What to use?

[SufferWell1396]

Hey everyone.

This isnt anything damaging to my computer. Just really annoying:p

I use Partition Magic Boot Manager to boot my compy. It has Windows ME and 2000 built into the menu. I hit Windows ME and it boots to my Boot.ini... If i hit 2000 it says it cant find the operating system... I want to elimate the boot.ini screen entirely. Should i still use Partiton Magic Boot Manager or use something else like XOSL or BiNG? i tried XOSL and it was all MS-DOS'y and i didnt like it.

Win ME is installed at C:\WINDOWS
Win 2000 is installed at D:\WINDOWS.000

[Paul Komski]

Your options may be limited by the type of partitions. Presumably boot.ini is on C but of greater relevance is whether D is a primary or logical partition.

The PM boot manager (presumably Boot Magic) is more limited than BiNG or XOSL but should have no fundamental problems once we have broken the linkage between the two operating systems and repaired the relevant boot sectors to be WinME and WinXP partition boot sectors respectively.

What size are C and D? How big is the drive? Are there any other partitions and is, as previously asked, D logical or primary.

If i hit 2000 it says it cant find the operating system
Do you want to boot to 2000 or is this just a redundant feature you want to remove from boot.ini or how do you now successfully boot to 2000. To get rid of the boot.ini dual boot screen you could just delete the line referencing Win2K and have the default value match the only remaining line referencing WinME.

[Paul Komski]

Bin thinking and I assume that you boot into Win2k from the dual boot menu OK but that the boot manager doesn't work for Win2K because it is pointing to a non-bootable partition boot sector. I'm also going to assume that D is a logical partition for the time being.

Before proceeding with any repartitioning - backup vital data onto removable media.

If your boot.ini looks like the following:-

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S.000
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS.000="Microsoft Windows 2000" /fastdetect
C:\Windows="Windows Millenium"

Then add a line equivalent to the following (by incrementing the partition(x) value by one) and changing the text to make it obvious which line is which and save the changes.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S.000
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS.000="Windows 2000 after added new partition" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS.000="Microsoft Windows 2000" /fastdetect
C:\Windows="Windows Millenium"


Next resize the D partition (using PM or BiNG) down by at least 32MB but perhaps by as much as 500MB.
Next (if D was a logical partition) resize the extended partition down by the same amount so that there is unallocated space outside any extended partition at the end of the drive.
Next create a new PRIMARY PARTITION in this unallocated space.
Next boot to Windows 2000 and format this new partition at the end of the drive as FAT. You must do this using Windows 2000 and you can do it quite simply from My Computer (and regardless if you used anything else to format this new partition).
Next ensure that all files and system files are not hidden and copy all the files but not any folders from the root of the C drive to the newly formatted partition. This would of course include the boot.ini file that you had modified earlier with an extra line. Modify it again now by removing the reference to C: because this second boot.ini in its new location is not intended to and shouldnt boot WinME. At the very least modify it so that you can tell which boot.ini is which when presented with a menu at start up.


You can then try out booting via this new small FAT partition at the end of the drive. You can do this by pointing a boot manager to this new primary partition or remove all boot managers and set this end partition as the active partition.

When you get to the boot.ini boot menu at start up use the new line you created earlier. If that boots successfully to Win2K have a look at Disk Management to confirm things. The new partition should be called System and the original D partition should be called Boot by Disk Management. You can then edit out the redundant line for partition(2) in that boot.ini file.

Don't confuse the C: drive letter since it can now refer to both the first or the last partition depending on which one is set as active.

Note that after you resize and create the new partition that Windows 2000 may detect this as "New Hardware" and want you to reboot. Do so when o prompted to fix the changes in the registry.

If all is well you can now edit the original boot.ini file on the first partition to only reference WinME in the first partition. It should only have one line (and the default value should match it) referencing C: and you then wont get any boot menu displayed during boot-up.

Read the above carefully and ask if unsure. If really worried then do make full image backups of your hard drive partitions before you begin.

If your current D drive is a primary partition then the partiton(2) value should be left unchanged and there is no need to add a new line to boot.ini. Otherwise follow the same guidelines.

[SufferWell1396]

I dont want to risk any data. This is only an annoyance. I can deal with it if need be.

Heres what im saying:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i107/SufferWell1396/PowerQuestBoot.jpg

Now if i select ME, it sends me to my Boot.ini, which is located on C:

If i select 2000, it tells me that it cannot find the files to load 2000.

My D: partition is a primary one, not a logical one.


If i cannot fix this without imaging or risking files, shouldnt i just use BiNG?

[Paul Komski]

Please post a copy of your boot.ini and say if you can get from that boot.ini into Windows 2000 - even though Boot Magic currently fails to boot Windows 2000 directly itself.

Its still not clear if you have a way of getting into Windows 2000.

If D is a primary partition you can follow the above directions or we can attempt to make it directly bootable by copying the files in the root of C to the root of D and then run fixboot from the Win2K recovery console. In fact I would suggest running fixboot C: and fixboot D: in addition to fixboot with no switch.

Until D (or a brand new primary partition) is made bootable no boot manager will be able to hand over the bootstrap code to it.

[SufferWell1396]

yes. 2000 is accessable. like i said, when i select ME it takes me to my Boot.ini which gives me the option to run 2000

my boot.ini

[Boot Loader]
timeout=30
Default=C:\
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS.000="Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Windows Millennium"

[Paul Komski]

Since Win2K is on a Primary Partiton the specific alternative steps you can take are to copy boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com from C: to D: and then modify the copied boot.ini to

[Boot Loader]
timeout=30
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S.000
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS.000="Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect


Uninstall Boot Magic
Hide the first partition (using PM or BiNG or PTedit etc)
Make the second partition the active partition (using PM or BiNG or PTedit etc)
Boot to the Win2K installation CD's Recovery Conosole and run fixboot followed by fixboot C:
Reboot normally


If you get any "ntldr is missing" type" error messages post back.

If however that takes you into Win2K you can then modify the boot.ini on the first partition to read


[Boot Loader]
timeout=30
Default=C:\
[Operating Systems]
C:\="Windows Millennium"


and then unhide the first partition and reinstall Boot Magic (or BiNG or XOSL) to give you a dual boot menu for C and D.

NOTE: Formatting a new third primary partition from Win2K (the original advice) gives it a boot sector that can integrate with ntldr placed on it. You cannot format the Win2K partition itself so you must use fixboot to upgrade its boot sector to allow it integrate with its own ntldr file placed on it. As long as a chosen partition (including a floppy diskette) has an ntldr-partition-boot-sector plus ntldr, ntdetect.com and an appropriate boot.ini file on it then Win2K should boot-up OK. When you add a primary partition at the end of the drive the existing partition references on boot.ini don't change if D was primary but need bumping up by one if D was logical.