Windows dual-boot question..

[mepmepmep]

I have Windows 2000 Server and Windows Millenium on a dual-boot machine. Now i want to reformat the ME partition (C:) and reinstall ME on it, because it has degenerated so much and is probably also infested with lots of crap.

Question: Will the dual-booting still work if I format the partition and reinstall Millenium or will I destroy something in that process?

[fx]

I don't really know since they're both Windowses, but I know for sure that Win98 overwrites the MBR if you have LILO there, without asking...

[bhoggett]

@mepmepmep

A bit off-topic in the Amiga forums, isn't it?

To answer your question: it depends on what you use to dual boot (presumably the Win2000 boot selector). It's most likely that Windows ME will break your dual boot system, because being dumb Microsoft software it will arbitrarily overwrite your MBR.

You will probably have to either re-install Win2k afterwards (not the best solution) or install a boot manager like GRUB or one of the commercial ones whose names escape me at the moment.  :-o

(Acronis Boot Selector and Norton System Commander come to mind, though there are many more)

It may also be possible to re-install the Win2k MBR, but I haven't really ever looked into that.

[mikeymike]

The solution I've found that works - instead of formatting the WinME partition, just delete all the files except the boot ones, then reinstall the OS.  It will notice the boot loader/files and not mess with them.

[mantisspider]

why do u want windows ME?

[mepmepmep]

@bhogget
Sorry about the wrong posting. Thought this was the place.. or is it 'Alternative Operating Systems'? I'm an Amiga fanatic like the rest of you;) But also have to use these ####  Windows os'es. I use 2000 Server for development (actually the best Win i used BUT takes about 15 mins to boot), Win ME for trash installations (hence it sometimes gets ####ed up beyond recognition), a really crappy os. The Amiga I use for fun and relaxation:). Brill!

@Mikeymike
Your solution seems really interesting! Tell me more.. Which files (and folders?) do I have to keep to make this work? Which are the bootfiles?

[mepmepmep]

The ONLY reason to keep Windows ME is that I have programs that I need to run such as a viewer for my TV-card that does'nt work on NT. Besides that.. It's nice to have an OS that you do not care the least about and just trash it;)

[mikeymike]

Your solution seems really interesting! Tell me more.. Which files (and folders?) do I have to keep to make this work? Which are the bootfiles?

I'm not sure about WinME, MS might have changed a few things just to keep people on their toes.  To be on the safe side, just leave the files on the root of C drive alone, and nuke all directories.

[Ilwrath]

Hmm.... Installing ME or a 9x series windows after an NT based system (nt4/2000/xp) will certainly blow away the NT MBR, and skip the NTLDR.

Now, what you should be able to do is this....
1) enable BIOS virus protection
2) install win 9x.
3) reject the new MBR (bios virus protection backs up your MBR, so rejecting the change reverts you back to your previous MBR)
4) reset BIOS to normal.
5) cross fingers and boot.

If this doesn't work, you should be able to boot from the 2000 install CD (or boot disk set, whichever you used) and do a REPAIR (rather than re-install).  When it comes up, it should realize that the MBR has been trashed and set it back to it's defaults.  You may need to edit your BOOT.INI though.  (Hmm... why not back that up to a floppy before you do anything, that way, you know what it's like, in case the repair then skips letting you dual boot.)  The BOOT.INI file controls the options you see for loading when first booting.

[mepmepmep]

Thanks a lot for all the help guys.. Seems to be some options available. No real simple solutions, but what could be expected from Windows;)..

Found some useful info here too..

And possibly an interesting long term solution here.

I'll ponder the options and choose a route;)

Cheers

[Tomas]

And possibly an interesting long term solution here.

Would it no tbe cheaper to just get a new tvtuner that works under win2k?  :-)

BTW there is a tv viewer program that does not depend on OS drivers:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/deinterlace/DScaler401.exe
The program comes with its own integrated drivers.
This has worked with most normal tvtuner i have used, even without any drivers installed. You cannot capture with it though, only watch tv

[mepmepmep]

Well, I'll definetely check out the program you mention..

I have an old tv-tuner card, ATI All-In-Wonder Pro which is a gfx card with integrated tv-tuner. There are drivers and viewers for 2000 and so but they are beta, instable and generally suck whereas the Win9x viewer is superb.
I have one MAJOR requirement on the tv-tuner software and that is that i must manually be able to enter and store channels since I use the tuner for TV, Amiga (Important!!) and two different Playstations. The 9x viewer allows this, but for some incredibly strange reason this feature is removed on the newer versions which supports NT/2000/XP.

[csirac_]

I was under the impression you could still do fixmbr and fixboot from windows recovery console instead of reinstalling.

Not sure if it restores the dual boot config - check the .ini files in your root of C:\ for the win2k installation (I don't use any windows OS on my PCs, so I can't look for you), I think it's called boot.ini what should have that info in it.

If you looked hard enough I'm sure you could restore everything fine from the win2k recovery console.

 - Paul

[mikeymike]

Hmm.... Installing ME or a 9x series windows after an NT based system (nt4/2000/xp) will certainly blow away the NT MBR, and skip the NTLDR.

It doesn't.  I've done it many times.  Admittedly I thought it would too, but one day I decided to take the chance.

[mikeymike]

I was under the impression you could still do fixmbr and fixboot from windows recovery console instead of reinstalling.

Except that the setup CD sometimes chooses not to recognise an existing NTx system partition and claims you don't have one.  Which is really irritating.