Sent: 12/17/2008
From: "Steve Jain [MVP]" <(email address - cut out)>
Message:On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:49:39 -0500, Grand_Poobah
<(email address - cut out)> wrote:
do you have a floppy disk in your host computer's drive?
--
Cheers,
Steve Jain, Virtual Machine MVP
http://vpc.essjae.com/
Show quoted text
>I have tried three times to get Win 2K installed on my VPC 2007 but
>every time I try, I am informed "NTLDR is missing" after formatting and
>copying over all the files to the VHD. I've installed the very same
>Win2K a while ago, but deleted the VHD and everything associated with it
>when I upgraded to VPC 2007 from 2004.
>
>It appears to install correctly, but every time it gets ready to restart
>it tells me to remove the "floppy" (I'm using a bootable CD instead),
>which I do, and then let it reboot. Right after that I'm told that
>NTLDR is missing.
>
>Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>
>GP
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: "Steve Jain [MVP]" <(email address - cut out)>
Message:On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:58:59 -0500, Grand_Poobah
<(email address - cut out)> wrote:
When you used it previously did you do a fresh install or an upgrade?
I'm wondering if the upgrade CD is expecting a bootable HD and
failing.
Have you tried making boot floppies and doing the install from there?
You don't actual floppies, just VFDs.
From another VM:
Insert the Windows 2000 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.
Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type drive:\bootdisk\makeboot a:, where drive is the
letter of your CD-ROM drive, and then press ENTER.
--
Cheers,
Steve Jain, Virtual Machine MVP
http://vpc.essjae.com/
Show quoted text
>--->
>> --->
>>> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:06:10 -0500, Grand_Poobah
>>> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>>>
>>>> --->
>>>>> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:32:20 -0500, Grand_Poobah
>>>>> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> --->
>>>>>>> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>>>>>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>>>>>>>>> Leave the CD in...
>>>>>>> <snip>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> In any case, I can't figure out why NTLDR is missing.
>>>>>>> 1) Delete the virtual machine
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 2) Create a new virtual machine
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 3) Install W2k from the CD
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yep. My current move right now. For some reason, though, it is
>>>>>> taking a whale of a long time to format 16G. Almost 10 minutes for
>>>>>> just 22% so far. My host is Win Vista Home Premium (32-bit) and I
>>>>>> already have a running Win98SE VPC on it that formatted and
>>>>>> installed just fine.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> GP
>>>>> You should *always* select the "Quick Format" option in that dialogue!
>>>>> Especially in a virtual disk it makes no sense actually going out and
>>>>> writing zeros on all these clusters! Takes an eternity to complete.
>>>>> And quite possibly the VHD will now expand to the full 16G size on
>>>>> your host too....
>>>>>
>>>> That's what I thought also Bo, but I never got the option. The line
>>>> just read "Format this partition as NTFS?" - no quick format option.
>>>> It did tell me that there was "an unidentified operating system
>>>> already on the disk" though. I am assuming that it was my prior
>>>> attempt at installing W2K. But if it was, I have to wonder why it
>>>> didn't recognize "itself".
>>>>
>>>> This is all wrong from what I remember about my first install on VPC
>>>> of W2K.
>>>>
>>>> The VHD doesn't appear to be expanding though - even though the
>>>> formatting is now up to 70% (after over an hour).
>>>>
>>> If I were you I'd close the guest immediately now and start over fresh
>>> by creating a new guest with a blank VHD in a new guest folder.
>>> Since you are going to install fresh anyway, why waste time on old
>>> data you are erasing anyway?
>>> If the disk is clean (fresh, never used) then the formatting usually
>>> is a very quick operation as far as I remember....
>>> I have installed at least half a dozen W2K guests if not more and I do
>>> not recollect any of the problems you have been reporting here....
>>>
>>
>> Yeah. Something is horribly wrong here - no apparent damage to the host
>> but something is just not right at all. I've installed about 4 W2K's as
>> far as I can remember and they went just fine - either live or VPC.
>>
>> GP
>
>OK. Started over with a completely new Vmachine. New VHD and all.
>Exactly the same as before. NTLDR is missing. But the formatting took
>only about a minute or so. Damn. This used to be easy.
