Win2k installation (advanced users question)

[Sword]

Hi,

I made a mistake when I first installed win2k on my computer. I forgot to hide the first partition. Win2k is installed on the second partition but this partition is not "bootable". The "bootable" one is the first partition...(I can say that because the second partition is not active according to Partition Magic 6).

Now I would like to install win98 on the first partition and flush my winNT40 partition (first partition).

Of course I could reinstall everything but I am not sure I want to do this...Is there any easy way to make win2k bootable ? Can I change the MBR or anything in the win2k installation could do that for me ?

What I want is :
Partition 1 : win98SE
Partition 2 : win2K
Also, I dont want partitions to see each other. So I will need to reboot with Partition Magic (activate and hide partition).


N.B. Could it be possible to just move my win2k installation to the first partition (erasing the NT40 partition at the same time) and then install win98SE on the second partition ?

Thanks for your help.

Sword

 

[Sword]

Could I just merge the two partition ?

 

[benjamit]

this may not work but this should not cause you to loose any data
do not change the partitions as you know this will loose your data

try booting up in 98 boot floppy and use fdisk at command prompt
change active partition to the one you want
reboot to hdd and hopefully the os version you want

i don't know about merging partitions without having to use 3rd party s/w

 

[Sword]

I am not sure if I understand your suggestion well death...

I will begin with more precision on my part...

My win2k partition (second one) is working now... is it honest to say that win2k is working ?
My winNT40 partition (first one) is working now.

I wanted to move from NT40 to win2k so I decided to keep both for a smooth transition.

My problem, now, is that WIN2k is a sh]tty OS that dont work at all...but I like it for USB and ease of installation. So I still need win98SE for CDR, CDRW and games.

Right now I think win2k is "installed" over NT4 and I think that by removing it I wont be able to use win2k anymore...So my question is how to remove NT4 without scrapping my win2k installation ?

N.B. All windows OS install themselves in a strange way...they offer you to select the partition on which you would like the OS to be installed but the damn setup will install essential files on the actual active and principal partition. That is exactly what happened to me...I thought the setup was intelligent in win2k but...

 

[Sword]

Morning bump

 

[Techwhore]

Windows has to, by default, install "essential" files to the active partition... it's just the way it works. Though I'm slightly confused on how your OS's are setup and how many partitions you have, there are a few things you can try.

First of all, have u thought about simply upgrading NT 4 to 2k? that's probably the easiest thing you can do...

You could also make an image of your 2k install, format and re-partition your system, then apply the 2k image.

 

[SUOrangeman]

Read my story of partitioning below. I essentially hide Win2K and Win9x/ME from each other with the help of a small C: drive where no OS is installed.

-SUO

 

[Sword]

I think the solution is near....

Imagine a system with 3 partitions (was my old system).
1 - WinNT40 functionnal
2 - Win98SE functionnal
3 - extended

I wanted to install win2k on the win98se partition. On my first try, I made a mistake and forget to hide the NT40 partition. So I decided to reinstall win2k. That second time I didnt forget to hide the NT40 partition.
Actual system
1 - WinNT40 functionnal
2 - Win2k functionnal
3 - extended

So now, when I look in Partition Magic 6.0, I can see that the win2k partition is not the active partition...

The first thing I will try this evening is to hide the NT40 partition to see what happens...logically, it should start because I did hide this partition at installation...

Then I will try to make an image of my win2k partition...

and only then I will look at your very long thread SUOrangeman

Thanks for the help and Ill make an update as soon as possible

 

[Sword]

Great !

The first try worked !

I tried to hide the first partition with a bootable win98 disk and hide it with the fdisk on Partition magic 6 disk (I was trying to use the ptedit but this program is too hard for me...I will have to take a look at this later).

So everything is fine for now.

But next time I will setup a computer I will use SUOrangeman strategy for sure.

Thanks for your help everybody.