The question comes up frequently here about how
to re-name a system partition to "C:" that had been
installed as "D:". The standard reply that I've seen
from the MVPs is that you can't do it without making
extensive changes in the registry - which is dangerous.

The suggestion by "Pegasus" was that you use another
"C:" partition to do the boot loading while the "D:"
partition remains as it is. That usually means that you
use another partition in which there are ntldr, boot.ini,
and ntdetect.com files at the root level of the file structure.
The straight-forward way to do that is to install another
WinXP OS in that partition and call that partition "D:".

I only pointed out that the "C:" partition doesn't have to
be on another hard drive. If you can make a small
partition on the same hard drive that now contains "D:",
and if you can supply the boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com
files (perhaps by using the WinXP installation CD's
Repair Console?), you can make what you could call
a "boot partition" without having to install an OS. I've
never done this, and the few questions posted here that
ask what is needed to make such a minimal boot
manager have never been answered - just as "Pegasus"
didn't answer me. So, it appears you're on your own.
Please let us know if you have any success.

Just remember to mark the new "C:" partition "active"
so that it will get control from the Master Boot Record.
The boot.ini file should also have an entry that points
to the same hard drive (i.e. "rdisk(0)"), and its
"partition(x)" parameter should point to the partition no.
of the "D:" partition - partition(1) if "D:" is the 1st partition
on the hard drive.

*TimDaniels*


"baxter" wrote:
> I have try copying boot.ini from another bootable PC to
> D drive(with XP) but cannot work. Is creating a C partition
> is the only way out? I think the problem lies with a file in
> previous C drive that have files like boot.ini, ntdetect.com,
> ntldr, bootsec.dos & pagefile.sys goes with it. I was ask
> to delete the above files when I want to keep 98 and
> remove XP. Now is the other way. What files need to be
> deleted or replace. Now I think it make sense to replace
> some files to previous D drive and reconnect as a single
> drive and boot from there.
>
> "Timothy Daniels" wrote:
>
>> "Pegasus" wrote:
>> > "baxter" wrote:
>> >> My PC was configure to boot from Win98 and XP.
>> >> I install XP after Win 98 was installed. I am able to
>> >> select to boot from Win98 or XP. Now my C drive
>> >> has crash and I am not able to boot. I disconnect
>> >> C drive and reconnect D(with XP) as primary disk
>> >> but still cannot boot. Can anyone help? I don't want
>> >> to reinstall b'cos I have a lot program installed. I think
>> >> some config or exe files can be modified so I can
>> >> boot straight from D drive with WinXP. I don't need
>> >> Win98 anymore.
>> >
>> > There are a couple of ways to do this:
>> >
>> > a) Install another disk as a place holder for the dead
>> > drive C:, then make it bootable.
>> >
>> > b) Make drive D: bootable and make some changes
>> > to the the registry.
>> >
>> > Option a) is nice and easy. Option b) is much harder
>> > unless the machine is networked. If you provide the
>> > necessary details then someone will give you more
>> > detailed instructions.
>>
>>
>> If there is room for another small partition on the
>> "D: drive", it could be made the "C: partition" and
>> used to boot the "D: partition". The small partition
>> would have to be a primary partition and it would
>> have to be marked "active" (by using WinXP's
>> Disk Management utility) in order to receive
>> control from the MBR. It would also need a proper
>> boot sector and the files boot.ini, ntldr, and
>> ntdetect.com . (What utility would do that, Pegasus?)
>> The single default entry in the boot.ini file would have
>> to point to the "D: partition". That modification
>> could be done manually by using Notepad or by
>> Run/msconfig .
>>
>> If there is no space for a small partition on the
>> "D: drive", you could use a utility called Partition Magic
>> (now sold by Symantec) to shrink the "D: partition"
>> to make room for the new small partition.
>>
>> *TimDaniels*
>>