>
>This is an official Microsoft Windows 2000 Profession Upgrade and I
>simply cannot get it to install. This very disk was used on an actual
>physical machine years ago. It asks me for my Win98 disk, which I feed
>it, and it approves of, and then goes ahead and tries to format/install.
> It copies over everything it needs TO install to the VHD and then
>tells me to reboot. I take everything out of every drive (physical) and
>make sure nothing is attached to the Virtual floppy/CD and let it reboot.
>
>"NTLDR is missing" is all it will tell me. Heck, I even tried to find
>NTLDR on the W2K CD - it's there, but compressed. Something is not
>letting it get put on the boot sector I guess. Don't know what, but I'm
>about to just give up here.
>
>GP
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
nope - nothing in either at the moment.
GP
Show quoted text
> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:49:39 -0500, Grand_Poobah
> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>
>> I have tried three times to get Win 2K installed on my VPC 2007 but
>> every time I try, I am informed "NTLDR is missing" after formatting and
>> copying over all the files to the VHD. I've installed the very same
>> Win2K a while ago, but deleted the VHD and everything associated with it
>> when I upgraded to VPC 2007 from 2004.
>>
>> It appears to install correctly, but every time it gets ready to restart
>> it tells me to remove the "floppy" (I'm using a bootable CD instead),
>> which I do, and then let it reboot. Right after that I'm told that
>> NTLDR is missing.
>>
>> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>>
>> GP
>
> do you have a floppy disk in your host computer's drive?
>
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
Well, that's what I tried just now. It went through all the "load
......." stuff, and then gave me the "you already have a system on drive
C - do you want to repair it"? I chose "Yes" and navigated my way down
to the repair console DOS prompt.
I used "FIXBOOT C:" as a command and it appeared to work properly (gave
me the completed OK bit).
Next time I rebooted, I got the NTLDR missing message.
I used a Win98SE boot floppy and ran FDISK. It tells me that drive 1 is
set Active so that can't be the problem. However, and this is strange,
from the DOS prompt I issue "DIR C:" I am told "Invalid Drive
Specification".
Now, I don't remember Win98 very well either, but it would seem to me
that if drive C is formatted properly (from the original Win2K install)
I should at least be able to see files. Oops, I formatted it NTFS -
that's the reason. Duh.
In any case, I can't figure out why NTLDR is missing.
GP
Show quoted text
> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
>> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>
> Leave the CD in...
>
>
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
Yep. My current move right now. For some reason, though, it is taking
a whale of a long time to format 16G. Almost 10 minutes for just 22% so
far. My host is Win Vista Home Premium (32-bit) and I already have a
running Win98SE VPC on it that formatted and installed just fine.
GP
Show quoted text
> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
>>>> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>>>
>>> Leave the CD in...
>
> <snip>
>
>> In any case, I can't figure out why NTLDR is missing.
>
> 1) Delete the virtual machine
>
> 2) Create a new virtual machine
>
> 3) Install W2k from the CD
>
>
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
That's what I thought also Bo, but I never got the option. The line
just read "Format this partition as NTFS?" - no quick format option. It
did tell me that there was "an unidentified operating system already on
the disk" though. I am assuming that it was my prior attempt at
installing W2K. But if it was, I have to wonder why it didn't recognize
"itself".
This is all wrong from what I remember about my first install on VPC of W2K.
The VHD doesn't appear to be expanding though - even though the
formatting is now up to 70% (after over an hour).
Gp
Show quoted text
> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:32:20 -0500, Grand_Poobah
> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>
>> --->
>>> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>
>>>>>> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>>>>> Leave the CD in...
>>> <snip>
>>>
>>>> In any case, I can't figure out why NTLDR is missing.
>>> 1) Delete the virtual machine
>>>
>>> 2) Create a new virtual machine
>>>
>>> 3) Install W2k from the CD
>>>
>>>
>> Yep. My current move right now. For some reason, though, it is taking
>> a whale of a long time to format 16G. Almost 10 minutes for just 22% so
>> far. My host is Win Vista Home Premium (32-bit) and I already have a
>> running Win98SE VPC on it that formatted and installed just fine.
>>
>> GP
>
> You should *always* select the "Quick Format" option in that dialogue!
> Especially in a virtual disk it makes no sense actually going out and
> writing zeros on all these clusters! Takes an eternity to complete.
> And quite possibly the VHD will now expand to the full 16G size on
> your host too....
>
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
You're right Mark, I did not delete the VHD, just tried to recycle it.
When the installer found the "unidentified" operating system (in \WINNT
of all places!) I just told it to completely reformat the entire drive.
If this doesn't work, then out goes the entire VHD and I will start over.
GP
Show quoted text
> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
>>>>> 1) Delete the virtual machine
>>>>>
>>>>> 2) Create a new virtual machine
>>>>>
>>>>> 3) Install W2k from the CD
>>>>>
>>>> Yep. My current move right now.
>
> It would seem not...
>
>>> You should *always* select the "Quick Format" option in that dialogue!
>>> Especially in a virtual disk it makes no sense actually going out and
>>> writing zeros on all these clusters! Takes an eternity to complete.
>>> And quite possibly the VHD will now expand to the full 16G size on
>>> your host too....
>
> I don't think it will do that...
>
>> It did tell me that there was "an unidentified operating system
>> already on the disk" though.
>
> Which of course you deleted, obviously...
>
>
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
Yeah. Something is horribly wrong here - no apparent damage to the host
but something is just not right at all. I've installed about 4 W2K's as
far as I can remember and they went just fine - either live or VPC.
GP
Show quoted text
> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:06:10 -0500, Grand_Poobah
> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>
>> --->
>>> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:32:20 -0500, Grand_Poobah
>>> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>>>
>>>> --->
>>>>> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>>>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>>>>>>> Leave the CD in...
>>>>> <snip>
>>>>>
>>>>>> In any case, I can't figure out why NTLDR is missing.
>>>>> 1) Delete the virtual machine
>>>>>
>>>>> 2) Create a new virtual machine
>>>>>
>>>>> 3) Install W2k from the CD
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Yep. My current move right now. For some reason, though, it is taking
>>>> a whale of a long time to format 16G. Almost 10 minutes for just 22% so
>>>> far. My host is Win Vista Home Premium (32-bit) and I already have a
>>>> running Win98SE VPC on it that formatted and installed just fine.
>>>>
>>>> GP
>>> You should *always* select the "Quick Format" option in that dialogue!
>>> Especially in a virtual disk it makes no sense actually going out and
>>> writing zeros on all these clusters! Takes an eternity to complete.
>>> And quite possibly the VHD will now expand to the full 16G size on
>>> your host too....
>>>
>> That's what I thought also Bo, but I never got the option. The line
>> just read "Format this partition as NTFS?" - no quick format option. It
>> did tell me that there was "an unidentified operating system already on
>> the disk" though. I am assuming that it was my prior attempt at
>> installing W2K. But if it was, I have to wonder why it didn't recognize
>> "itself".
>>
>> This is all wrong from what I remember about my first install on VPC of W2K.
>>
>> The VHD doesn't appear to be expanding though - even though the
>> formatting is now up to 70% (after over an hour).
>>
> If I were you I'd close the guest immediately now and start over fresh
> by creating a new guest with a blank VHD in a new guest folder.
> Since you are going to install fresh anyway, why waste time on old
> data you are erasing anyway?
> If the disk is clean (fresh, never used) then the formatting usually
> is a very quick operation as far as I remember....
> I have installed at least half a dozen W2K guests if not more and I do
> not recollect any of the problems you have been reporting here....
>
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
OK. Started over with a completely new Vmachine. New VHD and all.
Exactly the same as before. NTLDR is missing. But the formatting took
only about a minute or so. Damn. This used to be easy.
This is an official Microsoft Windows 2000 Profession Upgrade and I
simply cannot get it to install. This very disk was used on an actual
physical machine years ago. It asks me for my Win98 disk, which I feed
it, and it approves of, and then goes ahead and tries to format/install.
It copies over everything it needs TO install to the VHD and then
tells me to reboot. I take everything out of every drive (physical) and
make sure nothing is attached to the Virtual floppy/CD and let it reboot.
