Topic: NT Setup Thread: NT Boot Floppy HOWTO    (5 Msgs)
          Date: Sep 24 1996 1:49PM   Author: mark tilles
      I created bootable floppy which contains the NT boot loader - a handy item to ha
    I created bootable floppy which contains the NT boot loader - a handy item to have. Let others know about my tip, but please include these full instructions.

    This disk comes in handy when you want to change the boot drive on multiple disk dystems, reload OS's, or just in case (god-forbid) someone accidentally wipes out the root directory of the boot partition. You'll be able to boot NT off this floppy in seconds and fix the problem later without the hassle of using the repair disks.

    What this also does for you is enables you to WIPE the boot partition entirely - which you couldn't otherwise do since there would be open files there (lastly make sure you move your paging file elsewhere than C: or this will not be true). How to make the disk:

    1) Using NT's command windows format a new floppy
    FORMAT A: /FS:FAT /V:BOOTNT /U

    This formats the floppy using the FAT filesystem, labels it "bootnt" and does the format unconditionally. Additional options can be placed on the command line (use format /? to see all options).

    2) Using the NT File Manager or Explorer, copy the hidden file C:\NTLDR onto the A: disk.

    3) Using the NT File Manager or Explorer, copy the hidden file C:\NTDETECT.COM onto the A: disk.

    3) Using the NT File Manager or Explorer, copy the hidden file C:\BOOT.INI onto the A: disk.

    The floppy should now be bootable. Note: NTLDR has to be the first file copied to disk or the boot process will fail.

    Additional notes:
    ----------------
    * The NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files from NT version 4.0 appear to boot the 3.51 operating system, but not visa-versa. If you are going to install 3.51 and 4.0 on the same computer you will either have to install 4.0 after 3.51, or have a backup floppy like this from your 4.0 system preprepared and tested before you install 3.51. Then all you have to do is boot 3.51 and replacethe files from the floppy over the ones on the hard disk from 3.51 (but not the newly changed boot.ini file - or you'll lose your entries for the new 3.51 OS!).

    * Keep your C:\BOOT.INI file on your floppy disk current else it will be useless (You'll need to recopy it to the floppy if you reinstall NT in a different partition or directory).

    Have fun - hope this helps out some folks.
    Mark Daniel Tilles
    StarQuest Software, Inc.
    mark.tilles@starquest.com
          Date: Oct 14 1996 7:45PM   Author: Michael R. Farrell
      The boot floppy is a neat trick, maybe it can help me. I want to move my WinN
    The boot floppy is a neat trick, maybe it can help me.

    I want to move my WinNT 4 installation from the primary partion on disk1 to a partition on disk0 (which is new and very fast) I have Win 95 in the primary partition on disk0 formatted fat16 and the existing WinNT partition is NTFS. Can I move everything without re-installing and restoring from tape??
    Should I format the target partition fat16 and then convert to NTFS, or should I format NTFS in the first place??
    Thanks again for the tip!!

    Mike Farrell
    Farrell Technologies
    mfarrell@villagenet.com
    
     Date: Oct 4 1996 5:53AM   Author: D.Mikulin
      Does anyone know just how safe making this boot floppy is? I ask because the AB
    Does anyone know just how safe making this boot floppy is?
    I ask because the ABSOLUTE OFFICIAL word from Microsoft is that NT is NOT BOOTABLE FROM FLOPPY!
    Why keep useful things like this secret?
    Does a NT boot floppy circumnavigate all NT security?
    How many other useful features are built in and hidden?
    
     Date: Oct 6 1996 1:43PM   Author: M.Ebeling
      NTLDR, NTDETECT and BOOT.INI are only startup files, when you look into boot.ini
    NTLDR, NTDETECT and BOOT.INI are only startup files, when you look into boot.ini, you'll see that the path points to the NT dir..The next thing executed from _hdd_ is NTOSKRNL and that's - officially or not - the most important part of an OS...

    ;-)
    
     Date: Dec 28 1997 8:25AM   Author: Scott Hogan
      Re: The boot floppy is a neat trick, maybe it can help me.
    You can edit the boot.ini to reflect a new location for the winnt directory. The draw back is all the pointers for exsisting applications currently installed will not reflect the change. I have heard of other problems associated with the change although I have not experienced any other issues other than application related.