEBOOT32. A command prompt will come up with instructions. You'll need 4 blank floppies. Put one in and label it disk1 and follow the instructions. It will make all 4. Then put disk1 in the floppy drive on the PC to be installed on and boot from that floppy. Follow the instructions. Enjoy.

[taz480]

I'm sorry, did you mean all you have is a cd-rom drive, no floppy drive? That would definately put a damper on the boot disk way.

[123456]

I've got an hp pavilion too and no floppy drive. I must say, when I installed 2000, it went smoothly and quickly. Popped mine in, (Mine's a 4-in-1), and it asked whether or not to install 2000/server/advanced/datacenter. I chose 2000 and it went like any other windows installation.

[ticketfan1310]

No I got a floppy drive and am trying to make boot disks now.

[ticketfan1310]

Im having trouble finding a BOOTDISK folder

[ticketfan1310]

This may be a stupid question but is Windows Me the same as Windows 2000?

[poppy]

No, they are not the same!

[ticketfan1310]

DOH! Well this cd is labeled Windows 2000 but when I browse it appears to be Windows ME.

[poppy]

So where did you purchase the "Windows 2000" installation CD?

[123456]

WIndows 2000 and Me are TWO entirely different OS'es. Me is 98SE minus the stability and plus the system restore. 2000=XP minus a few features and without XP's bloatedness.

[ticketfan1310]

Well I downloaded the bootdisk for ME from bootdisk.com and appeared to have made some progress. It said I needed to partition a drive, so I did. Now it says the diagnostic tools have been successfully loaded. It is at a command prompt and it wants me to type something in. I dont know what to do.

[Paul Komski]

With the Win2K CD in the drive (lets say the bootdisk.com letter is R for the CDRom)

Enter

R:\i386\winnt

At the command prompt

[ticketfan1310]

It turns out it is Windows ME.

The command prompt is A:\>

I tried the command you suggested and it did not work.

[Paul Komski]

It turns out it is Windows ME.

That was for Win2K; the equivalent for WinME would be:-

R:\setup

[ticketfan1310]

Ok that one did something. It says it is scanning the system registry.

[ticketfan1310]

Then it says it requires a certain amount of bytes and has given me another command prompt.

[Paul Komski]

Windows Millennium Edition Cleanhd.txt File Contents
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=271673

[ticketfan1310]

Thanks for the link dude. Im formatting now. It has been at 0 percent for twenty minutes or so.

[123456]

o_O. 0% for twenty minutes?

[Paul Komski]

Try starting over using fdisk to delete all partitions, create one new partition, mark it as active and reboot. Then format C: Then R:\setup.

If still having problems consider testing the HDD with the maker's utility and use it to prepare the HDD for action if it passes the tests. Then R:\setup.

[taz480]

This may be a stupid question but is Windows Me the same as Windows 2000?

NO, NO, NO AND DOUBLE NO, but sort of. WinME came out after 2000 supposedly as a home version. Unfortunately, they rushed it out to make the few M$ customers they had left happy, there for making a BIG mistake. That's why you will almost never find anyone fond of ME. It was full of nothing but serious problems and security issues. That is why ME is the problem child of Windows. There were so many issues, M$ decided to quit working on service packs and updates for it. Basically, "OOPS"(duck in the corner).
Now with that said....I myself have never had a problem with ME. You just have to be patient and understanding. In fact I have never had the blue screen of death in ME except when I was asking for it.(I'm a little hard on OSs)
Ok that one did something. It says it is scanning the system registry.
That sounds like scandisk. Was it a blue screen with yellow progress bar? If it was, all you had to do was hit the x key to continue. If it was you were already reading from the CD and ready to install. Maybe I'm misunderstanding your plite. Post some updated info so we can continue.
We'll get you through it!!

[ticketfan1310]

Thanks guys, that link was fantastic.

Windows Millenium Edition is fully installed, in fact I am using the PC I installed it on right now.

That being said, I really dont like ME, I will be upgrading to XP if at all possible.

[Paul Komski]

Microsoft has, till now, produced two basic lines of Operating Systems: (a) DOS (and Windows versions based-on or sitting-on DOS viz Win3, Win95, Win98, WinMillenium) and (b) Windows versions based on NT (WinNT, Win2000, WinXP and Win2003). The DOS and NT based versions of Windows are fundamentally different and run under different software architecture and deal with hardware differently. The NT (NewTechnology) based OSes can also run on the NTFS file system. WinNT and all the versions from Win95A and before cannot run on FAT32.

Thus WinME and Win2000 are as fundamentally different as Win98 and WinXP - though calling two different products Millenium and 2000 was a nonsense bound to cause confusion.

I always rather liked WinME as long as you had fairly modern hardware, turned off system restore and since I was not a gamer.

I will be upgrading to XP if at all possible If your hardware supports it WinXP is a great OS but don't upgrade WinME; clean install WinXP instead (or dual boot by adding it as a second OS).

[123456]

Get 2000 if you can. More stable than XP, same functionality, less bloatedness...but a few features are not available.

[Paul Komski]

More stable than XP
That's a new one on me. Any specific areas or references?

[123456]

From personal experience, I have never gotten any errors from 2000, (except for the occasional Program not responding0. Xp has always, no matter on what PC, given me some kind of headache, from restarting by just using a browser, (problem rsolved), to "Let windows attempt to screw up your system and install the new hardwaer for you."

[pianoman1948]

I used 2000 for a long time, and my wife still uses it. I now have XP both at work and at home (yes, with SP2). We've had no trouble with either one. XP seems to be quite a bit smarter in many ways, which has been a good thing ... at least for us.

[123456]

2000 is a smarter choice for those with PC's under 553.443MHz.
Lots of the things are the same as XP, (task manager, stability is greater).