I replaced a hard drive that had windows 2003 server on it and I installed it again on the new drive(f:) with windows 2000 pro being on the main drive(C:). I can run windows 2003 from the boot menu but not windows 2000(I'm sure windows 2003 replaced ntldr and ntdetect on the C: drive). I need to make this work(right now I'm in windows 2000 with the old ntldr and ntdetect for windows 2000). Do I need to fix the mbr since the old drive was 80 gig and the new one is 320? Btw, C: partition is fat32 and F: partition is NTFS.

Your description and results indicate you did not have both drives in the system and booting c: when you installed 2003. The 2003 versions of ntldr, etc WILL boot W2000. If you had installed correctly you would be able to boot both and the 2000 version wouldn't have the old boot files. Simplist thing to do is with both drives in the system and booting the Windows 2000 pro drive as c:, reinstall 2003. You can do it as a repair install or new. This will result in the correct boot menu and correct invalid registry pointers in 2003 Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search

Windows 2000 is the original hard drive. when I added the 320 gig drive I installed windows 2003 which put the 2003 NTLR and NTDETECT.com on the C: drive. I still couldn't boot into windows 2000 because of the system error. I had no problems with the old(80 gig drive that died) drive for dual booting windows 2000 and windows 2003. The 2000 drive is fat32 and the 2003 drive is NTFS. In order to access either drive I have to switch NTLDR and NTDETECT versions(2000 and 2003)in order to boot into that particular OS. Crazy isn't it?

OK. So we have 2000 we have 2003 we have a multiboot with a dead drive whoa horsie! but wait, it gets better! after the 320gig drive install we have "couldn't boot 2000 due to a system error" and then to top it off! "I have to switch NTLDR and NTDETECT.. Crazy isn't it? Ah come on buddy! You just yanking chains here? Are you serious? Crazy? No. If you are serious please answer the following questions: 1. to boot are you making any changes in the bios? 2. specifically what drives are in the system, what partitions are on them and where do the OS's reside on them? 3. post your boot.ini 4. where are you changing the boot loader files? what drive and what partition? We'll start there and see where it goes. Are you ready for where Microsoft wants you to go today?

LOL Wanderer. The dead drive isn't even installed. No changes made in the bios. If you can read my post: Drive A is windows 2000 which is a FAT 32 partition Drive B is Windows 2003 which is NTFS(the newly installed 320 gig drive ) the old 80 gig drive is dead,gone,kaput from my computer,it isn't in the loop at all. The boot.ini resides on my Windows 2000 c: drive as it always has been(first partition first drive). Drive A is fully FAT32 and Drive B is fully NTFS. Boot.ini: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003" /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect And yes I have two folders one is a dualboot rescue for windows 2000 which has windows 2000 NTLR and NTDETECT.com and the other which has the 2003 version as a temporary fix if I want to boot between OS's.

So this boot.ini has the multiboot. When you choose the 2000 boot from this boot.ini what happens? Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search

Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: windows\system32\config\system is the error.