"NTLDR is missing" is all it will tell me. Heck, I even tried to find
NTLDR on the W2K CD - it's there, but compressed. Something is not
letting it get put on the boot sector I guess. Don't know what, but I'm
about to just give up here.
GP
Show quoted text
> --->
>> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:06:10 -0500, Grand_Poobah
>> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>>
>>> --->
>>>> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:32:20 -0500, Grand_Poobah
>>>> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> --->
>>>>>> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>>>>>>>> Leave the CD in...
>>>>>> <snip>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In any case, I can't figure out why NTLDR is missing.
>>>>>> 1) Delete the virtual machine
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 2) Create a new virtual machine
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 3) Install W2k from the CD
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> Yep. My current move right now. For some reason, though, it is
>>>>> taking a whale of a long time to format 16G. Almost 10 minutes for
>>>>> just 22% so far. My host is Win Vista Home Premium (32-bit) and I
>>>>> already have a running Win98SE VPC on it that formatted and
>>>>> installed just fine.
>>>>>
>>>>> GP
>>>> You should *always* select the "Quick Format" option in that dialogue!
>>>> Especially in a virtual disk it makes no sense actually going out and
>>>> writing zeros on all these clusters! Takes an eternity to complete.
>>>> And quite possibly the VHD will now expand to the full 16G size on
>>>> your host too....
>>>>
>>> That's what I thought also Bo, but I never got the option. The line
>>> just read "Format this partition as NTFS?" - no quick format option.
>>> It did tell me that there was "an unidentified operating system
>>> already on the disk" though. I am assuming that it was my prior
>>> attempt at installing W2K. But if it was, I have to wonder why it
>>> didn't recognize "itself".
>>>
>>> This is all wrong from what I remember about my first install on VPC
>>> of W2K.
>>>
>>> The VHD doesn't appear to be expanding though - even though the
>>> formatting is now up to 70% (after over an hour).
>>>
>> If I were you I'd close the guest immediately now and start over fresh
>> by creating a new guest with a blank VHD in a new guest folder.
>> Since you are going to install fresh anyway, why waste time on old
>> data you are erasing anyway?
>> If the disk is clean (fresh, never used) then the formatting usually
>> is a very quick operation as far as I remember....
>> I have installed at least half a dozen W2K guests if not more and I do
>> not recollect any of the problems you have been reporting here....
>>
>
> Yeah. Something is horribly wrong here - no apparent damage to the host
> but something is just not right at all. I've installed about 4 W2K's as
> far as I can remember and they went just fine - either live or VPC.
>
> GP
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
"Recycle" was probably a poor choice of words - I meant "reuse the old
VHD that originally screwed up". I understand it is just a file.
True. It doesn't delete the partition. But, since that time, I have
completely deleted the VHD and the VM. Starting over one last time. If
it doesn't do it this time I'll just drop the whole thing and take up
knitting.
GP
Show quoted text
> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
>> You're right Mark, I did not delete the VHD, just tried to recycle it.
>
> Can't understand that at all...It's just a file - what on earth is there
> to "recycle"...???
>
>> When the installer found the "unidentified" operating system (in
>> \WINNT of all places!) I just told it to completely reformat the
>> entire drive.
>
> Which doesn't, of course, actually delete the partition...
>
>
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
Ah, that may be the problem. Before, the first two installs were on
physical machines - it actually was an upgrade - with W98SE on the HD.
Now, I am working on a VM with a blank VHD. The W2K disk is an Upgrade
disk and this time it will ask to see my media that qualifies as a
legitimate reason for upgrading. I stick in my W98SE disk and the W2K
installer satisfies itself that this is actually an upgrade (even though
the HD is blank) and proceeds.
I'll try the bootdisk also. Thanks for that.
GP
Show quoted text
> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:58:59 -0500, Grand_Poobah
> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>
>> --->
>>> --->
>>>> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:06:10 -0500, Grand_Poobah
>>>> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> --->
>>>>>> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:32:20 -0500, Grand_Poobah
>>>>>> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --->
>>>>>>>> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>>>>>>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>>>>>>>>>> Leave the CD in...
