Member Avatar for sabuj

I have a computer with a hard disk that contains two partitions. One partitition was FAT32( C drive) on which windows 98 was installed and the other partition was NTFS on which windows xp was installed. Things were working fine until windows 98 was affected with a virus. After removing the virus I observed that the system was very slow. So I saved all the files in the root directory of C drive and formatted the C drive(FAT32 partition). Now the problem is that I cannot boot the windows xp. I am not getting the boot menu from where I can select which operating system to boot. Is there any way by which I can boot the windows xp installation, without a re-installation ?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by kezang

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Formatting the FAT32 (first) partition removed the legacy NT boot files that Windows XP expects to find on the active/system partition (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and the BOOT.INI that points at the XP install). That is why the XP boot menu disappeared. was right to call out BOOT.INI, but BOOT.INI cannot be fixed until the NT loader files and a valid system partition are restored.

A straightforward recovery path is to use the Windows XP setup CD and the Recovery Console to restore the loader files and rebuild the boot records. From Recovery Console, confirm drive letters with map/dir, then copy the files and repair the boot area. Example (adjust drive letters so the CD is the source and the active/system partition is the target):

map
dir C:\
dir D:\i386
copy D:\i386\ntldr C:\
copy D:\i386\ntdetect.com C:\
fixboot C:
fixmbr
bootcfg /rebuild

If the FAT32 partition will be removed (as suggested by ), a partition tool may be used to delete that partition and mark the XP partition active. After that change the same Recovery Console steps should be run so the XP partition becomes bootable and BOOT.INI is rebuilt (deleting partitions changes numbering, so bootcfg /rebuild is important).

Cautions and troubleshooting: verify the CD drive letter inside Recovery Console before copying; use a different XP disc or optical drive if copy errors occur; back up or image the disk before running fixmbr or deleting partitions (those steps can cause data loss on multi‑OS setups). The later report from about a DLL copy error usually indicates bad media, a failing drive, or RAM issues — confirm hardware and media integrity before attempting recovery.

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Member Avatar for just_a_nobody

Hi Sabuj, welcome to the forum. Since you reformatted the C: drive, then you may have to edit the boot.ini file (C:/boot.ini) in XP.

Save a Backup Copy of Boot.ini
1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
-or-
Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.
2. On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery.
3. Under System Startup, click Edit. This opens the file in Notepad ready for editing.
4. In Notepad, click File on the Menu bar, and then click Save As.
5. Right click in an empty area of the Save As dialog box, point to New in the Context menu, and then click Folder.
6. Type a name for the new folder, for example temp, and then press the ENTER key to create the folder named temp.
7. Double-click the new folder named temp, and then click the Save button to save a backup copy of the Boot.ini file.

Edit the Boot.ini File
To view and edit the Boot.ini file: 1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
-or-
Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.
2. On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery.
3. Under System Startup, click Edit.

Below is what your boot.ini file should look like:

[Boot Loader]
timeout=10
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows 98"

If your boot,ini file does not look like the above, then edit yours to look like the above

Member Avatar for kccomputerdr

if you're not in need of win 98, use the ranish partition manager which can be downloaded free online and delete the fat partition then change the boot on line one to standard & hit f2 & reboot.

Member Avatar for kezang

recently my hard disk got crash and i bought a new hdd. but the problam is when i boot from cd rom using xp cd, for sometime it boots and then stop booting when it reached upto 45% or 50% and the message reads as IF YOU ARE INSTALLING FROM CD ROM MAKE SURE THAT THE CD IS INSIDE CD ROM DRIVE. DLL. CANNOT BE COPIED. i have tried using different cd, cd rom and even check the cable. still prompted with the same thing. even i have checked the setting in BIOS.

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