Problem with dual boot W2K

[tim55]

I have a new PC with Vista Ultimate and want to set up a dual boot with W2K Pro. I have split the existing hard drive into two primary partitions and as far as Vista is concerned (which is on one of them), they are both NTFS formatted and ready to go.

I have tried booting to the W2K Pro CD and it goes through the normal process until I get to choose the partition to install on. Both partitions are shown as unallocated and if I try and install on the second one (judging by the size) it says it can only format as FAT since it is greater than 2048 MB.

However, I think this must refer to cluster size and in any case, even if I try to install, it says it cannot continue.

(If anyone wants more detailed error messages, then I can do that, but for now I'm fed up and going to bed!).

It sounds like a Bios problem, but has anyone else had this experience?

Thanks.

 

[tim55]

OK. A bit more info.

I get the Welcome to Setup screen, press Enter to set up Windows 2000, then the License page. Agree to license and then the list of existing partitions.

This shows 131072 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi and then:

c: Unformatted or Damaged 6000Mb
-- Unformatted or Damaged 218017Mb
-- Unformatted or Damaged 184711Mb

(In fact, from within Vista, I have a 212GB c:\ drive with Vista on it, a 180GB d:\ ready for W2K and a 5.85GB e:\ drive with recovery data on it.)

If will not allow me to create a partition in the bottom two entries and if I try to install on the last, it warns about Setup formatting it. Press C and another warning and then press F to format it and then the message 'Because drive is larger than 2048 megabytes, Setup will format the drive with the FAT32 file system'.

'Please wait while formatting...' and then 'Setup was unable to format drive. Setup cannot continue.'

Does this shed any further light?

Thanks.

 

[linney]

FAT 16 size limit is 2048 MB or 2Gig, can you get something else to Format the drive as NTFS, or Delete the Partition and create it again and let 2000 have another go at formatting it as NTFS?

How to dual boot Vista and XP (with Vista installed first) -- the step-by-step guide

http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.p...pic=566696&pid=588624405&st=0&#entry588624405

This is a handy program to use when having Boot problems in Vista dual booting with XP. It can be run from XP and may correct the booting problem. See if it is useful to you in 2000?

VistaBootPRO

http://www.vistabootpro.org/

 

[linney]

Can you get Vista to Run ChkDsk /r (or use its GUI) to Error check those other Partitions?

 

[linney]

See what help is available in the 2000 Forum too.

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=616

 

[linney]

You could just cheat and use this?

Virtual PC 2007

Still free and out of Beta:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...3199-48a3-afa2-2dc0b40a73b6&displaylang=en&tm

 

[tim55]

Thanks for the replies.

In no particular order:

1. I already have VistaBootPro, ready for then I get W2K installed. However, I don't think it can help until then.

2. I have run chkdsk from Vista on the empty partition and all is OK.

3. I have booted using an XP Bart PE boot disk and it can see the partitions no problem.

4. Since W2K installation does not seem to see the main partitions as shown by the:
c: Unformatted or Damaged 6000Mb
-- Unformatted or Damaged 218017Mb
-- Unformatted or Damaged 184711Mb
data mentioned in my earlier post, I am reluctant to delete partitions from within the W2K installation in case it really messes something up.

5. I have considered Virtual PC, although I suspect that if I can't get W2K to load as I am at the moment, then it won't load in a virtual machine either.

My old PC was only a 400MHz Pentium running W2K, bursting at the seams and I just thought I deserved a new one - hardly expensive these days. And why not Vista?

The problem, of course, is software that won't run on Vista. If all else fails, I still have my old PC for programs that won't run, but it would be nice to run everything in a new, fast environment.

And yes, I have tried many of my programs on Vista, but they all have some issue or other. They freeze, crash or simply won't run, so I check out forums where people say 'oh, have you tried this..' or 'it worked for me once I had set the compatibility setting to this, downloaded something else and tweaked the another thing' but really, this isn't what I want.

I am not saying that a new operating system SHOULD run every bit of software ever written for W3.1, W95, W98 etc. but if I can get W2K to run on the PC then it would great.

 

[linney]

Reading your post I'm not able to explain why it cannot see the Partitions and BartPE (XP) can. Other than suggesting you try to Format the intended 2000 Partition as NTFS with some other tool and try again.

I think the prospects of running Virtual PC from Vista, and installing 2000 as a Guest Operating System should be further considered. I do this myself with 2000 (and 95 through to Vista), everything works great, although there is no USB support for any virtual operating system run by the Host.

 

[firewolfrl]

well the first problem of the W2K not seeing the NTFS drive as a formatted drive is a simple issue.
NTFS for Vista is a very different file system then the NTFS for W2K. from the way it handles permissions to just the way it is read in general ....in a nutshell the code is different and the W2K OS does not have the capability to read it. In some computers it is a BIOS issue too.

the best fix is to use a third party boot manager and load the W2K OS on its own drive. It is also the easiest.

 

[linney]

Now that "firewolfrl" has given us the reason "why", you can now move forward and solve the problem perhaps by slipstreaming SP4 into your 2000 CD, thereby creating a new CD, and hopefully it should then recognize the later version of the NTFS version?

Slipstreaming Windows 2000 /XP SP1,SP1a,SP2 /Server 2003 SP1

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=295,

 

[tim55]

Thanks everyone for your efforts and of course, thanks firewolfrl. NTFS different in Vista, eh?

However, I need to be clear about the implications of this. I have gone onto my W2K PC and I can see a shared folder on my Vista PC, so in one sense W2K NTFS can read Vista NTFS. Yet, the W2K setup disk cannot read Vista NTFS. Can someone explain this?

Moving on, I thought about formatting my second partition as FAT32 and then converting it to old NTFS from within W2K when installed, assuming the W2K setup disk could then see it. However, Vista only has one format file system available - NTFS - but I could do this with my Acronis Disk Director, assuming it will let me go 'backwards' with file systems.

As far using a boot manager, I need a bit more help. Assuming I had a suitable one (?), how would this work? Presumably, I still have the old/new NTFS issue, regardless of using a boot manager or not?

Thanks.

 

[linney]

You can't install Windows Vista on FAT32. Vista can open and view FAT32 partitions and write to them on jump drives. So why not Fat32 Partitions on the actual hard drive? It will soon tell you if it can't. Create the Partition as FAT32 and test it from Vista (even a small test Partition).


The file System differences between Networked machines is not a problem as long as the machines can communicate. It is a problem with just different operating systems file systems on the one and same machine.

Understanding MultiBooting

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/

"Boot managers work by inserting their own code in place of the MBR so that at boot time control is diverted to the boot manager. The boot manager presents a menu, and when the user selects an OS the boot manager passes control to the corresponding partition boot sector".

 

[firewolfrl]

Linney
that is the EXACT reason for just using a separate hard drive