NTFS bootdisk

Sp00n · 25 May 2006 at 20:33

The situation is this;

I have a laptop with 2 partitions on it, both NTFS.

D: partition ias the i386 folder from the xp cd so i can install windows on to c: however i can't access it from a normal dos floppy as it won't read ntfs.

Is it possible to get a floppy which will read the d: drive and enable me to run winnt and thus install windows on the c: drive without a cd-rom?!?!

pax · 26 May 2006 at 08:53

I would grab the Windows XP boot disks from http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994

These should allow you to boot up and specify where the install looks.

Alternatively, you can use http://www.bootdisk.com/ntfs.htm to boot to DOS with NTFS reading and writing ability,

Pax

Sp00n · 26 May 2006 at 09:29

I thought about using the windows xp bootdisks but doesnt it just go straight through and try and boot from the cd-rom?

/edit

Just tried it, it does try and find a cd-rom and it fails when it doesnt find one, also doesnt giev me any options to point it at the d: drive.

When i tried ntfs4dos it almost works fine, i start up smartdrv then run winnt but it gives me "setup was unable to install windows boot loader" "ensure that your C: drive is formatted and that the drive is not damaged"

The C: isn't formatted but its an NTFS partition with win2k install files on it cause i took it out of another laptop.

I guess i'll have to format c: and see what happens!

Sp00n · 26 May 2006 at 10:22

Is it possible to edit the floppies so they look at the hard drive and not for a cd?

Raumarik · 26 May 2006 at 12:32

daft idea I know but it's worked for me in the past. I have laptop HDD > ide HDD convertor cables. only cost a couple of pounds and slaved them into a desktop PC.

means spending money and waiting a while until the cables are delivered though.

The fact that i386 is on an NTFS drive would make me think that you're stuffed in terms of installing from it in a DOS environment, I know there's NTFS readers around but in my experience that's all they are, they read one or two files but aren't intended to let you run files as if it was a FAT formatted drive.

Sp00n · 26 May 2006 at 13:28

Trouble is i've got a load of other stuff on the d: partition which i dont want to delete, grrr this is such a pain!

I almost had a bootdisk working with a usb cd-rom but it failed at the last minute.

I think thats my only option now and i can't even get that to work!

Sp00n · 26 May 2006 at 14:34

Ugh.... man what a pain.

Got the usb floppy working but for some reason MSCDEX.EXE is mapping the cd drive to c: instead of e:

I'm |--| this close to throwing this thing out the window!

Sp00n · 26 May 2006 at 16:42

Well, i ended up taking the hdd out, hooking it up to another pc and converting both to fat32.

I managed to get the usb floppy to work but it just refused to install windows which was a bit of a pain.

cheers for your help though guys.