Windows NT Startup Floppy Disk

You must format your Windows NT startup floppy disk when you are running Windows NT. You can use My Computer to format the floppy disk, or enter format a: at the command prompt. Both of these utilities copy the Windows NT Partition Boot Sector, which is required to load the Windows NT boot loader, to the floppy disk. Windows NT Help describes the procedure for formatting a floppy disk by using My Computer.

You can use the Windows NT startup floppy disk to start Windows NT in the following circumstances:

Note

On x86-based computers, if the Partition Table in the Master Boot Record has been corrupted, especially if the information for the system partition or boot partition is all zeroes, you might not be able to start up by using the Windows NT startup floppy disk. If you have a current backup of the Master Boot Record, try starting MS-DOS from the MS-DOS bootable floppy disk, and use the DiskSave program to replace the Master Boot Record.

The files that you need to copy to the floppy disk normally have the Read Only, System, and Hidden attributes set. If the files have either the System or Hidden attribute set, they are not visible. You need to make the files visible before you can copy them.

To copy files to the Windows NT startup floppy disk

1. Using My Computer or Windows NT Explorer, on the View menu, click Options.

2. On the View tab, select Show all files. Click OK.

3. Click the filename of the file to be copied.

4. On the File menu, click Properties.

5. In the Attributes box of the General tab, clear the Read Only, System, and Hidden check boxes, and click OK.

Do steps 3, 4, and 5 for each file that you want to copy.

6. Select the files, and then copy them to the floppy disk.

Files to Copy for an x86-based Computer

Copy the following files from the root folder of your system partition to the floppy disk you just formatted:

The Ntbootdd.sys file is a renamed copy of the SCSI device driver used on your Windows NT computer. For example, if you are using the Adaptec 1542B SCSI controller, copy Aha154x.sys to the floppy disk, and then rename it to Ntbootdd.sys. If Windows NT Setup created an Ntbootdd.sys in your root folder, just copy that file.

You can find the device driver name by:

Creating Alternate Boot Selections for an x86-based Computer

For Windows NT Workstation, you should not have to create alternate boot selections in your Boot.ini file. You might want to have other paths when you are reconfiguring disks. For instance, if you currently have a SCSI disk (with SCSI ID 0) and are adding an IDE disk to your configuration, the IDE disk must be the first one. If your SCSI disk has the BIOS enabled, and the boot partition is


multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Winnt="Windows NT Workstation Version 4.0"

you should disable the BIOS on the SCSI controller and add a second entry of:


scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Winnt="Windows NT Workstation Version 4.0 SCSI disk"

Note

If you had translation enabled when you low-level formatted the SCSI disk, you will not be able to access the disk after you disable the BIOS on the controller.

This second entry enables you to start Windows NT from the SCSI disk to use Disk Administrator to partition and format the IDE disk.

You might also want to create alternate boot selections for debugging purposes. In this case, you can add other entries to the Boot.ini file and append switches to the pathname, such as: 


multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Winnt="Windows NT Workstation Version 4.0" /sos /DEBUG

For more information about the switches, see:

The section "Understanding ARC Pathnames," presented earlier in this chapter, contains more information about the pathnames on the Boot.ini file.

Note

The Boot.ini file has the Read Only attribute set by default. Remove this attribute before editing the file. Restoring the attribute is optional. Windows NT Setup sets the attribute to prevent accidental deletion.

Files to Copy for a RISC-based Computer

When you install Windows NT on a RISC-based computer, it creates a folder, such as \Os\Winnt40, that contains the Osloader.exe and Hal.dll files. On Alpha AXP–based computers, this folder also contains several files with the .pal extension. Some or all of these files might have the system, hidden, or read-only attributes set.

A Windows NT startup floppy disk for a RISC-based computer should have a folder tree identical to the RISC-based system partition. Therefore, you should create the \Os\Winnt40 folder on the floppy disk.

Copy the following files from the \Os\Winnt40 folder on your hard disk to the same folder on the floppy disk:

Creating Alternate Boot Selections for a RISC-based Computer

RISC-based computers start from the system firmware. You should define a boot selection in the NVRAM that points to a Windows NT startup floppy disk. You only need to use the Windows NT startup floppy disk if there is a problem with the system partition (the partition with OSLOADER). If you do not create a path to the floppy disk ahead of time, and you cannot access the system partition, you will have to create a path to the Windows NT startup floppy disk to be able to start the computer.

