system specs are not the issue, this unit has run as a stable file server for 2 years, this is an issue I've run into during a routine reformat/reinstallation. I get the Ntoskrnl.exe is missing or corrupt right after the installation finishes copying its files then reboots. Im getting the exact same issue, but all I'm doing is installing win2k adv server. one OS. it worked fine before, no hardware changes or anything, its weird. one thing I hadnt tried yet is what seemed to help the last guy's issue, I've been using Large disk support in fdisk, Im going to blast the partition and rebuild it without LDS and see if that helps. Im assuming this wont do it, so any help would be appreciated. thanx :)

it did result in a difference, if anything, now when i boot, at the same spot i used to get the ntoskrnl.exe missing or corrupt, I now get "\winnt\system32\config\SYSTEMced" is missing or corrupt. any ideas?

Sounds like a bad drive or controller.

may I ask why you are using fDisk in your Windows 2000 installation process?

This is bad news. I got it today. Literaly today. I had to use the QuickResore disk to fix this. One theroy I have made on this is that it could be possible to fix it by finding the same file on the Windows Install CD-ROM and delete it (if it's there though) on the Hard Drive, then copy from the install disk to the vacant location that is missing the SYS file. Could work, but I never tried it. ~Graham

Check the size of the system partition. If it's greater thatn 7.8GB and a system file has been overwritten in a cluster above that then due to INT 13 limitations NT won't be able to see it at bootup even though you can see it in explorer etc.. NT4 can see data above 7.8GB on a partition once it's booted but the bootstrap process it uses can't. If a service pack was applied when the partition had more than 7.8GB on it then a system file could be written above the threshold and hey presto NT won't boot. If this is the case I suggest copy a load of non-system data somewhere until less than 7.8GB of space is used up. Then use partition magic to decrease the size of the partionto below 7.8GB. The bootstrap should then find ntoskrn.exe and any other system files that appeared to be missing before. Then install the SP or app that appeared to cause the problem, then if you really need a big partition, use Pmagic to increase the size back up and copy the non system data back. Alternatively create a new partition but babre in mid this will wreak have with applications since the paths in the registry will all be wrong. Hope this helps.

Sorry about all the typos' in above message. Also forgot to say that you need an nt boot disk or something like ERD Commander to do the above in order to copy off the data and check that it isn't just simply a corrupt or missing ntoskrnl or boot.ini looking at wrong partition.