quick question: NT boot

[VJ]

Hello,

A quick question: we have harddiskproblems on a Windows 2000 computer. I managed to copy the partitions onto another harddisk (using another computer).

What do I need to do to get NT to boot from this new harddisk (mainboard et al. is the same) ?

I'm thinking recovery console (boot from CD), then fixboot and fixmbr... Will this work ?
(fixmbr alone didn't seem to have done the trick)


Jörg

[VJ]

Ok, this didn't work: it says "NTLDR is missing. Press ctrl+alt+del to reboot"

Do I need to go through the entire W2K repaire procedure ? :-(

Jörg

[Paddy]

edit the boot.ini and make sure that it is pointing to the correct partition.

[Paddy]

Assuming that you have one IDE disk and that Windows is installed on the first partition, it should look like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WinNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft 2000 Professional" /fastdetect

[VJ]

Yes, but I can't boot it to edit the boot.ini.
But I'm assuming the file is correct, as nothing has changed to the configuration (original disk had 2 partitions, NT was installed on primary; this copy is the exact same).
I have read that the changed size of the disk might be a cause; suggested solution is booting from bootdisks and then run "sys c:"
edit: now creating the bootdisks....


Jörg

[Paddy]

an alternative option to re-create the boot.ini is to boot from the installation disk, repair the old installation and then abort after the first reboot.

Your boot.ini will be correctly formatted, and all you have to do is delete the temp. install files.

[VJ]

If I start the installation from CD, it detects an existing installation (for the recovery console), but not for automatic recovery . Starting a new installation also detects the existing one, and says it will delete \WINNT and "documents and settings", ...

(it is still booting from the floppies)

Aarggh, now it just asks the W2000 CD!


Jörg

[Paddy]

use the floppies and check the boot.ini

"NTLDR is missing. Press ctrl+alt+del to reboot" means it cannot find the boot partition

[VJ]

yes, but what do I select after it has booted ? Apparently, I made the wrong choice, and it asked for the CD (and I could have just booted from the CD).


Jörg

[Paddy]

Check your pm

[Kurt]

you have a copy of ERD Commander 2002 lying around?

[Drizzt]

VJ, you can't simply copy a partition files over another and hope the new partition to be a system one.

Why don't you simply use ghost to phisically copy the partitions?
I did that tens of times...

[VJ]

Kurt: nope...
Drizzt: 1. I don't have Ghost 2. reading the system portions seems to hang the disk 3. The disks are different sizes 4. The partition is formatted as system, the computer boots from it, only W2K not (yet?)...


Jörg

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by VJ

Drizzt: 1. I don't have Ghost 2. reading the system portions seems to hang the disk 3. The disks are different sizes 4. The partition is formatted as system, the computer boots from it, only W2K not (yet?)...

1. You can find it somewhere...
2. It's the part of the disk you need
3. It's not a problem for Ghost or PM
4. It's obvious that the computer boots from it. You can easily format a disk with FAT16, copy over it an entire linux disk...and? Do you think it can boot?
I hope for you that you can make it work, but I doubt it.

[VJ]

Ok, I found the issue: there is no boot.ini, io.sys, msdos.sys, ntdetect.com and ntldr in the root!

I will try to copy them manually...


Jörg