Missing boot.ini

[Claude]

On a few systems I keep getting an Error message about a bad or Missing
boot.ini file. I keep on "rebuilding the file but it keeps on disapearing.

Any idea as to what may be causing this to happen?

Thanks,
Claude

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Claude.

Maybe you are looking in the wrong place. Or ntldr is looking in the wrong
place.

I know nothing of networks or servers, but in Win2K/XP Pro, boot.ini MUST be
in the root of the System Partition - almost always C:\boot.ini. There may
be other copies scattered around the HD, but only the one in C:\ counts.

When the computer starts booting, all it knows is to read the boot sector of
the first primary partition on the first HD it finds. The boot sector loads
ntldr from the only place it knows to look: the root of that first
partition. Ntldr finds boot.ini and ntdetect.com in that same partition.
It uses the information in boot.ini to locate the rest of Windows, then,
normally, nothing ever touches boot.ini again until the next reboot.

Nothing should be messing with boot.ini. In fact, except for our own
maintenance efforts, nothing should even be looking for boot.ini after
Windows loads.

What program or boot loading step is producing this error in your case?

RC

 

[Claude]

Hi R.C.,

It simply gives me that error as part of the booting sequence; then it tells
me it will somehow use the default values and there it goes....it works
anyway (windows loads properly without giving any trouble) but the message
bothers the user...and myself!

What is particular about this PC, and a few others on the network, is that a
1 GB FAT partition was used as the boot partition (drive C while the rest
of the OS was installed on a NTFS partition (drive D occupying the
remainder of the disk space.

I am using Windows 2000 Pro patched with SP3 and all the pre-sp4 fixes.

Claude

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Claude.

By "default values", I would guess that it looks in the System Partition,
making an often-correct assumption that the Boot Folder is also in Drive C:,
making C: both the System Partition and the Boot Volume. This is a very
common arrangement, especially for newbies and on new computers with Windows
preinstalled.

It should not matter that the System Partition is only 1 GB or that it is
formatted FAT. My own computer has - for legacy reasons - a 715 MB System
Partition formatted FAT(16). My main Boot Volume is Drive D:, a logical
drive in the extended partition on my first HD; it's formatted NTFS.

What probably DOES matter is that 1 GB is too small for all of Win2K to fit.
So, when Win2K was installed, it probably was installed in Drive D:.
Therefore, the "default values" are NOT correct for that computer.

Note Microsoft's counter-intuitive terminology: We "boot" from the "System
Partition". The operating system files are kept in the "boot folder"
(\Windows, by default, except in WinNT and Win2K, when it defaults to
\WinNT) on the "boot volume". The only files required to be in the System
Partition are ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini, plus the boot sector, which
is not a file. All the rest of Win2K will be in the \WinNT folder, which
can be on any volume (primary partition or logical drive in the extended
partition) on any HD in the computer.

Can you find and read the file C:\boot.ini? It is a simple text file, but
it should be Hidden, and also perhaps System and Read-only. Boot.ini holds
the location of the boot folder, but it refers to disk volumes by physical
disk number and partition number, not by drive letter. The important
parameters usually are rdisk(#)partition(#); rdisk(#) is the HD number,
starting with zero and partition(#) is the volume number, starting with one
on each HD. What does your boot.ini say? Can you post a copy here?

RC

 

[R. C. White]

Silly me - typo in the first line: D:\WINNT, of course. :^{

RC

Hi, Claude.

That boot.ini should be loading Win2K from C:\WINNT, as I'm sure you know -
the second partition on the first physical drive.

I have no idea what could be occasionally deleting C:\boot.ini from your
computer. And I don't know how ntldr finds D:\WINNT without C:\boot.ini to
point the way. I have no idea how ntldr reacts without C:\boot.ini; perhaps
it searches on its own for ntoskrnl.exe. As I said earlier, I know nothing
of networks, so perhaps the answer is somewhere in there.

Please let us all know when you find the explanation.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP

Hi R.C.,

Here's the content of the Boot.ini I use.

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

The C: drive does contain only the files you mentionned however the
"problem" lies in the fact that something seem to get rid of the Boot.ini
file once in a while and I have no idea as to what it could be...I know it's
not a virus that does it because the antivirus installed on it is updated
regularly (checks hourly for update) and a local scan is performed once a
week.

Even when the boot.ini is not there, the system will boot and work
perfectly...only it gives me that error message to the effect that it could
not find it (bad or missing boot.ini....). I put a new boot.ini in
place...that gets rid of the message and a few days/weeks later...here

we

go
again..!!!???

Have you seen "Ground Hog Days" with Bill Murray...well, that's how it makes
me feel!

Claude

Drive
C:, to
fit. with
one is
that