Windows 2000 May Use Signature() Syntax in the Boot.ini File

ID: Q227704

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

SUMMARY

After you install Windows 2000, you may notice that the Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) path entry in the Boot.ini file starts with "signature()" syntax. For example:

signature(8b467c12)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\winnt="description"

Signature() syntax is used only if one of the following conditions exists:

The partition on which you installed Windows 2000 is larger than ~7.8 gigabytes (GB) in size, or the ending cylinder number is higher than 1024 for that partition and the system BIOS or boot controller BIOS does not support INT13 extensions.

The drive on which you installed Windows 2000 is connected to a SCSI controller whose BIOS is disabled, so INT13 BIOS calls cannot be used during the boot process.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q242518 Long Pause During Windows 2000 Startup Process

MORE INFORMATION

The signature() syntax is equivalent to the scsi() syntax, but is used instead to support the Plug and Play architecture in Windows 2000. Because Windows 2000 is a Plug and Play operating system, the SCSI controller number instance may vary each time you start Windows 2000, especially if you add new SCSI controller hardware after Setup is finished.

Using the signature() syntax instructs Ntldr to locate the drive whose disk signature matches the value in the parentheses, no matter which SCSI controller number the drive is connected to.

The signature() value is extracted from the physical disk's Master Boot Record (MBR). This unique hexadecimal number is either written to the MBR during the Text-mode portion of Setup, or is written by an installation of Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0 or earlier.

NOTE: If the disk signature in the MBR gets overwritten (for example, by a virus) or changed (corrupted) so that it no longer matches the signature() value in the Boot.ini file, you receive the following error message when you start the computer:

Windows 2000 could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. Please check the Windows 2000 documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information.

If you receive this error message, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base to help resolve the problem:

Q119467 Creating a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition

Because the signature() syntax replaces the scsi() syntax, the same requirement applies in that a file named Ntbootdd.sys is required in the root folder of the system partition to address the SCSI controller at startup. This file is the specific SCSI miniport device driver for the SCSI adapter from which you are booting, renamed to Ntbootdd.sys and placed in the root folder of the system drive.

For additional information about ARC names in the Boot.ini file, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q102873 Boot.ini and ARC Path Naming Conventions and Usage

Additional query words: win2000hotsetup

Keywords : kbenv winboot
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo