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I have 2 drives installed I want to remove the master and use just the slave. They say to set the slave to master and then do a repair. What do I choose for the repair?
I've never done this before so I need lots of help!!
Thanks
If the slave doesn't has Windows already installed on it, there's nothing to repair...you'd have to change the jumper & set it up as the primary master, then format it & do a fresh install of WinXP
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What does the drive that is now slave have on it? The repair procedures only apply if that drive already has a Windows installation on it.
If you wanted to copy the Windows installation on your present master drive to the present slave drive, you need to use a program to copy the data on the present master drive to the present slave drive, the slave drive partition must have no data on it (or have no partition, depending on what program you use) before you do that, you then jumper the drive that is now slave as master, and then you run an XP Repair Setup procedure (there are two types).
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Sorry to tell that I have Windows of both drives. Want to only boot to the 2nd drive instead of choosing when I boot.
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If you installed Windows XP on both master (drive C) and slave (drive D) and you remove drive C...Windows will not boot because the boot files were located on drive c. You may need to do repair instal to change all drive letter references.
i_XpUser
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Okay.
In that case.....
jumper the drive that is now slave as master
Set the bios Setup boot order to boot from a CD before a hard drive if it is not already setup that way. If you're not sure what way it is set, insert your Windows CD, reboot, and see if it detects your CD is bootable and asks if you want to boot the CD.
The best way to set that is floppy first, then a CD drive, then a hard drive - if you can set it that way it will work for all scenarios and you won't have to change it again, but in some bioses you can't do that - just make sure the CD drive is before the hard drive in the boot order.Insert the Windows CD in a drive.
Reboot.
When it prompts you to press a key or make a choice to boot with the CD, choose the CD.Setup will load a bunch of files - this usually takes a couple of minutes.
At the end of that initial loading, there will be a screen that asks if you want to continue with Setup or Repair you Windows installation - choose Repair - I believe by pressing R.You will go to a Dos like screen. This is the Command Console.
You will be asked to choose the Windows installation you want to repair - choose it.
There will be a line displayed that says
Password.
If there are no stars - *'s - beside the line on the right, you have no password - just press Enter
If there are *'s beside the line on the right, the password is the same one you use as administrator for that Windows installation - same case (upper or lower case characters), etc.type: fixboot (Enter) at the prompt that appears.
type: fixmbr (Enter)type: exit
the computer will reboot.Do not load the CD when the choice appears.
Your hard drive should boot normally.
.......
If you have problems, you can also do the second method of repair - an XP Repair Setup.
The following was made for XP Pro, but what you see and do for XP Home is identical or very similar.
how to do an XP Repair Setup, step by step:
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpcdrepair/indexfullpage.htmThis will not erase or harm your Windows installation - it merely repairs things Windows knows how to fix, and replaces Windows files found to be missing or corrupted. It will probably not fix things caised by other programs.
This is also what you use when you transfer a hard drive with a Windows installation on it to another computer that has a different mboard and/or hardware, or you change the mboard on your computer and it is not identical to the old one.If the Windows installation was one that was updated to SP1 or SP2 after it was installed, you also have to do that again if you do the above XP Repair Setup.
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If you have not already done so for that Windows installation, after either of the above repair procedures, you should load the mboard drivers, especially the chipset drivers, to make sure everything on the mboard is properly recognized. If you're not sure whether that was done, it does no harm to do it again. The drivers on the mboard CD are usually sufficient if you have that, or you can often get the latest drivers on the web site of your mboard maker in the downloads for your model.
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more ....
"jumper the drive that is now slave as master"
"Remove at least the data cable connection to the drive that was master; remove the drive if you want to, anytime.
Do not load the CD when the choice appears.
Your hard drive should boot normally."
You can remove the Windows CD at that point.
......
The XP Repair Setup, the second method of repairing a Windows installation, requires you have a valid Product Key to enter. If you have a valid key but you've lost track of what it is, you can use a utility available on the web to find it (e.g. Keyfinder), but you must do that BEFORE you use this repair methid.
The Product Key should be for the version that is already installed on that drive or you may have problems getting it accepted - e.g. XP original, XP with SP1, XP with SP2, and Home if it was Home, Pro if it was Pro, etc.You should preferably use a Windows CD version you originally installed - e.g. XP original, XP with SP1, XP with SP2, and Home if it was Home, Pro if it was Pro, etc.
If you use a different version, the Product Key must be for that version.As is the case when running a normal Windows Setup, you only have to choose to boot the CD while booting once - at the beginning of the procedure. Windows will reboot the computer many times during the procedure.
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"You may need to do repair instal to change all drive letter references."
That's true, I forgot about that - if both hard drives were visible when the second windows installation was chosen in the original confiration, which is the usual situation. In that case, your only option is to use the second repair method.
However it is possible to install Windows such that the other drive is not visible, in which case either repair method will work, but that's unlikely in this case.
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"If you have a valid key but you've lost track of what it is, you can use a utility available on the web to find it (e.g. Keyfinder), but you must do that BEFORE you use this repair method."
The utility will only find the product key for the Windows installation that was booted - it will not find it on other partitions on the computer that have Windows installations that were not booted. Keyfinder also finds other Microsoft product keys - Office, Word, Works, etc., but only the ones that are in the Registry of the booted Windows installation.
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How about just modifying boot.ini so it always boots from the D: drive. Then you can delete all the windows files on the C: drive and use it for data.
Sorry, I do not check for private messages
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I found that the second drive letter has been assigned to "F" and I can't see how to change that. The repair only sees c: and d:. Under admin/management it won't let me change the drive letter, saying it is a boot drive and that can't be done. I used "fixboot" and when I boot it can't find ntldr.
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"I found that the second drive letter has been assigned to "F" and I can't see how to change that."
When were you trying to change the drive letter from F - before or after you attempted a repair?
You can't change it beforehand if you booted that windows partition."The repair only sees c: and d:."
After the repair, or before it has finished?
Is D the cd drive, or are there two partitions on the drive that was originally slave?Which repair did you do - the first or the second type, or both?
"I used "fixboot" and when I boot it can't find ntldr."
The drive you run it for must normally be master on the first IDE. But never mind, you need to run the second repair method.
I corrected myself and said you should use the second type.
Do you now have C, D, and F, or just C, D?
Windows XP assigns drive letters in the order the drives were added to the system. I assume you originally had one hard drive and two cd drives, or a hard drive with two partitions and one cd drive - they were assigned C, D, E. You then added the second hard drive, and it was assigned F.
If you haven't done so already, use the second repair procedure - the XP Repair Setup one we provided a link to. With the drive that was originally slave jumpered as master, and the drive that was master disconnected beforehand, it should automatically change the drive letter of the hard drive to C, but the cd drive letter(s) will remain the same as they were.
If you did run the second type of repair and the drive that was orginally slave is still F, with the drive that was originally master disconnected the whole time, I don't know off hand how to fix that.
Whatever situation you're in it can probably be fixed without you losing your Windows installation.
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I guess I was having a bad day yesterday!
I tried the repair (after accepting the agreement) and the repair feature was showing. Ran that and I am in good shape now!
Thanks and sorry for all the hassle!!
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