When you run WINNT or WINNT32, a WINNT.SIF file is created and placed on
disk two of the three boot floppy disk set. WINNT.SIF is not supplied with
the disk-set package of Windows NT and not created when you
run WINNT /OX.
WINNT.SIF is a text file containing the following:
[Data]
MsDosInitiated = 1
WINNT.SIF instructs Windows NT Setup to look for installation files in
a temporary directory on the hard disk instead of a CD-ROM. If it does not
exist, Setup looks for installation files in either the CD-ROM or floppy
disk drive.
If you try to use WINNT or WINNT32-created floppy disks to install Windows
NT from a CD-ROM, one of the following error message appears:
Setup was unable to locate the hard drive partition prepared
by the MS-DOS portion of Setup.
Setup is unable to locate the hard drive partition prepared
by the MS-DOS portion of Setup.
You can change source file direction of the WINNT or WINNT32-created
floppy disks to be like the CD-ROM installation floppy disks by changing
the entry in the WINNT.SIF file above to "MsDosInitiated = 0" (without the
quotes) or by deleting the file. Similarly, you can modify the CD-ROM
installation floppy disk to act like the WINNT or WINNT32-created floppy
disk by creating and adding the WINNT.SIF file.