>>>>>>>> <snip>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> In any case, I can't figure out why NTLDR is missing.
>>>>>>>> 1) Delete the virtual machine
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 2) Create a new virtual machine
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 3) Install W2k from the CD
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Yep. My current move right now. For some reason, though, it is
>>>>>>> taking a whale of a long time to format 16G. Almost 10 minutes for
>>>>>>> just 22% so far. My host is Win Vista Home Premium (32-bit) and I
>>>>>>> already have a running Win98SE VPC on it that formatted and
>>>>>>> installed just fine.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> GP
>>>>>> You should *always* select the "Quick Format" option in that dialogue!
>>>>>> Especially in a virtual disk it makes no sense actually going out and
>>>>>> writing zeros on all these clusters! Takes an eternity to complete.
>>>>>> And quite possibly the VHD will now expand to the full 16G size on
>>>>>> your host too....
>>>>>>
>>>>> That's what I thought also Bo, but I never got the option. The line
>>>>> just read "Format this partition as NTFS?" - no quick format option.
>>>>> It did tell me that there was "an unidentified operating system
>>>>> already on the disk" though. I am assuming that it was my prior
>>>>> attempt at installing W2K. But if it was, I have to wonder why it
>>>>> didn't recognize "itself".
>>>>>
>>>>> This is all wrong from what I remember about my first install on VPC
>>>>> of W2K.
>>>>>
>>>>> The VHD doesn't appear to be expanding though - even though the
>>>>> formatting is now up to 70% (after over an hour).
>>>>>
>>>> If I were you I'd close the guest immediately now and start over fresh
>>>> by creating a new guest with a blank VHD in a new guest folder.
>>>> Since you are going to install fresh anyway, why waste time on old
>>>> data you are erasing anyway?
>>>> If the disk is clean (fresh, never used) then the formatting usually
>>>> is a very quick operation as far as I remember....
>>>> I have installed at least half a dozen W2K guests if not more and I do
>>>> not recollect any of the problems you have been reporting here....
>>>>
>>> Yeah. Something is horribly wrong here - no apparent damage to the host
>>> but something is just not right at all. I've installed about 4 W2K's as
>>> far as I can remember and they went just fine - either live or VPC.
>>>
>>> GP
>> OK. Started over with a completely new Vmachine. New VHD and all.
>> Exactly the same as before. NTLDR is missing. But the formatting took
>> only about a minute or so. Damn. This used to be easy.
>>
>> This is an official Microsoft Windows 2000 Profession Upgrade and I
>> simply cannot get it to install. This very disk was used on an actual
>> physical machine years ago. It asks me for my Win98 disk, which I feed
>> it, and it approves of, and then goes ahead and tries to format/install.
>> It copies over everything it needs TO install to the VHD and then
>> tells me to reboot. I take everything out of every drive (physical) and
>> make sure nothing is attached to the Virtual floppy/CD and let it reboot.
>>
>> "NTLDR is missing" is all it will tell me. Heck, I even tried to find
>> NTLDR on the W2K CD - it's there, but compressed. Something is not
>> letting it get put on the boot sector I guess. Don't know what, but I'm
>> about to just give up here.
>>
>> GP
>
> When you used it previously did you do a fresh install or an upgrade?
> I'm wondering if the upgrade CD is expecting a bootable HD and
> failing.
>
> Have you tried making boot floppies and doing the install from there?
> You don't actual floppies, just VFDs.
>
> From another VM:
> Insert the Windows 2000 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.
> Click Start, and then click Run.
> In the Open box, type drive:\bootdisk\makeboot a:, where drive is the
> letter of your CD-ROM drive, and then press ENTER.
>
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
It starts the whole installation process again - right up to wanting to
format the HD since it "sees" an unidentified operating system on it.
GP
Show quoted text
> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
>> It copies over everything it needs TO install to the VHD and then
>> tells me to reboot. I take everything out of every drive (physical)
>> and make sure nothing is attached to the Virtual floppy/CD and let it
>> reboot.
>
> And what happens if you *don't* take the CD out of the host's optical
> drive at this point...?
