INSTALLING WIN95 AFTER NT 4

[pauladshead]

HELP! , I have nt4 sp4 installed and need to install windows 95 without formatting or loosing any data. I know the procedure should be like this :
Make an emergency repair disk (rdisk - Update Repair Info)
Ensure you have NT installation disks (can make by winnt32 /ox)
Reboot the machine and boot off of the MS-DOS disks
Install DOS (same as doing a SYS a: c: from a dos bootable disk)
Machine will reboot into DOS
Reboot Machine and boot off of NT installation disks
After 2 disk will give options, press R for repair
Deselect all options except "Inspect Boot Sector" and continue
Press Enter to detect hardware and insert disk 3
The procedure will ask if you have an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD), say Yes and insert the ERD.
The machine will then reboot into NT again
Once in NT goto a DOS session
Type - attrib c:\boot.ini -r -s
edit boot.ini and insert at the bottom
c:\="MS-DOS"
Type - attrib c:\boot.ini +r +s
Reboot the machine and you will have MS-DOS and NT options! Easy :-)
The procedure above will only work if the C drive is FAT.

problem is after sys c: command .... machine will not re-boot.... it just sits there with the cursor in the top left and the HDD light constantly on ..... any ideas ???

Thanx , im getting desperate now

[LynRat]

I have seen something like this one before, it should be easily solved by:
boot off of your DOS floppy disk, copy fdisk.exe to your C drive then run FDISK /MBR from the root of C:\
Have also been able to do a descent NT Repair by :
After installing Win95, Boot off of the NT cd rom, then you can select upgrade NT, it will then copy files to your drive, but not overwrite any, when it reboots, the default action will be NT Upgrade, but if you are FAST you can select your previous install. Once you have booted back into you old OS, you can then run Disk Administrator to put your boot record back in order. Then it is time to edit the BOOT.INI file to delete the upgrade option. NT setup will also have put your DOS entry into it.
Long and drawn out but it has worked for me more than once!

[This message has been edited by LynRat (edited August 26, 1999).]

[SKEIL909]

Hmmmm.. I just tried to duplicate your problem and actually had no problems.
I installed NT4 Server on an old 2GB HDD and followed your directions without a hitch, using a WIN95B boot disk.
The system WILL boot up either way now.
Sorry.... I'll try a few variations and see if I can duplicate your problem.


One thing I did a little different but I'm not sure if it would matter. After transfering the system files to C: I repaired the partition (booting from the NT Server CD) and then rebooted via my 95B floppy disk, edited the boot.ini and then rebooted into NT. hehe.. I like cutting corners wherever possible.

[This message has been edited by SKEIL909 (edited August 26, 1999).]

[pauladshead]

Thanx people.... the problem was an unusual one. In disk manager in NT the fat16 partition c was 4gb ??!!??!?! this was the problem
thanx for all your help


[This message has been edited by pauladshead (edited August 26, 1999).]