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First post, by Robhalfordfan

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I know this isn't a game but needing help with windows 2000

I have two hdd and going to install multiple OS and use a third party boot manager with it and in my pc and try to install windows 2000 on the second hdd but everytime I do, it says it needs to write startup files on first hdd

when unplug the first hdd and install windows 2000 on the second hdd (without first hdd being pluged in) and it installs no problem but as soon plug the first hdd back in, windows 200 doesn't boot as I only get a blinking line in top left corner

is that a way to install boot windows 2000 on a second hdd (not the first) and boot no problem as I wanna use the first for xp since as more space

Last edited by Robhalfordfan on 2017-02-02, 11:32. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 6, by Jorpho

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NT/2K/XP doesn't use the same drive letter conventions as Windows 98. If you unplug the first drive and install Windows 2000 on the second drive without the first drive being plugged in, Windows 2K will think it's running from drive C. As soon as you plug the first drive back in, it will think it is on drive D, but everything internally will still be expecting its files on drive C, and it will all just be a big mess.

Why don't you just let Windows 2000 write its "startup file" on the first drive? You can still install a third party boot manager afterwards, I think.

Reply 3 of 6, by GL1zdA

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Have you tried a boot manager? Not sure which one, but i've used the Ranish Partition Manager one (quite spartan) and XOSL (GUI) - at least one of them could set the drive number returned by INT 13 to 0x80 for the drive which you have chosen to boot. Or maybe was it the motherboard built in boot manager? It was more than ten years ago when I've used such setup, so I might be wrong.

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Reply 4 of 6, by Robhalfordfan

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Jorpho wrote:

NT/2K/XP doesn't use the same drive letter conventions as Windows 98. If you unplug the first drive and install Windows 2000 on the second drive without the first drive being plugged in, Windows 2K will think it's running from drive C. As soon as you plug the first drive back in, it will think it is on drive D, but everything internally will still be expecting its files on drive C, and it will all just be a big mess.

Why don't you just let Windows 2000 write its "startup file" on the first drive? You can still install a third party boot manager afterwards, I think.

the third party boot manager does install if do that but since i can hide the partitions from showing up in in any windows i install (so they don't clash with each other), so each os have the own partition and cant see any other os partition, so they think they have there own c drive - if that makes sense

Reply 5 of 6, by Robhalfordfan

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GL1zdA wrote:

Have you tried a boot manager? Not sure which one, but i've used the Ranish Partition Manager one (quite spartan) and XOSL (GUI) - at least one of them could set the drive number returned by INT 13 to 0x80 for the drive which you have chosen to boot. Or maybe was it the motherboard built in boot manager? It was more than ten years ago when I've used such setup, so I might be wrong.

i use "acronis os selector 8"

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