>
>
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
That's the exact way it is supposed to happen, but not in this case.
for some reason it is getting stubborn. When I came back from dinner, I
started with a W98SE bootable CD. Then I used it to format the drive
FAT32 (instead of W2K's insistence on NTFS).
The next time I tried the upgrade W2K disk it did ask to see my W98SE
CD, approved it, and continued. This time it showed me drive C: had
been formatted FAT32 but NO "unknown operating system" on it.
I then proceeded to get W2K installed - Hooray.
GP
Show quoted text
> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>
>>>> It copies over everything it needs TO install to the VHD and then
>>>> tells me to reboot. I take everything out of every drive (physical)
>>>> and make sure nothing is attached to the Virtual floppy/CD and let
>>>> it reboot.
>>>
>>> And what happens if you *don't* take the CD out of the host's optical
>>> drive at this point...?
>>
>> It starts the whole installation process again - right up to wanting
>> to format the HD since it "sees" an unidentified operating system on it.
>
> In which case, I don't know what's going on...
>
> I just tried the following with a W2kPro Upgrade CD
>
> 1) Created new VM for Win2k
>
> 2) Inserted the CD and rebooted
>
> 3) Inserted a Win98SE boot floppy when requested
>
> 4) Continued with the installation
>
> 5) Removed the floppy (but not the CD) when requested - the installation
> process rebooted the VM and then continued the installation process
>
>
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: "Mark Rae [MVP]" <(email address - cut out)>
Message:"Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...
Leave the CD in...
--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net
Show quoted text
> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: "Mark Rae [MVP]" <(email address - cut out)>
Message:"Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...
<snip>
1) Delete the virtual machine
2) Create a new virtual machine
3) Install W2k from the CD
--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net
Show quoted text
>>> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>>
>> Leave the CD in...
> In any case, I can't figure out why NTLDR is missing.
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: "Mark Rae [MVP]" <(email address - cut out)>
Message:"Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...
It would seem not...
I don't think it will do that...
Which of course you deleted, obviously...
--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net
Show quoted text
>>>> 1) Delete the virtual machine
>>>>
>>>> 2) Create a new virtual machine
>>>>
>>>> 3) Install W2k from the CD
>>>>
>>> Yep. My current move right now.
>> You should *always* select the "Quick Format" option in that dialogue!
>> Especially in a virtual disk it makes no sense actually going out and
>> writing zeros on all these clusters! Takes an eternity to complete.
>> And quite possibly the VHD will now expand to the full 16G size on
>> your host too....
> It did tell me that there was "an unidentified operating system already on
> the disk" though.
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Bo Berglund <(email address - cut out)>
Message:On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:32:20 -0500, Grand_Poobah
<(email address - cut out)> wrote:
You should *always* select the "Quick Format" option in that dialogue!
Especially in a virtual disk it makes no sense actually going out and
writing zeros on all these clusters! Takes an eternity to complete.
And quite possibly the VHD will now expand to the full 16G size on
your host too....
--
Bo Berglund (Sweden)
Show quoted text
>--->
>> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>
>>>>> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>>>>
>>>> Leave the CD in...
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>> In any case, I can't figure out why NTLDR is missing.
>>
>> 1) Delete the virtual machine
>>
>> 2) Create a new virtual machine
>>
>> 3) Install W2k from the CD
>>
>>
>
>Yep. My current move right now. For some reason, though, it is taking
>a whale of a long time to format 16G. Almost 10 minutes for just 22% so
>far. My host is Win Vista Home Premium (32-bit) and I already have a
>running Win98SE VPC on it that formatted and installed just fine.
>
>GP
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: "Mark Rae [MVP]" <(email address - cut out)>
Message:"Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...
Can't understand that at all...It's just a file - what on earth is there to
"recycle"...???
Which doesn't, of course, actually delete the partition...
--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net
Show quoted text
> You're right Mark, I did not delete the VHD, just tried to recycle it.
> When the installer found the "unidentified" operating system (in \WINNT of
> all places!) I just told it to completely reformat the entire drive.
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: Bo Berglund <(email address - cut out)>
Message:On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:06:10 -0500, Grand_Poobah
<(email address - cut out)> wrote:
If I were you I'd close the guest immediately now and start over fresh
by creating a new guest with a blank VHD in a new guest folder.
