Can I move boot.ini?

I have a windows 2000 server with 2 partitions, C & E. For some reason the boot.ini and other system files are on E whilst everything else is on C as normal.

I would like to delete the E partition to extend C (I can use ghost for that bit later) but can anyone tell me how to move the system files to C so the computer can boot from there?

Thanks

 

Hi Grunty, are you still looking for help with this one. It's doable, but you would need to get it right. It would help if you could post a screenshot of the view of the drive/s in Disk Management.

 

Hi McTavish,

Thanks for the reply, sorry for the delay, due to christmas, kids, drunk etc.

I can't attach a screenshot because I don't have a subscription, must get round to getting one , but the disk management screen is fairly simple - Disk 0, Basic, 18.63Gb Online. (C 6.83Gb, NTFS, Healthy, (Boot), and (E 11.80Gb, NTFS, Healthy, (System).

C: is a logical drive taking up all the space inside an extended partition and E: is a primary partition. Not sure why it was set up like this, but as long as I can get it all booting from C:, I can Ghost and write back with one 18Gb C drive.

Hope this all helps

ta

 

Can’t see any problems, but you will have to convert the Windows logical partition to a primary. It’s been a long time since I used Ghost and I’m not sure if it can do the conversion (does anyone know?) while either imaging or cloning. Doubtful if it can be done with an image, so if cloning is the only way you would have to clone C: to E: and once this was running fine as C: then make an image of that and restore it to the whole drive.

There will be a few steps and risks involved, so I assume you have images to restore the system if need be?

Bit busy at the mo, but in a couple of days I’ll have the time to test Ghost if need be. You could email me that screenshot if you like and I’ll post it. madjock[at]multibooters[dot]co.uk

 

Thanks for the reply

I am ok with using Ghost - couldn't do parts of my job without it, but all I need to do is to move the system files on E: to C: so it can do all from one partition. Once that is done, I will just blat the drive and write it all back to an 18Gb C:

I thought it might have been something simple like just editing the boot ini, but startup still looks on E: for that, not sure what the boot process is. In Win9x I could edit config.sys etc, but not in XP. Not sure how to proceed.

Ta.

 

You can’t do much better that this by Dan Goodell to understand the NT boot process when System and Boot partitions are different. http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/principles.htm

You will have to move the boot files from the current System partition of E: into the 2K install so that it becomes both the System and Boot partition (and edit the boot.ini), however because Windows is on a logical this won’t work as the MBR can’t target a logical and so find and load the 2K boot files. Your 2K will have to be converted to a primary for it to work.

You could just reduce the current E: to just big enough to house the NT boot flies, but you would of course still have C: and E: drives.

 

To do what you want it would go like this:

Copy ntldr, NTDETECT.COM and boot.ini from the root of E: into the root of C: If you have scsi drives then there would be another file to copy ntbootdd.sys Edit the copied boot.ini now in C: to point to partition one instead of partition two.

In your 2K check all pagefiles are on the C: drive. Then with regedit remove all entries in the MountedDevices key. Shut down 2K and don’t boot it again.

Clone C: to the E: partition, converting to primary in the process. Once done make sure it is still the Active partition on the drive and then boot into your new clone, twice. (Don’t boot again into the original 2K). If all is fine then clear the MountedDevices folder again and shut down and image the new Windows, blat the drive and restore to the full 18gigs.


Edit:
One other thing, 2K can be a funny beast. If it does not have a volume label, best to give it one before you start. If it shows in My Computer as (local Disk) then it has no label.