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?!?!

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?

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.