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Faster Startup For Windows 2000?


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As I said before, I think the system just can't find the files because the path isn't what it's expecting.

The path to the system files in the machine I took the files from would have been C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32.

Mine is D:\WIN-NT\SYSTEM32, as I said before.

I'd be interested in any further thoughts on this.

:)

The respective path to MY Windows files is : D:\WINNT\SYSTEM32 , very similar to what you have. And it boots as designed to, whether using the original Windows 2000 Pro SP4 ntdetect and ntldr, or the replacement files from XP SP2.

Please double check the contents of your C:\BOOT.INI file, esp. ARC paths in it. You should have a line similar to the following - but the rdisk(x) and partition(y) will vary according to your patitioning scheme, and you'll have WIN-NT instead of WINNT :

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect

HTH

[Edited] I realise your D: might be on a second physical drive, whereas my D: is a partition on the first physical IDE. I am quite sure however it shouldn't make a difference to the Windows NT bootloader, provided the correct BOOT.INI is present at the root of the partition from which BIOS boots the machine (which Microsoft, strangely, calls the "system partition". The partition which contains your WinNT files they call, also strangely, the "boot partition". IOW they have it in reverse... Need to keep this in mind when reading MS knowledge base articles)

Thanks Ninho.

I've tried with the files from Windows 2003 too, as per Ascii2's suggestion.

Same result as before.

In fact the ntdetect.com file is fine, it's the ntldr which is the problem.

I even tried editing ntldr with a hex editor and changed a "c:\winnt" entry that I found to "d:win-nt".

The system, wouldn't even start then, I just got "ntldr is corrupted, the system cannot start".

Thank heavens for Windows 98 DOS boot disks!

My boot ini is as follows -

[boot loader]

timeout=5

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WIN-NT

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WIN-NT="Windows 2000 Professional SP4" /fastdetect

C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Windows 2000 Recovery Console" /cmdcons

C:\="Windows 98 Second Edition"

Any clues there?

My D: drive is a partition on the same physical drive as my C: drive, where Windows 98 sits.

Is the fact that I have a dual boot system causing the problem I wonder.....?

Cheers, Dave.

:)

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My boot ini is as follows -

[boot loader]

timeout=5

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WIN-NT

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WIN-NT="Windows 2000 Professional SP4" /fastdetect

C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Windows 2000 Recovery Console" /cmdcons

C:\="Windows 98 Second Edition"

Any clues there?

Can't see anything wrong, it should be working !

Still you'll want to check that your WinNT partition is indeed where the boot.ini says it is, viz a primary partition described by the second physical slot in the MBR. For this check use any HEX viewer, or a competent partition-and-boot-manager (I like Ranish's).

My D: drive is a partition on the same physical drive as my C: drive, where Windows 98 sits.

Is the fact that I have a dual boot system causing the problem I wonder.....?

Nope it isn't. Using the Win 2k or XP boot files, my system is able to quad boot Linux, DOS, Win 98 and Win 2k.

Good luck !

--

N.

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Sorry for the delay in responding ninho.

I have now checked the partitions on my system disk, which contains drives C: and D:.

D: is the Windows 2000 partition.

C: is an active primary DOS partition.

D: is a logical DOS drive within an extended DOS partition on the same disk.

So D: not a primary partition.

I believe IIRC that you can only have one primary partition on a disk.

Is that the problem?

:)

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D: is the Windows 2000 partition.

C: is an active primary DOS partition.

D: is a logical DOS drive within an extended DOS partition on the same disk.

So D: not a primary partition.

I believe IIRC that you can only have one primary partition on a disk.

You /can/ have several primaries - partitionning tools offered as part of Microsoft OSes won't let you create

such configurations, but the OSes can work with such configurations.

Conversely, you can have only one primary extended partition, which in turn should contain only one

logical, and optionally one extended, and so on.

Concerning your problem, I would check the validity of the line in your boot.ini :

"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WIN-NT="Windows 2000 Professional SP4" /fastdetect"

Open the logical disk management console (diskmgmt.msc) and check that the OS partition is indeed number 2

as reported by Windows.

--

Ninho

Edited by Ninho
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You /can/ have several primaries - partitionning tools offered as part of Microsoft OSes won't let you create

such configurations, but the OSes can work with such configurations.

Conversely, you can have only one primary extended partition, which in turn should contain only one

logical, and optionally one extended, and so on.

