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Is it possible to install Windows XP onto a disk larger than 137GB?

F

FireStormX86

Member
I know that Windows XP without SP1 has the max size of 137GB...So does that mean I will need to find a copy of XP with SP1 built in or can I just install normal XP and upgrade to SP1 afterwards? I will be running dual 74GB WD Raptor drives on RAID-0 if it matters.
 
I am trying to figure out what I am going to do in a similar situation.
got a PC at work with a 200gig SATA hard drive in it, Windows 2000 Server with SP4... but it only shows as 130 because it was formatted and installed that way.
thinking my only option is partition magic at this point. 🙂
 
Yeap. Just as long as your Raid Controller supports 48 LBA. Also some people when updating to SP2 had problems with windows rolling back to the original ATAPI drivers. So keep that in mind. You would have to download the patch directly from Windows if it does.
 
Originally posted by: aznbomber
Hurubi, you probably installed it with SP1. He says he doesn't have a windows cd with SP1 on it.
Click to expand...

It's been a while since I've installed from a pre SP1 WinXP cd, but I remember installing it to a 160GB drive, it recognized it as 137GB, after updating to SP1 it recognized the full size of the drive...

Although I don't rememeber whether or not I partitioned the installation. I think I might have given WinXP 30GB of the drive to install system files and left the rest unformatted. Then after updating it recognized the full size of the drive, I'm not sure as this was a while back and I've since then picked up a SP1 install disc.
 
Win2K server on SP4 all latest updates, still doesn't see the full 200gig
Click to expand...

When you say the Win2k server doesn't see the full 200 gig, what do you mean? If the computer was setup on a 137 gig partition, the remainder will be unallocated space which won't show up in Explorer. In WinXP, you have to use the computer management tools to format the unallocated space. WinXP will actually let you extend a partition into adjacent unused, unallocated space. However you cannot do this on the boot partition.

Actually, after doing a little searching, it looks like you cannot do that with Win2k server according to this article.

This MS article might be of some help.
 
Just slipstreaming SP2 ALONE will not do what's required.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you mean. I took my XP Pro disc, slipstreamed SP2 and burned a new CD. When I reinstalled, XP saw the entire 160 Gb of my hard drive. I followed the instructions here.
 
Originally posted by: CraigRT
XP must be different, Win2K server on SP4 all latest updates, still doesn't see the full 200gig.
Click to expand...

That's ... odd. I thought that W2K SP4 was supposed to fully support 48-bit LBA?

Were you using the default MS IDE drivers, or 3rd-party IDE controller drivers? Because I supposed that it would be possible for the out-of-the-box W2K SP4 drivers for 3rd-party controllers, to have not been updated as well to support 48-bit LBA, but I'm pretty sure that the default MS ones were. Is it possible that you installed a hotfit that back-revved the disk controller drivers (if default MS IDE ones), or perhaps your system has a newer Intel chipset, and you didn't boot/install W2K SP4 uising the "press F6" method with the newest IAA drivers on a floppy?

Btw, I've side-stepped the issue entirely, by using a Promise IDE controller, supports 48-bit LBA in Win98se DOS mode, Win98se, W2K, XP, 2003, etc., since to each OS, it looks like a SCSI drive, and using SCSI LBA sector addressing, and the controller card's BIOS handles 48-bit LBA via native extended Int13h support in DOS mode.

 
Originally posted by: DerKaiser
Just slipstreaming SP2 ALONE will not do what's required.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you mean. I took my XP Pro disc, slipstreamed SP2 and burned a new CD. When I reinstalled, XP saw the entire 160 Gb of my hard drive. I followed the instructions here.
Click to expand...

Notice that you say "reinstalled".
What I'm referring to is: booting from CD and installing the O.S. onto a new, unformatted HD, which is >137 GB. The updated "deploy.cab" is required. This "deploy.cab" is a separate download from Microsoft, and won't be updated when doing ONLY the "SP2 slipstream update/& burn to CD" procedure.
 
I've installed XP SP1 onto a 250 GB unformatted/unpartitioned PATA drive. No slipstream, no added drivers during the initial install.

The only thing is that you end up with 8 MB (not GB) unused space for some reason.
 
I must be dense here, but I still don't understand. When I reinstalled, I booted from my slipstreamed XPSP2 CD. I then deleted the 137 Gb partition and created and formatted a new 160 Gb partition. After I deleted the existing partition, it is essentially an unformatted drive (except perhaps for the mbr). The hard drive partitioning utility on the XPSP2 CD sees my entire 160 Gb drive. I never downloaded deploy.cab.
 
Only the "deploy.cab" found on the original WinXP (and without any slipstreamed service packs 1 or 2) will have a problem with correctly formatting of hard drives >137 GB.
So, anyone using an official MS WinXP-SP1 (or SP2) bootable CD, won't experience this problem.
However, if you're talking about a "home made" slipstreamed CD (based from the original WinXP, with no service packs), which doesn't also have the updated "deploy.cab", then you will experience the problem.
 
I did make a "home made" slipstreamed SP2 CD. The original official CD I have is WinXP Pro with no service packs. Is it possible that the slipstreaming command (can't remember what it is offhand) puts in the correct deploy.cab? Or is it possible that some versions of the WinXP Pro CD don't have the original deploy.cab despite the absence of SP1 or SP2? BTW, the original CD I have was bought through the university my wife works. I noticed the name of the CD was different than any of the ones listed here: http://www.helpwithwindows.com.../winxp-sp2-bootcd.html
 
for chrissakes people

deploy.com is for an unattended network install

WinXP has 48Bit support - OFF BY DEFAULT - it just has to be turned on in the registry

from the deploy.cab readme in winXP Pro

"

* 48-bit Logical Block Address (LBA) support is included in Windows XP
for ATAPI disk drives, enabling capacities to extend past the 137 GB
barrier. This feature is not on by default.

This feature will be enabled in the Windows 2002 Server release and
Windows XP client service packs, pending availability of additional
PC BIOSs and drives.

To enable this feature, add an entry to the [Unattended] section of
Sysprep.inf as follows:

[Unattended]
EnableBigLba=Yes

It is possible that an end-user might attempt to enable the 48-bit
LBA registry settings without having the correct BIOS to support a
hard drive with greater than 137 gigabytes capacity. In such cases,
only the first 137 gigabytes of the hard disk are addressable. The
rest of the drive is not used. If a user enables the 48-bit LBA
registry settings on a system that lacks both a 48-bit LBA-compatible
BIOS and a drive larger than 137 gigabytes, there will be no effect
to the system. The drive would continue to work as a standard hard
drive. "
(Unquote)

So make a small partition, install XP, enable 48 bit, expand partition to whatever
If install with XP (no servive pack) recognises entire drive, always make sure LBA is enabled, or you might loose stuff on >131 later.
Some intel chipsets do not natively support 48 bit (875 865 etc) so you need to install IAA from intel
immediately after install.

http://support.microsoft.com/d...x?scid=kb;en-us;303013
 
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