Trax wrote:

> "a" <a@mail.com> wrote:
>
> |>I have a concern here.
> |>The boot sector of XP in C: originally is replaced by the boot sector of W2K
> |>server.
> |>Will this be a problem?
>
> Both will write to the MBR, if there is a problem replacing a back'd
> up copy of the MBR is just quicker if a problem is encounter'd.

If they are two physical drives the 2K install shouldn't touch the MBR
of the 1st drive when installing to the second disk, but it will
overwrite ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini on C: with its version of
them. That's why the best way to create dual boot XP & 2K is to install
2K first, then XP. Still, I agree that backing up the MBR is not a bad
move anyway. I've used a simple program named boot.com for this, but
it's difficult to find on the net anymore. Even if drive C: and D: are
two partitions on the same physical drive the MBR is generic for all
Windows versions since W98, so it shouldn't really matter. What does
matter is ntldr, boot.ini and ntdtecet.com. In the end you want the XP
versions of these files on C:, however that is accomplished.

Other, non-MS OSes (such as Linux) can install a bootloader to the
actual MBR, but that is not appliable here.

>
> |>There are 2 files involve in this procedure.
> |>NTLDR (Loader) and NTDETECT.COM
> |>what are they and what are the functions of them?
>
> One is called to run from the MBR and the other reads the boot.ini and
> loads windows. Google would explain them better.

Ntldr is the boot loader, it starts the file system, reads boot.ini then
starts ntdetect.com that does basic hardware and hardware profile
detection. Ntldr then starts ntoskrnl.exe and provides it with
information obtained from Ntdetect.com.

Steve N.

>
> |>"Trax" <Pennywise@DerryMaine.Gov>
> |>???????:v4elr1di6prtpufsc7vb871o8b0ronsett@4ax.c om...
> |>> "a" <a@mail.com> wrote:
> |>>
> |>> |>I would like to install w2k server on my WinXP installed system.
> |>> |>I come up with a procedure by gooling and I need some confirmation to
> |>> |>prevent disaster.
> |>> |>Please comment it if I am wrong.
> |>> |>1> backup the NTDETECT.COM and NTLDR (WinXP version) from c:\ to floppy.
> |>> |>2> install W2K server to a D: drive which is NTFS. (created in advance)
> |>> |>3> boot from W2K server
> |>> |>4> overwrite the (W2K version) NTDETECT.COM and NTLDR by the backuped
> |>> |>NTDETECT.COM and NTLDR(WinXP version)
> |>> |>5> modify the boot.ini, append the entry for WinXP.
> |>> |>6> reboot -> then we can have a menu for selecting W2K server or WinXP
> |>> |>
> |>> |>Does the above procedure correct?
> |>> |>Thanks a lot
> |>> |>
> |>>
> |>> Sounds good, the boot.ini should update itself.
> |>>
> |>> Since your using a floppy you might take the extra step of backing up
> |>> the MBR before installing W2K, just incase.
> |>> http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/mbrtool.htm
> |>>
> |>>
> |>>
> |>> --
> |>> Time Wasting Sites on the Net
> |>> http://freebies.about.com/od/710/tp/timewasting.htm
> |>
> |>
>
>