pgoelz
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Ghosting Win2K partition to another HD for dual boot?
Hi all, please be gentle with me.... I'm pretty new to Win2K.
I have an IBM Thinkpad 600 laptop with Win98SE installed (FAT32). I did an experimental installation of Win2K Pro (using FAT32) to a spare HD plugged into the laptop. It was successful and allows me to use some USB hardware that due to IRQ problems I can't use under Win98SE. I was not expecting it to work as well as it did, so I didn't do the Win2K installation to the Win98SE HD like I probably should have. To save time, I tried to Ghost the Win2K installation from the spare HD to the Win98SE HD instead of re-installing since I also did the Windows update thing to the Win2K installation and it was rather lengthy.
So I used Partition Magic and Bootmagic to create a new primary FAT32 partition on the Win98SE HD in the laptop, set the new partition as active and then Ghosted the Win2K partition to the newly created partition. Ghosted fine.
However, after Ghosting to the Win98SE HD the new Win2K partition will not boot when selected in Bootmagic. Win98SE boots fine when selected in Bootmagic. I suspect that something is wrong with the MBR due to the way I did things but since I am new to Win2K I'm not sure how to fix it. I should also mention if it makes any difference that I initially did the Win2K installation as NTFS and later converted it to FAT32 with Partition Magic. On the spare HD, it boots fine as FAT32.
If there is an easy (and safe) way, I'm all ears. However, I can simply re-install Win2K if I have to.... it's just that the install and updates took nearly 2 hours by the time I was done installing, cnfiguring my wireless network card and going through Windows Update.
Cool forum here, too! I only hope I can give back somehow.
Paul
I have an IBM Thinkpad 600 laptop with Win98SE installed (FAT32). I did an experimental installation of Win2K Pro (using FAT32) to a spare HD plugged into the laptop. It was successful and allows me to use some USB hardware that due to IRQ problems I can't use under Win98SE. I was not expecting it to work as well as it did, so I didn't do the Win2K installation to the Win98SE HD like I probably should have. To save time, I tried to Ghost the Win2K installation from the spare HD to the Win98SE HD instead of re-installing since I also did the Windows update thing to the Win2K installation and it was rather lengthy.
So I used Partition Magic and Bootmagic to create a new primary FAT32 partition on the Win98SE HD in the laptop, set the new partition as active and then Ghosted the Win2K partition to the newly created partition. Ghosted fine.
However, after Ghosting to the Win98SE HD the new Win2K partition will not boot when selected in Bootmagic. Win98SE boots fine when selected in Bootmagic. I suspect that something is wrong with the MBR due to the way I did things but since I am new to Win2K I'm not sure how to fix it. I should also mention if it makes any difference that I initially did the Win2K installation as NTFS and later converted it to FAT32 with Partition Magic. On the spare HD, it boots fine as FAT32.
If there is an easy (and safe) way, I'm all ears. However, I can simply re-install Win2K if I have to.... it's just that the install and updates took nearly 2 hours by the time I was done installing, cnfiguring my wireless network card and going through Windows Update.
Cool forum here, too! I only hope I can give back somehow.
Paul
ASKER
Thanks for the speedy response. Yes, I did set the new partition to active.... or at least Bootmagic thinks it did. I can try booting from the partition Magic CD and manually set the Win2K partition active and see if that helps.
So the Win2K partition should be fully self contained and not rely on anything on the Win98SE partition? And Ghosting it should have worked?
I may eventually lose Win98SE but for now I have enough installed in it that I am not willing to convert without some testing. I only have 96MB of RAM and I'm not sure if that will hamstring me under Win2K. I also have a couple applications that go back to the Win3.1 days that I do not want to lose.... not sure if they will run under Win2K. That's why I wanted dual boot for now.... until I get some experience with Win2K and get everything on it that I want on it.
Paul
So the Win2K partition should be fully self contained and not rely on anything on the Win98SE partition? And Ghosting it should have worked?
I may eventually lose Win98SE but for now I have enough installed in it that I am not willing to convert without some testing. I only have 96MB of RAM and I'm not sure if that will hamstring me under Win2K. I also have a couple applications that go back to the Win3.1 days that I do not want to lose.... not sure if they will run under Win2K. That's why I wanted dual boot for now.... until I get some experience with Win2K and get everything on it that I want on it.
Paul
ASKER
Forgot to add that after Ghosting the new Win2K partition, Bootmagic complained that it could not find the OS on the Win2K partition (I had configured Bootmagic prior to Ghosting the Win2K partition). But removing and re-adding the Win2K item from the Bootmagic startup menu didn't help. It no longer complains about a lack of OS but it will not boot if you select the Win2K item in the boot menu. Win98SE boots fine when selected.
