HELP- Incorrect Dual-Boot MS Windows 2000 Pro/MS Windows

  • Thread starter Thread starter TC
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T

TC

Need some help. I was being a good samaritan, helping a friend who
was having some computer problems. Ultimately, we needed to reformat
her hard drive and reinstall her legal copy of Windows 2000 Pro.

After I reformatted the hard drive, I used a Windows 98 SE boot disk
from bootdisk.com to reinstall the system files onto the hard drive
(using the command "sys c:" at the DOS prompt), then installed the
Win2000Pro. After installing Win2000 Pro, however, after each reboot,
a screen comes up, asking the user to select the operating system to
start (options being Microsoft Windows 2000 Pro and Microsoft
Windows). Win2000 Pro is the default, and after selecting it the OS
installs flawlessly. If you select the MS Windows option, the screen
quickly flashes what looks like a Win98 splash screen, then ends out
at a DOS prompt.

I suspect that there may have been something associated with the SYS
files installed from the Win 98 SE boot disk that has caused this OS
selection screen to appear (and I'm not sure if I even needed to copy
the system files to the hard drive in the first place). It's a minor
annoyance for my friend each time she stars her computer, and I'd like
to remove it, if possible.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
 
I'm not sure how you installed it, but a dual boot system
is intend to have two logical drives, 98 on one drive and
2000 on the other. If they were installed on the same
drive, then it's probably a mangled installation. If so,
personally I would start over using the bootdisk files
located on the 2000 CD under the BOOTDISK folder.

If it doesn't matter and all you want to do is get rid of
the OS prompt, right click on My Computer, click on
Properties, click on Advanced, click on Startup and
Recovery. Then deselect "Display list of operating
systems." This simply edits the BOOT.INI file in the root
directory.

... Jim ..
 
You can do two things:

A. Right click My Computer/Properries/Advanced/Startup and
Recovery. Then change the Display for ... to 0 second.

B. You actually do not need the Win98SE boot disk to
install Win2K: Set boot sequence to boot first from CD in
BIOS, make sure the install CD is in the CD drive, and it
will install for you. You will be given an option to
delete/format any partition on your system, as well as a
fresh install or update (if you have win98, in which case
the message you are currently seeing will appear - due to
the hidden boot.ini file in the root directory.

Hope this helps.
 
TC said:
Need some help. I was being a good samaritan, helping a friend who
was having some computer problems. Ultimately, we needed to reformat
her hard drive and reinstall her legal copy of Windows 2000 Pro.

After I reformatted the hard drive, I used a Windows 98 SE boot disk
from bootdisk.com to reinstall the system files onto the hard drive
(using the command "sys c:" at the DOS prompt), then installed the
Win2000Pro. After installing Win2000 Pro, however, after each reboot,
a screen comes up, asking the user to select the operating system to
start (options being Microsoft Windows 2000 Pro and Microsoft
Windows). Win2000 Pro is the default, and after selecting it the OS
installs flawlessly. If you select the MS Windows option, the screen
quickly flashes what looks like a Win98 splash screen, then ends out
at a DOS prompt.

I suspect that there may have been something associated with the SYS
files installed from the Win 98 SE boot disk that has caused this OS
selection screen to appear (and I'm not sure if I even needed to copy
the system files to the hard drive in the first place). It's a minor
annoyance for my friend each time she stars her computer, and I'd like
to remove it, if possible.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

It is not clear from your post what you actually want on your friend's PC:

- A dual boot: Win2000 & Win98 (DOS prompt only)
- A dual boot: Win2000 & Win98 (full version)
- Win2000 only

Please clarify.
 
I know you can do it by editting the BOOT.INI file, but I am not sure what,
exactly, to do there. So, I will give you the easiest way.

Go into Control Panel, System, Advanced tab, then Startup and Recovery. The
first part says "System Startup". Make sure the default operating system is
correct, then uncheck 'Display List...". In theory the option would still
be available, it just won't ask you about it.
 
I would assume you just want to get rid of the screen asking which OS you'd
like to load.

When installing, all you really need to do is to boot the computer with the
boot disk, and then run the correct executable (generally winnt.exe) on the
2000 installation disk. By using the sys command, you actually install an
operating system, albeit the tiny win98 dos, it's now fully bootable at that
point. Because it had that (tiny) OS installed when you began installing
Win2K, 2K did the default dual-boot installation.

There's two ways to get rid of that screen you're talking about: Open up the
System applet (Control Panel->System) and in one of the tabs, there's
options about startup & recovery. Change the default operating system &
pause time to Win2K & 0 seconds, respectively. I'm trying to do this from
memory, as I'm currently on an XP machine with user policies so strict it
makes maximum security prisons seem lenient.

Or for more fun, you can pry open the hood & edit the boot.ini file. See
here for more details:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=311578
 
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