Since you are going to install fresh anyway, why waste time on old
data you are erasing anyway?
If the disk is clean (fresh, never used) then the formatting usually
is a very quick operation as far as I remember....
I have installed at least half a dozen W2K guests if not more and I do
not recollect any of the problems you have been reporting here....
--
Bo Berglund (Sweden)
Show quoted text
>--->
>> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:32:20 -0500, Grand_Poobah
>> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>>
>>> --->
>>>> "Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>>
>>>>>>> Did I forget a step somewhere, or it just messing with my mind?
>>>>>> Leave the CD in...
>>>> <snip>
>>>>
>>>>> In any case, I can't figure out why NTLDR is missing.
>>>> 1) Delete the virtual machine
>>>>
>>>> 2) Create a new virtual machine
>>>>
>>>> 3) Install W2k from the CD
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Yep. My current move right now. For some reason, though, it is taking
>>> a whale of a long time to format 16G. Almost 10 minutes for just 22% so
>>> far. My host is Win Vista Home Premium (32-bit) and I already have a
>>> running Win98SE VPC on it that formatted and installed just fine.
>>>
>>> GP
>>
>> You should *always* select the "Quick Format" option in that dialogue!
>> Especially in a virtual disk it makes no sense actually going out and
>> writing zeros on all these clusters! Takes an eternity to complete.
>> And quite possibly the VHD will now expand to the full 16G size on
>> your host too....
>>
>
>That's what I thought also Bo, but I never got the option. The line
>just read "Format this partition as NTFS?" - no quick format option. It
>did tell me that there was "an unidentified operating system already on
>the disk" though. I am assuming that it was my prior attempt at
>installing W2K. But if it was, I have to wonder why it didn't recognize
>"itself".
>
>This is all wrong from what I remember about my first install on VPC of W2K.
>
>The VHD doesn't appear to be expanding though - even though the
>formatting is now up to 70% (after over an hour).
>
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: "Mark Rae [MVP]" <(email address - cut out)>
Message:"Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...
And what happens if you *don't* take the CD out of the host's optical drive
at this point...?
--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net
Show quoted text
> It copies over everything it needs TO install to the VHD and then tells
> me to reboot. I take everything out of every drive (physical) and make
> sure nothing is attached to the Virtual floppy/CD and let it reboot.
Sent: 12/17/2008
From: "Mark Rae [MVP]" <(email address - cut out)>
Message:"Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...
In which case, I don't know what's going on...
I just tried the following with a W2kPro Upgrade CD
1) Created new VM for Win2k
2) Inserted the CD and rebooted
3) Inserted a Win98SE boot floppy when requested
4) Continued with the installation
5) Removed the floppy (but not the CD) when requested - the installation
process rebooted the VM and then continued the installation process
--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net
Show quoted text
>>> It copies over everything it needs TO install to the VHD and then tells
>>> me to reboot. I take everything out of every drive (physical) and make
>>> sure nothing is attached to the Virtual floppy/CD and let it reboot.
>>
>> And what happens if you *don't* take the CD out of the host's optical
>> drive at this point...?
>
> It starts the whole installation process again - right up to wanting to
> format the HD since it "sees" an unidentified operating system on it.
Sent: 12/18/2008
From: Bo Berglund <(email address - cut out)>
Message:On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:58:59 -0500, Grand_Poobah
<(email address - cut out)> wrote:
I never ever used an *upgrade* CD, always used full vbersions so there
might be a catch right there.
--
Bo Berglund (Sweden)
Show quoted text
>OK. Started over with a completely new Vmachine. New VHD and all.
>Exactly the same as before. NTLDR is missing. But the formatting took
>only about a minute or so. Damn. This used to be easy.
>
>This is an official Microsoft Windows 2000 Profession Upgrade and I
>simply cannot get it to install. This very disk was used on an actual
>physical machine years ago. It asks me for my Win98 disk, which I feed
>it, and it approves of, and then goes ahead and tries to format/install.
> It copies over everything it needs TO install to the VHD and then
>tells me to reboot. I take everything out of every drive (physical) and
>make sure nothing is attached to the Virtual floppy/CD and let it reboot.