Concerning your problem, I would check the validity of the line in your boot.ini :

"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WIN-NT="Windows 2000 Professional SP4" /fastdetect"

Open the logical disk management console (diskmgmt.msc) and check that the OS partition is indeed number 2

as reported by Windows.

Thanks again Ninho!

This is what my disk management looks like.

Does it seem OK?

I'm not sure how you determine whether a partition is "number 2" or not.

The D: drive is certainly listed after the C: drive on disk 0, but does that make it number 2 or number 1 (C: being 0)?

Thanks again for all your help.

Dave.

:)

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It makes it number 2, because C is not 0, it's 1.

In the strange world of ARC syntax used in BOOT.INI:

multi(X), disk(0), rdisk(Y) & partition(Z)

X and Y begin at 0, but Z begins at 1

if the first word is "multi" then "disk" is always disk(0)

So, multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1) is the first partition of the first physical disk on the first disk controller.

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Meados I've sent you a PM with links to my Windows 2003 startup files.

I just wish they worked for me!

:no:

Jacobmax, thanks for the feedback.

Are you saying that the entries in my boot.ini file do match my drive configuration?

If so, we still don't know why these newer startup files won't work on my system.

Ninho?

:)

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Meados I've sent you a PM with links to my Windows 2003 startup files.

I just wish they worked for me!

:no:

They work like a charm for me! And my language of windows is different.

It runs more faster than Windows XP ones. Seems my Windows 2000 startup is with same speed of Windows XP startup, or at least its very close. (I will do time count to see the perfomance of both boottimes)

I also tried to bot Windows XP with windows 2003 files, but I didn't noted any difference.

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Are you saying that the entries in my boot.ini file do match my drive configuration?

Yes, to me it seems fine. Remembering that, according to Microsoft:

Your boot files are on your system volume -- and

Your system files are on your boot volume

then you have NTLDR+NTDETECT.COM+BOOT.INI on C:

and you have your Windows 2000 system on D:\WIN-NT

according to my reading of both your screenshot and your BOOT.INI.

Your screenshot also shows C: as a primary partition and D: as a logical partition which fully occupies an extended partition (See the green border around it in the screenshot.)

I have been following this thread with a view to trying this myself, so I am *very* interested in what makes this work and what doesn't.

The only thing I can think of is that your D: being in a logical partition, is in a slightly different place than if it were a primary partition. The two used to be exactly 63 sectors different when disks were a lot smaller and everything was ruled by CHS (Cylinder-Head-Sector) geometry.

Microsoft used to advise against multiple primary partions that were readable by DOS because (IIRC) it led to DOS confusion and possible data loss. On the other hand Windows 2000 is perfectly happy with more than one Win-readable primary partition (and I've done it).

The Win2000 NTLDR is parsing the MBR, finding the extended partition and then following the partition "chain" down the disk until it finds the logical partition. Is it possible that the WinXP NTLDR no longer does this? In other words does the WinXP NTLDR require both system volume AND boot volume to be primary partitions?

That would account for the Win2000 NTLDR working and the WinXP NTLDR not. Does anyone else know for sure?

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Ok where's my test of speed of booting.

It's in same machine. However Windows XP is almost a clean install and Windows 2000 e full of programs.. About 76 in start menu.. (I don't believe that thsi affect boot time, but it's for you know)

Windows 2000

W/ XP

40 s

Windows XP

20 s

Windows 2000

W/ 2003

38 s

Windows XP

W/ 2003

20 s

So seems its about 2 seconds more fast booting Windows 2000 with Windows 2003 files. Windows XP with windows 2003 files I didn't noticed any difference. :|

I don't have the original Windows 2000 files, so if someone want to send them to me, so I can test the speed with normal booting to compare with Windows 2003 and XP version would be nice.

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I don't have the original Windows 2000 files, so if someone want to send them to me, so I can test the speed with normal booting to compare with Windows 2003 and XP version would be nice.
I have attached an archive with the original ntldr and NTDETECT.COM files from a Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 4 installation. Edited by Yzöwl
Attachment Removed, (non-reditributable files)
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Ok, I have tried with original ones of Ascii2 wheres the results:

Windows 2000

Original Files

42 s

Windows XP

W/ 2000

Didn't boot

Final Results:

Windows 2000

Original Files

42 s

Windows XP

W/ 2000

Didn't boot

Windows 2000

W/ XP

40 s

Windows XP

20 s

Windows 2000

W/ 2003

38 s

Windows XP

W/ 2003

20 s

Please not that this can have some inaccuracy.

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