Paul
Paul
Check the boot.ini for the W2K install, make sure it is correct. Since you installed it the first time to a second HD the boot.ini that copied with the ghost-ing will be wrong and the image will not get read on boot up, therefore no OS. should be something like disk (0) partition (1) etc. Odds are the disk is wrong and needs to be changed.
somehow, only win98 or lower will always depends on the C: and has to be FAT/FAT32
there is BIOS to tell which parition is active for using to boot, boot.ini like m0nst3r mentioned, or some dual boot programs... check what m0nst3r said...
96MB is ok.. but more will be better... I used 64 RAM for my old laptop PII233 running 98 and 2000 back and forth...
there is BIOS to tell which parition is active for using to boot, boot.ini like m0nst3r mentioned, or some dual boot programs... check what m0nst3r said...
96MB is ok.. but more will be better... I used 64 RAM for my old laptop PII233 running 98 and 2000 back and forth...
ASKER
I'll check the boot.ini when I get home (I'm at work now). But the original Win2K installation was to the only HD in the laptop. I then removed that HD and ghosted its Win2K partition to a newly created primary active partition on my regular laptop HD. So in both cases, the HD was/is the only HD in the machine. However, the Win2K partition initially was the C: drive and now is possibly not. But I have Bootmagic set up so that the Win98SE partition is hidden when I select the Win2K partition so I assume the Win2K partition is still going to be C:?
Paul
Paul
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ASKER
Where is the boot.ini supposed to reside in a multi-boot system? In the root of the first partition or in the root of the Win2K partition?
And since we're getting close here, what do I do to close out this process and award points? Can I award points to more than one person? Should I? Not real clear on the points thing.....
And since we're getting close here, what do I do to close out this process and award points? Can I award points to more than one person? Should I? Not real clear on the points thing.....
it should be in the root of the w2k partition.
As far as awarding the points, i think that there is a link below the answer that you recieve. I don't think that you can break up the award, not sure about that though.
As far as awarding the points, i think that there is a link below the answer that you recieve. I don't think that you can break up the award, not sure about that though.
give the points to m0nst3r...
ASKER
That's what I'm inclined to do. Upon reflection, the HD was the #1 HD in both installations. But the partition was the #1 partition in the original Win2K installation and it was then Ghosted to the #2 partition on the Win98SE laptop HD. I just didn't realize that there was anything in the Win2K installation that referred to a specific drive and partition.
I'll check this evening and post back here. Thanks to all (and especially m0nst3r). The points and my undying thanks are yours if this is the answer!
I have also printed out the contents of the boot.ini file form my work machine just in case. It is very similar, except that the Win98 and Win2K partitions are reversed in order since the Win2K installation came first. I used Partition Magic to do the fresh Win98 install.
And in case you are wondering why.... because we are a Win98SE network here and the Win2K machine always was slow to connect to another machine in the network. And because Explorer insisted on crashing several times per day. And the file permissions kept getting all tangled up. Things are I have to say much better since I switched to Win98SE!
Paul
I'll check this evening and post back here. Thanks to all (and especially m0nst3r). The points and my undying thanks are yours if this is the answer!
I have also printed out the contents of the boot.ini file form my work machine just in case. It is very similar, except that the Win98 and Win2K partitions are reversed in order since the Win2K installation came first. I used Partition Magic to do the fresh Win98 install.
And in case you are wondering why.... because we are a Win98SE network here and the Win2K machine always was slow to connect to another machine in the network. And because Explorer insisted on crashing several times per day. And the file permissions kept getting all tangled up. Things are I have to say much better since I switched to Win98SE!
Paul
points aren't that important though, the most important thing is you have fixed the problem!
Wish you all the best Paul!
Wish you all the best Paul!
aye, i hope that does fix your problem.
ASKER
OK, here's the deal.
I edited the boot.ini file to correctly call out the partition..... and it still would not boot. Then I took a closer look in Partition Magic and noticed that PM showed the Win2K partition as crossing the 1024 cyliner boundary and said that it might not be bootable. So I re-sized it to be just short of that boundary and voila! It boots and I'm typing this from Win2K. Not sure if that was really the reason it would not boot but it does seem to have fixed it.
Thanks everyone for the help.
Paul
I edited the boot.ini file to correctly call out the partition..... and it still would not boot. Then I took a closer look in Partition Magic and noticed that PM showed the Win2K partition as crossing the 1024 cyliner boundary and said that it might not be bootable. So I re-sized it to be just short of that boundary and voila! It boots and I'm typing this from Win2K. Not sure if that was really the reason it would not boot but it does seem to have fixed it.
Thanks everyone for the help.
Paul
good to hear u fixed it
for the NTFS <--> FAT32, it shouldn't be a problem logically speaking....
If I were you , I would have ghosted the 98HD to your new HD... then format everything, and then installed the windows 2K... if anything went wrong.. u still can go back to win98
Anyhow.. to me I would reinstall everything (2K) from scratch.. and the other thing is I will drop win98se... honestly speaking, I don't really like it... so many problems(printing, shut down, etc)... 2K is more stable. Say, u might have a low end laptop... but still it is better to use 2K .. u might want to add more RAM to boost up the speed