Dual boot question

Jim · External Since: Dec 13, 2005 Posts: 7

I have an older computer running Windows 2000 Professional which I
configured as a dual boot system some time ago.

I've since removed the second operating system (Windows Server 2003). The
annoying problem is that during boot up, the boot.ini file still prompts me
to select which OS I wish to boot into. Unfortunately it defaults to the
second (removed) OS so I must quickly select the primary OS or else the
system won't boot.

This computer is rather old and does not support booting from a cd. I'm
considering editing the boot.ini file but I'm not exactly sure how to make
the change. I messed this up before and had great difficulty getting things
back to square one.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated. TIA

Original boot.ini

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard
Edition Setup"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim

Dave Patrick · External Since: Oct 18, 2005 Posts: 3525

Looks like it is still trying to run Windows Server 2003 setup. Should be
something like this below. Are you sure about \WINDOWS ?
Windows 2000 by default installs to \winnt directory.

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

Before doing anything I'd make a boot floppy.

For the floppy to successfully boot Windows 2000 the disk must contain the
"NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows 2000 machine, not a
DOS/Win9x, so the NT boot sector gets written to the floppy), and copy
Windows 2000 versions of ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it. Edit the
boot.ini to give it a correct ARC path for the machine you wish to boot.
Below is an example of boot.ini. The default is to start the operating
system located on the first partition of the primary or first drive
(drive0). Then drive0 partition 2 and so on.

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,2"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,2"

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Jim" wrote:
>I have an older computer running Windows 2000 Professional which I
>configured as a dual boot system some time ago.
>
> I've since removed the second operating system (Windows Server 2003). The
> annoying problem is that during boot up, the boot.ini file still prompts
> me to select which OS I wish to boot into. Unfortunately it defaults to
> the second (removed) OS so I must quickly select the primary OS or else
> the system won't boot.
>
> This computer is rather old and does not support booting from a cd. I'm
> considering editing the boot.ini file but I'm not exactly sure how to make
> the change. I messed this up before and had great difficulty getting
> things back to square one.
>
> Any other suggestions would be appreciated. TIA
>
> Original boot.ini
>
> [Boot Loader]
> Timeout=5
> Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
> [Operating Systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 2000
> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
>
> C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard
> Edition Setup"
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Jim
>

Jim · External Since: Dec 13, 2005 Posts: 7

Yes it's \windows - I don't see a \winnt directory. Note, I originally have
Windows xp on this computer.

"Dave Patrick" <DSPatrick.DeleteThis@nospam.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:40FBAE81-26AC-457A-AF66-D76CB8F018EA@microsoft.com...
> Looks like it is still trying to run Windows Server 2003 setup. Should be
> something like this below. Are you sure about \WINDOWS ?
> Windows 2000 by default installs to \winnt directory.
>
> [Boot Loader]
> Timeout=5
> Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
> [Operating Systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 2000
> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
>
> Before doing anything I'd make a boot floppy.
>
> For the floppy to successfully boot Windows 2000 the disk must contain the
> "NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on a Windows 2000 machine, not a
> DOS/Win9x, so the NT boot sector gets written to the floppy), and copy
> Windows 2000 versions of ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it. Edit the
> boot.ini to give it a correct ARC path for the machine you wish to boot.
> Below is an example of boot.ini. The default is to start the operating
> system located on the first partition of the primary or first drive
> (drive0). Then drive0 partition 2 and so on.
>
> [boot loader]
> timeout=10
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
> [operating systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,1"
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 0,2"
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,1"
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 1,2"
>
> --
>
> Regards,
>
> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
> Microsoft Certified Professional
> Microsoft MVP [Windows]
> http://www.microsoft.com/protect
>
> "Jim" wrote:
>>I have an older computer running Windows 2000 Professional which I
>>configured as a dual boot system some time ago.
>>
>> I've since removed the second operating system (Windows Server 2003). The
>> annoying problem is that during boot up, the boot.ini file still prompts
>> me to select which OS I wish to boot into. Unfortunately it defaults to
>> the second (removed) OS so I must quickly select the primary OS or else
>> the system won't boot.
>>
>> This computer is rather old and does not support booting from a cd. I'm
>> considering editing the boot.ini file but I'm not exactly sure how to
>> make the change. I messed this up before and had great difficulty getting
>> things back to square one.
>>
>> Any other suggestions would be appreciated. TIA
>>
>> Original boot.ini
>>
>> [Boot Loader]
>> Timeout=5
>> Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
>> [Operating Systems]
>> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 2000
>> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
>>
>> C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard
>> Edition Setup"
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Jim
>>
>

Dave Patrick · External Since: Oct 18, 2005 Posts: 3525

Ok, just more confusion.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Jim" wrote:
> Yes it's \windows - I don't see a \winnt directory. Note, I originally
> have Windows xp on this computer.

Frank Booth Snr · External Since: Jun 16, 2006 Posts: 80

Jim wrote:

> I have an older computer running Windows 2000 Professional which I
> configured as a dual boot system some time ago.
>
> I've since removed the second operating system (Windows Server 2003). The
> annoying problem is that during boot up, the boot.ini file still prompts me
> to select which OS I wish to boot into. Unfortunately it defaults to the
> second (removed) OS so I must quickly select the primary OS or else the
> system won't boot.
>
> This computer is rather old and does not support booting from a cd. I'm
> considering editing the boot.ini file but I'm not exactly sure how to make
> the change. I messed this up before and had great difficulty getting things
> back to square one.
>
> Any other suggestions would be appreciated. TIA
>
> Original boot.ini
>
> [Boot Loader]
> Timeout=5
> Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
> [Operating Systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 2000
> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
>
> C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard
> Edition Setup"
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You've got your default system still set to Windows Server as well as
retaining it as a booting option.

Alter boot.ini as follows, but make sure that Win2k system files are in
the WINNT folder. If files are in the "WINDOWS" folder than substitute
"WINDOWS" for "WINNT" below.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

Andy9 · External Since: Jun 19, 2004 Posts: 91

1. Right click on My Computer and select Properties.
2. Click on Advanced tab.
3. Click on Startup and Recovery.
4. Under Default operating systems:, select Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional.
5. (optional) Remove check from Display list of operating systems for
xxx seconds.
6. Click on Ok.

On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:36:27 -0400, "Jim" <jrwolfe.TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrote:

>I have an older computer running Windows 2000 Professional which I
>configured as a dual boot system some time ago.
>
>I've since removed the second operating system (Windows Server 2003). The
>annoying problem is that during boot up, the boot.ini file still prompts me
>to select which OS I wish to boot into. Unfortunately it defaults to the
>second (removed) OS so I must quickly select the primary OS or else the
>system won't boot.
>
>This computer is rather old and does not support booting from a cd. I'm
>considering editing the boot.ini file but I'm not exactly sure how to make
>the change. I messed this up before and had great difficulty getting things
>back to square one.
>
>Any other suggestions would be appreciated. TIA
>
>Original boot.ini
>
>[Boot Loader]
>Timeout=5
>Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
>[Operating Systems]
>multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 2000
>Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
>
>C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard
>Edition Setup"
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Jim
>