Changing the Default Installation Drive Using Unattended Setup

 Last reviewed: February 4, 1998
Article ID: Q153768
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.50, 3.51, and 4.0
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.50, 3.51, and 4.0

SUMMARY

By default, unattended setup installs Windows NT to drive C (the first partition on the first drive in the system). In some cases, you may want to separate the Windows NT boot partition (the partition where the operating system files are located) from the system partition (the partition where Boot.ini, Ntdetect.com, and NTLDR reside).

MORE INFORMATION

You can use a Winnt.exe feature to separate the boot partition from system partition. This feature is unrelated to unattended setup. The /T: option is used to specify the location where the $Win_nt$.~ls directory will be placed during setup when Winnt.exe is used. The /T: option defaults to drive C.

Example:

On a single drive divided into two partitions, both partitions are formatted FAT to create a drive C and a drive D. The source for I386 is on a server and has a mapped driver letter of X: 

   x:\winnt /b /t:d: /s:x:\ /u:x:\unattend.txt
After the first reboot, if you stop the installation and go to MS-DOS, you will see that the $Win_nt$.~bt directory is on drive C and the $Win_nt$.~ls is on drive D. During the GUI portion of setup, you will notice that files are copied to their appropriate directories on drive D not drive C.

Additional query words: 4.00
Keywords : ntdriver ntreskit ntsetup kbsetup kbfaq
Version : 3.50 3.51 4.0
Platform : winnt

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Last reviewed: February 4, 1998
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