How To Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows (301680)

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article describes how to create a boot disk for Microsoft Windows NT or Microsoft Windows 2000 to access a drive with a faulty boot sequence on an Intel-based computer.

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Requirements

• A blank floppy disk
• The Windows 2000 or Windows NT CD-ROM or an operational Windows 2000 or Windows NT-based computer

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Creating a Boot Floppy Disk

The specific procedure varies depending a whether you have access to a Windows NT-based computer.

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Creating a Boot Floppy with a Windows NT Computer

In this procedure, you will create a boot floppy by using a Windows NT-based computer.

1. Format a floppy disk by using the Windows NT format utility. For example, at the command prompt type:

   format a:

2. Copy the Ntldr file from the Windows NT Setup CD-ROM, Windows NT Setup floppy disk, or from a computer that is running the same version of Windows NT as the computer that you want to access with the boot floppy. You may need to expand this file from Ntldr._ to Ntldr by using the following command line:

   expand Ntldr._ Ntldr

3. Copy the Ntdetect.com file to the disk.
4. Create a Boot.ini file or copy one from a computer that is running Windows NT and modify it to match the computer that you are trying to access. The following example will work for a single partition SCSI drive with Windows NT installed under \WINNT, but the exact value in the [operating systems] section depends on the configuration of the Windows NT computer that you are trying to access:

   [boot loader]
   timeout=30
   Default= scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\winnt
   
   [operating systems]
   scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\winnt="Windows NT"

   If your computer starts from an IDE, EIDE, or ESDI hard drive, replace the scsi(0) with multi(0). If you are using scsi(x) in the Boot.ini, copy the correct device driver for the SCSI controller in use on the computer and rename it NTBOOTDD.SYS. If you are using multi(x) in the Boot.ini, you do not need to do this.
5. Start your computer by using the floppy disk, and then log on to Windows NT.

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Creating a Boot Floppy Without a Windows NT-Based Computer

In this procedure, you will create a boot floppy without using a Windows NT-based computer.

1. Create a copy of the first Windows NT Setup disk by using the diskcopy command, and then delete all files on the new disk.
2. Copy the Ntdetect.com and Ntldr files from the i386 folder on the CD-ROM to the new disk.
3. Rename the Ntldr file to

   Setupldr.bin

4. Create a Boot.ini file. The following example works for a single partition SCSI drive with Windows NT installed under \WINNT, but the exact value in the [operating systems] section depends on the configuration of the Windows NT computer that you want to boot:

   [boot loader]
   timeout=30
   Default= scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\winnt
   
   [operating systems]
   scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\winnt="Windows NT"

   If your computer boots from an IDE, EIDE, or ESDI hard drive, replace the scsi(0) with multi(0). If you are using scsi(x) in the Boot.ini, copy the correct device driver for the SCSI controller in use on the computer, and then rename it Ntbootdd.sys. If you are using multi(x) in the Boot.ini, you do not need to do this.
5. Start your computer by using the floppy disk, and then log on to Windows NT.

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Troubleshooting

If the path pointing to the system files is incorrect or includes the drive letter, you may receive the following error message: If an incorrect SCSI driver has been selected or the Ntbootdd.sys file does not exist, you may receive the following error message: back to the top

REFERENCES

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top