Microsoft KB Archive/304895

= Computer Dual-Boots Between Two Windows 2000 Installations Despite a &quot;Fresh Copy&quot; Installation =

Article ID: 304895

Article Last Modified on 10/30/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition

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This article was previously published under Q304895



SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to replace an existing installation of Windows 2000 with a new, &quot;clean&quot; installation, if you start the new installation within the existing installation and select the Install a fresh copy option, you may find that you are dual-booting between the existing installation and the new installation after Setup finishes.



CAUSE
This behavior occurs any time a new installation of Windows 2000 is installed in a folder other than the folder that contains the existing installation.

For example, if the existing installation of Windows 2000 is in the \%SystemRoot%\Windows folder and the new installation is in the \%SystemRoot%\Winnt folder, you can dual-boot between the two copies of Windows 2000.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this behavior, manually remove the dual-boot configuration and the existing installation. The following example shows how to make these changes. The example assumes that the existing installation is in the \%SystemRoot%\Windows folder and that the new installation is in the \%SystemRoot%\Winnt folder.  Start a text editor, and then open the Boot.ini file, which is in the root directory.  Edit the file:  Remove the line that contains the \Windows folder. Set the timeout to zero (0). Make sure that the default= line in the [boot loader] section ends with \WINNT.

For example, the Boot.ini file may look like this: <pre class="fixed_text">  [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT

[operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT=&quot;Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional&quot; /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows=&quot;Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional&quot; /fastdetect Edit the Boot.ini file so it looks like this: <pre class="fixed_text">  [boot loader] timeout=0 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT

[operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT=&quot;Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional&quot; /fastdetect </li> Save and then close the file. You might need to remove the read-only attribute for the file in order to be able to save it. The option to start in the old installation is now gone.</li> In Windows Explorer, make sure that no personal files remain in the \%SystemRoot%\Windows folder.</li> Right-click the \%SystemRoot%\Windows folder, and then click Delete to delete the folder.</li></ol>

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MORE INFORMATION
Typically, this behavior occurs because the existing installation of Windows 2000 was an upgrade from Microsoft Windows 98 and you did not specify installing Windows 2000 in a \%SystemRoot%\Winnt folder. Setup therefore installed Windows 2000 in the same folder where Windows 98 was installed, which is the \%SystemRoot%\Windows folder.

When you now run Setup again for a new installation of Windows 2000, there is no \%SystemRoot%\Winnt folder. Setup creates a \%SystemRoot%\Winnt folder and installs the new copy of Windows 2000 there, without touching the existing installation.

Keywords: kbenv kbprb kbsetup KB304895

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