boot help

hi. i have a slight problem. i am running windows ME. i canceled my windows 2000 installation and now whenever i boot up it asks me if i want to continue windows 2000 installation or boot up into windows ME. how do i fix it so it auto-boots into windows ME and doesnt prompt me if i want to continue windows 2000 setup?

please help me!

 

Hi, midz ~

Any reason you don't want to leave WinME behind

 

i tried upgrading to xp and my network hardware didnt work...i dont know if 2000 will do the same thing. yes i hate ME.

btw, i fixed my problem.

 

Hi, midz ~

Networking sure is fun, huh? I'm sorry it hasn't worked out so easy, but you will have to sooner or later. I hold you sentiment about WinME.

It would be most appreciated by all if you would kindly post your fix here, please - Thanks!

 

ok what you have to do is change your boot.ini (located in c:\) to [Boot Loader]
timeout=5
default=C:\
[Operating Systems]
C:\= "Microsoft Windows "

if the default is anything other than c:\ it will prompt you with something or boot up the wrong thing

 

Midz

It would be unusual for 2k not to work at networking when ME does.

2K is actually the best at networking of anything out there. That is why untill the last few weeks Windows 2000 Server was Microsofts backbone server. They recently introduced an XP server.

If ME can do it, 2K can do it and do it better.

Now because of security it does take more knowledge to set up and configure. Problems can be caused by incompatable drivers and hardware, true. But 2K is a network workhorse!

If in the future you want to try again to take a run at 2K we can help.

Additionally it can be installed and allow ME to stay on the HD and allow you to boot to either untill you are ready to remove ME. This also takes some planning and prep.

This is a part of what you saw when you aborted the install. This was the boot manager to allow you to choose between 2K or ME.

If you do attempt this again remember these 2 things.

1. Don't upgrade (install on and convert ME)
2. Install to another partition to seperate fully 2K and ME!

Mike

 

i have partition magic 8 and bootmagic and i tried to install it on a new partition and it didnt work , maybe i did something wrong :\

 

Well what did happen?

Did you have problems getting it to install or problems only getting it to network after a successful install?

And what about the network, how many computers and what are they running, ME?

How many partitions do you have now on this machine? What speed and how much RAM? How much HD free space?

What kind of Internet, broadband or dialup?

Normally you should not need boot magic.

Mike

 

im using one computer running windows ME with 2 partitions - one for my OS and one just for file storage. i used boot magic and partition magic to create a partition and install 2000 on it, but when it came to the install it said invalid disk or something..

all i want to do is create another partition and install windows 2000 on it and have it ask me if i want to boot into ME or 2000 each time i start my computer...

how do i go about this

 

Mmmmm

I reread and noticed the XP was what you refered to as the network problem. But my statement still stands as far as networking.

You really need 3 partitions then.

1st for ME.
2nd for 2k.
3rd for data.

Should not need boot magic.

Put 2k Disk in CD see if it boots from cd and if so tell setup to use the second partition for the install.

Or tell us where it stops!

Mike

PS but where does networking come in here, do you have another computer to connect to?

 

right now i have 1 partition for me, 1 for data.

i have partition magic, and how do i go about making another partition for 2k and installing 2k on it?

when i mentioned network i ment like my cable modem and ethernet card

 

Midz

Ok now I understand on the networking.

I am headed out for dinner. I will try to answer later tonight or tomorrow!

But as for the partition magic????

How did you do it before?

Mike

 

well, i did what it said(make the partition, boot into ME, change some bootmagic settings, reboot with the 2k installation disc), but when i went to install 2k on the partition i made, it said invalid disc and a bunch of other stuff.

im wondering what the easiest way to install 2k on a partition is.

 

Mdiz

I think you should uninstall boot magic. Boot magic is for problem installations of unusual or or non microsoft products. It is a good product but not needed here unless there is some factor that I do not know about!

So here are my steps.

1. uninstall boot magic so that ME boots normally without it as before you had it.

2. using Partition Magic resize 1 or both of your existing partitions to smaller sizes, this will create free space that you can then use PQ magic to convert to another drive.

3. when you resize your 1st drive (c: ) tell it to create free space after.

4. when you resize your second existing drive tell it free space before.

5. now you have free space in between your c: and d: drives that you convert to a drive.

So now you should have c: (WinME) d: (empty) e: (your old data drive is now e: )

Once you get this all setup and win me boots normally and sees all the drives correctly. (without boot magic of course). You are now ready to install 2K.

There is a second option. Just use the data drive you have now to install 2K. Then later make another drive after 2k is installed. This will not remove the data that you already have there!

So in this option you would only need to remove Boot Magic before you install 2K.

If this is what you want to do then for now do 1 test for me and let me know the results.

After boot magic is uninstalled and ME is booting normally do this.

Insert the win2k CD. Reboot! If the 2K install process starts then cancel it, remove the CD and let me know that you can boot from the CD!

After you let me know about this we will begin the install!

Mike

 

when i reboot with the cd yes it does start. but when u mentioned resizing my partitions, did you mean to resize and make a primary drive(d)?

 

No your Me is already on a primary.

Make a secondary (logical partition).

Mike

 

operating systems dont run on logical partitions

 

Operating systems will not BOOT from a logical drive but they will run from one.

All of the boot files for both OS will be in the root folder of the C: ( primary ) drive.

Unless you use something like Boot Magic to set up a Multi OS system. Then each would be on its own Primary Drive. You would then have two bootable C: drives but one would always be hidden.

But in a Dual Boot setup the second OS files can go anywhere.

In fact XP gave me a choice of 5 partitions.

If I am wrong Mike will correct me.

BillyBob

 

Billy Bob is right!

So now we know that you can boot from the CD!

If you have removed Boot Magic, created the drive, tested access to new drive in ME then we are ready to install 2K is that correct?

Mike

 

ok i have a partition made. so now i have 1 primary(windows ME), and 2 logical(data partition and the soon-to-be 2k partition). so what now?