For more information about firmware menus, see "Using a RISC-based Computer's Boot Menu" in Chapter 19, "What Happens When You Start Your Computer."

Note

There are three types of RISC-based computers: Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC. The examples in this section are for an Alpha AXP–based computer. The firmware menus that you use to get to the configuration options can be different for MIPS and PowerPC computers.

Creating a Path to the Windows NT Startup Floppy Disk

Once you have created the Windows NT startup floppy disk, you need to create the path to it by using the Add a boot selection menu. These are the steps to get to that menu:

1. Start the computer. You see the Boot menu.

2. On the Boot menu, click Supplementary menu.

3. On the Supplementary menu, click Setup the system.

4. On the Setup menu, click Manage boot selection menu.

5. On the Boot selections menu, click Add a boot selection.

The following example shows creating a path to the Windows NT startup floppy disk. Be sure that the path to the Osloader.exe on the Windows NT startup floppy disk matches the path to Osloader.exe on the hard disk.

Note

The right justified arrows (<----) in these examples indicate which selection was made, or the information that was entered.


                                    Thursday, 03-07-96   11:18:43 AM

Select a system partition for this boot selection:
        SCSI Bus 0 Hard Disk 0 Partition 1
        New system partition  <-----------------------------------------

Enter location of system partition for this boot selection:
        Select Media:
    SCSI Hard Disk
    Floppy Disk  <------------------------------------------------------
    CD-ROM

        Enter floppy drive number: 0  <---------------------------------

Enter the osloader directory and name: \os\winnt40\osloader.exe <-------

Is the operating system in the same partition as the osloader:
        Yes
        No <------------------------------------------------------------

Enter the location of os partition:
        Select Media:
    SCSI Hard Disk  <---------------------------------------------------
    Floppy Disk
    CD-ROM

        Enter SCSI bus number: 0  <-------------------------------------
        Enter SCSI ID: 2          <-------------------------------------
        Enter Partition: 2        <-------------------------------------

Enter the operating system root directory: \winnt40          <----------
Enter a name for this boot selection: start from floppy disk  <---------
Do you want to initialize the debugger at boot time:
        Yes
        No  <-----------------------------------------------------------

Note

The location of the operating system root folder and the values that you enter for the path to the partition on the SCSI disk depend on your system configuration. The SCSI bus number will usually be 0, but the SCSI ID can be anything from 0 to 6, although 2 is common.

After entering the data, you will be back at the Boot selections menu. Select Setup menu. On the Setup menu, select Supplementary menu, and save changes.

Using Alternate Boot Selections

When you have created alternate boot selections, you start an alternate one by selecting Boot an alternate operating system from the Boot menu. This example shows selecting the alternate operating system option.


ARC Multiboot Alpha AXP Version 3.5-11 
Copyright (c) 1993 Microsoft Corporation
Copyright (c) 1993 Digital Equipment Corporation

Boot Menu:

    Boot Windows NT Server Version 4.0
    Boot an alternate operating system  <-------------------------------
    Run a utility
    Supplementary menu. . .

Use the arrow keys to select, then press Enter.
Seconds until auto-boot. Select another option to override: 9

If you have added a boot selections for the Windows NT startup floppy disk, as described earlier in this section, and select Boot an alternate operating system, you would see a screen like the following.


ARC Multiboot Alpha AXP Version 3.5-11 
Copyright (c) 1993 Microsoft Corporation
Copyright (c) 1993 Digital Equipment Corporation

Boot Menu:

    start from floppy disk
    Boot Windows NT Workstation 4.0 (Default)

Use the arrow keys to select, then press Enter.

Each time you create a new boot selection, it becomes the default selection. The preceding example shows the menu if you added a path to the Windows NT startup floppy disk after you had installed Windows NT Workstation 4.0. You should use the Rearrange boot selections menu to change the default boot selection back to the hard disk. See the section titled "Using a RISC-based Computer's Boot Menu ," in Chapter 19, "What Happens When You Start Your Computer," for information about managing boot selections.