Microsoft KB Archive/221845

= Setup Does Not Check Free Disk Space Before Starting File Copy =

Article ID: 221845

Article Last Modified on 2/22/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition

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This article was previously published under Q221845



SYMPTOMS
When you are performing a fresh installation of Windows 2000 by running Winnt.exe, you may receive the following error message after you choose the installation partition:

The partition or unpartitioned space you selected is too small for Windows 2000. Select a partition or unpartitioned space of at least  megabytes.



CAUSE
When you run Winnt.exe, Setup does not know on which partition the %SystemRoot% folder will be placed before the file-copy phase in text-mode Setup. If you then choose a partition that does not contain enough free space, you receive the error message listed above.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, increase the amount of disk space used for the installation partition, or install Windows 2000 on a different partition.



STATUS
This behavior is by design.



MORE INFORMATION
During a "clean" installation of Windows 2000, the location of the %SystemRoot% folder is unknown until you are prompted for and supply the location. When you upgrade to Windows 2000, Setup (Winnt32.exe) does know the location of the %SystemRoot% folder and checks for adequate free space before the file-copy phase begins.

You can actually add additional drives during the reboot from Winnt32.exe into text-mode Setup. This is why there is a double set of algorithms to check free disk space in Winnt32.exe and text-mode Setup.

A "clean" installation of Windows means either installing Windows on a blank hard disk, or installing Windows in a folder other than the folder in which an existing version of Windows is installed.

Keywords: kbenv kbprb kbsetup KB221845

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