   Need help with installing Windows 2000
  I've recently repartitioned my hard drive into C:(50%) and D:(50%), and removed a Windows XP Home installation.  My Windows 98 boot floppy doesn't even get noticed (it'll say "Searching for Boot Record on Floppy...OK", then do nothing), so I had to use a Windows ME boot floppy in order to use FDISK and FORMAT.  After this, I tried to install Windows 2000 from the CD at the DOS prompt, but got the message that "Setup could not install Windows Boot Loader" and setup(winnt.exe) exits from there.  So I installed Windows 98SE and tried to use the upgrade option(winnt32.exe), but setup then says that the version of Windows installed could not be detected, and setup exits again.How am I supposed to install Windows 2000 on this computer if both setup programs fail, and what exactly is the problem?  I suspect that the version of DOS that seems to be on my hard drive and that which the Windows 2000 installation needs are different, but I don't know how to confirm that.   
  If you just boot the Windows 2000 CD and go through the installation process, there's a section to partition and format your disk. You don't have to do that from DOS yourself.   ;  Prototype:Could you explain how to do this in detail, or is it something I should easily be able to figure out?  Do you mean to boot directly from the CD-ROM drive instead of the floppy drive?Also, like I said, the installation doesn't go that far.  It basically does 3 things: 1)asks for the directory where the windows 2000 files are, 2)says that SmartDrive is not enabled on the computer, and 3)quits setup after saying that setup could not install Windows Boot Loader.   ;DBAN and then install   ;Quote:Original post by MaegaDBANI'm not sure if that is exactly necessary if you are going to partition & format the drive anyway, unless you really want to wipe out all data (sometin' to hide? [evil]).Anyway, make sure to set your BIOS to boot from the CD first. Usually you press F2 or some other key displayed on the screen at power-on which takes you to the BIOS menu. Find the boot order and change it and then reboot with the CD in.Hope this helps.   ;  DBAN didn't really help.  It still says that "Setup could not install Windows Boot Loader".  I don't know why (setup doesn't say), or where I might be able to find the Boot Loader elsewhere.  Strangely enough, when I try to setup Windows 98SE, setup tells me that:-1) it detects some kind of disk compression software (how is this when I used FDISK with FAT32/Large Drive support enabled?)-2) scandisk only works with MS-DOS 5.0 and above (so the version I have now must be under 5.0, but was not when I installed Win98SE then upgraded to WinXP 4 years ago?).Also, note that the Windows 98 Boot Floppy goes undetected, or if I let the system detect the Windows ME boot floppy and switch it for the Win98 disk, I get 'Incorrect MS-DOS version' upon trying to run any command.I tried to let the CD-ROM boot first, but I have Win2000 on a CD-RW and my drive has a hard time reading those.  I'll either switch CD drives or burn to a CD-R, and try again later.   ;  Try WipeMBR. I got this from a different forum with a google search:Create a bootdisk with DEBUG.EXE on it, and the following text file(wipembr.dbg):RAX 0301 RBX 1000 RCX 1 RDX 80 F100 L200 0 A INT13 INT3 G Make sure the whiteline is just a carriage return. Boot from the disk, and call debug < wipembr.dbgFrom what I've read, it should take a few seconds to execute, and after that, you can reboot and try installing again. Also, try fdisk /mbr and remove ALL partitions and use the Windows setup to repartition your disk. Now that I think of it: The problem is probably your partitions itself. Windows XP uses NTFS x.1, where Windows 2000 uses NTFS x.0. (I think it's x = 5) The Windows 2000 then tries to write to a partition format it doesn't recognize and flips out. So, my suggestion is that you kill off the partitions and start over from scratch.Disclaimer: Following the above advice is at your own risk. If your disk breaks, your computer explodes and causes a 2nd Chernobyl: I'm not liable.Toolmaker   ;  Also note that the Windows 2000 has a utility on it for creating 4 setup boot floppies. Installing Windows 2000 from DOS is a bad plan.Of course, the Windows 2000 installation prompts you to setup partitions/reformat your drive at the start, so there's no need to use DOS at all.   ;Quote:Original post by PrototypeQuote:Original post by MaegaDBANI'm not sure if that is exactly necessary if you are going to partition & format the drive anyway, unless you really want to wipe out all data (sometin' to hide? [evil]).I suggested it because it wipes the partition table and MBR out completely. That would make sure the problem wasn't a NTFS related problem.   