Relocate boot.ini file

[little louie]

I have a dual-boot system with XP on 2 SATA drives. I need to re-format one of the drives and re-install XP, however it contains the boot.ini file for both drives. If I re-format the drive, the boot file will be lost and neither drive will boot.

How do I transfer the boot.ini file to the second drive? How will the pc know to locate it on the second drive?

Thanks folks,

LL

[Cisridn]

I have not done what you are trying to do, but I will tell you what I know.
If I remember correctly you will need some other system files in addition to the boot.ini before your system will boot.

I believe those file are:
AUTOEXEC
CONFIG
IO
MSDOS
NTDETECT
ntldr

I think these files also need to be on the drive that you will boot from so that your system will boot. These files are accessed before the boot.ini file.

Hopefully this will point you in the right direction.

[GaryRouth]

little louie

You may have already solved this puzzle, but in case you haven't started your work yet --

When you reinstall Windows XP with a fresh install, reformatting the drive in the process, XP will setup the ntldr, netdetect, and boot.ini files as part of the installation process. You boot from your optical drive & begin the process with your Windows XP CD.

That said, Cisridn's files are correct for a dual-boot situation with a Win9x & WinXP installation. The XP files are the three mentioned above: ntldr, netdetect, and boot.ini. The Win9x files are IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, COMMAND.COM, CONFIG.SYS (optional), & Autoexec.bat (optional). The Win9x files would need to be on the primary, active partition of the first drive.

I'm guessing you are dual-booting with Linux? And have a Linux distro on the 2nd SATA drive.

Sorry this reply is so late - I imagine you've finished this project already, & I'm just providing reading material.

. . . Gary

[little louie]

Thanks for the info guys,

The project is finished now and both OS's are working fine.

Cheers

LL