Installing W2K on a newly formatted disk

[mlc]

Wondering what the right way is to install W2K professional on a newly formatted drive ...

Ran into some problems trying to install W2k on a recent hardware/motherboard upgrade...
1) tried using the 4 bootable recovery floppies that I made using the Makeboot command.. but they came back and said "NTLDR is missing"
2) tried booting to another type of W2K boot disk that I made floppy I made via some program recommended to me available from ABITs site. That actually got me into Windows Setup but then it failed due to being unable to load some type of krnl file/program.... Windows site suggested that this is due to a BIOS problem or something else...

I also tried flipping around the boot sequence in my bios so that it would try to read the CD-RW player first, then the floppy and then the HDD... but that would never work either...

Eventually, I simply put an older 98-SE bootable and install CD in, loaded WIN98SE.... then put the W2K PRO disk in and it allowed me to do a fresh W2K install , reformatting , etc...

Is there a simply way to do this ... just using the W2K CD ?

[mrrobotto]

It should boot from the cd if you have it set correctly and there's not a problem with the cd. eg. Bad copy.

[mlc]

thanks.... I did use that same copy to install /upgrade once I had WIN98 up and running.. and it worked fine...

I would think if I had the boot sequence changed to look at the CD first, then the floppy and HDD.. that I should be set to go... right ? Is there a limitation to using a CD-RW device for something like this ? during post, I saw that it recognized that I had an HP 9500I installed in my Second IDE channel as a primary device... So I would think that was ok... or am I missing something ?

[Ol'Tunzafun]

There is no problem with using a CDR/RW device and no problem with being on a secondary controller or for that matter whether it is master or slave. It doesn't even matter if CDROM is first in the boot sequence. It can be second to the floppy drive as long as it precedes C in the boot order. Always be sure to "Save the Changes" before you exit the BIOS. It is sometimes necessary to "Press any key", when prompted, to boot from CDROM.
Unlike Win98, W2K won't set up from a DOS prompt. It is not even necessary to partition or format. Just put the disc in and follow instructions.

[BipolarBill]

If you set the boot sequence properly, Setup should start from the CD right off. If not, you may get a prompt asking you to "Press any key to boot from CD".

Does this system use a RAID or other 3rd-party drive controller?

[mlc]

The boot sequence was shown in the BIOS to be 1) CD 2) Floppy 3) then HDD... that's for sure.... But placing the disc in the CD did not kick off anything..

The Win98 disc is recognized... Is there a specifc file I need to check for on the W2K disc that kick this off that may be missing or corrupt ?

I am certain this is a procedural error on my part, as I don't do this very often.... Just want to make sure I'm following the correct steps...

[BipolarBill]

So, placing the Win98 CD in the same drive with the same boot sequence and Win98 boots where Win2K does not?

You still haven't told us if this is a genuine Win2K CD or not. I don't want to know if it worked before - I want to know if it's a copy.

[mrrobotto]

Originally posted by mlc
thanks.... I did use that same copy to install /upgrade once I had WIN98 up and running.. and it worked fine...

Sounds like he's using a copy of Win2000 to me.

[BipolarBill]

Yup - he's ducking the issue.

[mlc]

Bill... yes... running the same CD works for 98.. but not w2k..

...sorry if I gave you the impression that I was ducking the issue...I really wasn't.. Your last response was the first time it came up in the conversation..or so I thought...

Why would running a copy vs. original matter for W2K... ?
(yes it is a copy)

[mrrobotto]

It's illegal and you probably won't get much help on this forum if its an illegal copy. As it appears to be.

[BipolarBill]

That's right - thread closed.

The copy is not a true copy - it only has the file contents on it and not the boot image. It is not bootable. It's probably a poor copy too.