>
>"NTLDR is missing" is all it will tell me. Heck, I even tried to find
>NTLDR on the W2K CD - it's there, but compressed. Something is not
>letting it get put on the boot sector I guess. Don't know what, but I'm
>about to just give up here.
>
Sent: 12/18/2008
From: Grand_Poobah <(email address - cut out)>
Message:--->
Yes. After chatting with a couple of my IT friends it turns out that an
upgrade disk - even though it asks for the W98SE disk - assumes that
there is already a prepared boot sector on the disk. This seems strange
to me as there is an option (which I took) to completely format the new
partition which would mean that the disk loses it's boot sector.
Whatever the reason, I'm finally up and running - with FST32 instead of
NTFS. I'll run the converter as soon as I get things the way I want them.
My thanks to everyone who had input into the "strange case of the
missing NTLDR".
GP
Show quoted text
> On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:58:59 -0500, Grand_Poobah
> <(email address - cut out)> wrote:
>
>> OK. Started over with a completely new Vmachine. New VHD and all.
>> Exactly the same as before. NTLDR is missing. But the formatting took
>> only about a minute or so. Damn. This used to be easy.
>>
>> This is an official Microsoft Windows 2000 Profession Upgrade and I
>> simply cannot get it to install. This very disk was used on an actual
>> physical machine years ago. It asks me for my Win98 disk, which I feed
>> it, and it approves of, and then goes ahead and tries to format/install.
>> It copies over everything it needs TO install to the VHD and then
>> tells me to reboot. I take everything out of every drive (physical) and
>> make sure nothing is attached to the Virtual floppy/CD and let it reboot.
>>
>> "NTLDR is missing" is all it will tell me. Heck, I even tried to find
>> NTLDR on the W2K CD - it's there, but compressed. Something is not
>> letting it get put on the boot sector I guess. Don't know what, but I'm
>> about to just give up here.
>>
>
> I never ever used an *upgrade* CD, always used full vbersions so there
> might be a catch right there.
>
Sent: 12/18/2008
From: "Mark Rae [MVP]" <(email address - cut out)>
Message:"Grand_Poobah" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...
That's incorrect. Formatting partitions does not modify the boot sector - it
simply formats the partitions...
Maybe the confusion has arisen because 32-bit / 64-bit versions of Windows
perform both operations at the same time i.e. when you install XP on a fresh
hard disk, it creates the new partition and then formats it in (what appears
to be) one operation...
--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net
Show quoted text
> Yes. After chatting with a couple of my IT friends it turns out that an
> upgrade disk - even though it asks for the W98SE disk - assumes that there
> is already a prepared boot sector on the disk. This seems strange to me
> as there is an option (which I took) to completely format the new
> partition which would mean that the disk loses its boot sector.
Sent: 12/18/2008
From: Robert Riebisch <(email address - cut out)>
Message:Bo Berglund wrote:
Isn't it only available in Windows XP, Server 2003, ...?
--
Robert Riebisch
Bitte NUR in der Newsgroup antworten!
Please reply to the Newsgroup ONLY!
Show quoted text
> You should *always* select the "Quick Format" option in that dialogue!
Sent: 12/18/2008
From: Bo Berglund <(email address - cut out)>
Message:On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:12:59 +0100, Robert Riebisch
<(email address - cut out)> wrote:
I just made a check by quickly creating a W2K server guest using the
MSDN ISO. Turns out that there is no "quick format" available, it goes
to formatting the drive without any such option. But the 16 Gb default
disk I have given it formatted in less than a minute anyway....
Now a minute later it is 50% through copying all the operating system
files over.
No real problems installing Win2K as far as I can see provided the
CD/ISO is *not* an upgrade.
And now while I wrote the above it finished copying files and went to
initializing Windows and rebooting the machine.
Now another 20s later I see the Windows logo. So far I have been at it
for about 4-5 minutes.
Nothing beats installation from ISO files in VPC2007!
--
Bo Berglund (Sweden)
Show quoted text
>Bo Berglund wrote:
>
>> You should *always* select the "Quick Format" option in that dialogue!
>
>Isn't it only available in Windows XP, Server 2003, ...?
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