Okay, this is the situation.

I have a hard drive that I am trying to get both NT and 2k on. The question is this. If I already have 2k loaded on the disk and want to load up NT (SP 1), how do I do it WITHOUT erasing/damaging the 2k partition? I can get SP 6 loaded after the initial install no prob. I can also get the two to dual load and boot just fine if I reload NT first, then 2k but that has become time restrictive in recent times.

I keep getting errors when I attempt to load NT saying things such as it can't find a suitable partition. I know NT has issues seeing FAT32 partitions which 2k can deal with just fine. I have tried modifying the partitions through a command prompt with FDISK so that I have a FAT 16 partition (should be NT compatible) and it is marked active to no avail.

Somehow I know I'm making a bit of a fubar with this trick but it's all I can come up with at this point.

For those of you who are wondering, this is part of a class so that's why I'm loading up both and not just omitting NT. :)

Owen...I have not done what you are attempting, but being it is for a class and I assume you have no data and stuff to worry about...Try this...

Because NT cannot see FAT32 I would load NT first...this will put it on FAT16 which W2K will see...

When you load up NT it will show you the total size of the hd and you can set the size of the partition you want...Example...let's say you have a 4 gig HD...and since FAT16 will only recognize 2 gig, make the partition you are putting NT on 2gig in size...

This will leave 2 gig left that is UNpartitioned and UNformatted..and when you install W2k, direct that install to that partition when W2K asks where you want to install it...

I suspect if you leave the W2K partition as FAT16, then the 2 OS's will be able to "see" each others files...

Hope this helps...
Steve

If you are willing to start afresh then set it up the conventional way and it will/should all go in just fine.

Note under NT fat16 can be a max of 4Gig; the 2Gig limit applies to DOS/'9x/ME only.

Suggest you configure the HD along the lines:

Primary:
C: = fat16 = 150Meg;
This is the common system partition (where both (all M$) installed OS deposit their respective boot/start-up files. Their respective system files (each OS itself) will go into separate logical-drives.

Extended:
D: = fat16 = 4Gig max under NT = NT4;
If you prefer ntfs then D: will still be max of 4Gig - since NT cannot create ntfs in excess of 4Gig during installation. You could start with fat16 and go to ntfs4 later - before you add in W2K, or to ntfs5 via W2K...

Extended:
E: = fat16 = 4Gig 2Gig = common data area; (NT/W2K can both see fat16)
F: = ntfs5 = ???gig - your choice;
G: = fat32/ntfs5 = W2K = ???Gig

You can further sub-divide the Extended into more 'drives' (fat16/ntfs5) if you wish? Just remember NT cannot see fat32 (without suibtable add-in utils); nor can it see ntfs5 unless it has SP4 or later installed - prior to W2K....

If you set NT to be ntfs at installation then you will need to include SP4 or later - BEFORE installing W2K - otherwise once W2K goes in NT4 will not be able to see its ntfs4 areas; W2K converts any ntfs4 it finds to ntfs5 during installation.

You will also need SP4 or later to handle the larger HD; NT4 doesn't like drives over 7.8/8Gig - without you supply an updated ATAPI.EXE - found in SP4 and later.

Details on this little item:

http://www.windows2000faq.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=13894

- from John Savill's faq's at:

http://www.windows2000faq.com - installations section.

By putting W2K last on the drive physically you will probably find that all drive letters will be constant across both OS - as long as there is no fat32 between NT4 and W2K. M$ strongly advise that all fat32 areas go physically last on the HD.

If you already have W2K installed, then either back-up data and start afresh as suggested above; or use PM6x (or later) to create an additional partition for NT4 - 'ahead' of W2K, and install NT4 as fat16 (4Gig max). This NT4 partition will become the active Primary on the drive. You will then need to then run W2K repair routine (from a CD/4 floppies boot) to establish W2K boot/start-up files in the NT4 primary and thus give you a dual-boot.

W2K repair routines:

http://is-it-true.org/nt/nt2000/atips/atips71.shtml

http://www.rambuk.dk/info/using_the_recovery_console.htm

Unfortunately, it occurrs to me that the W2K drive letter may change in the process if you go this NT4 active primary (common system-partition for all boot/start-up files) route... So to avoid this little irritation, you could use PM6x to establish a second Primary 'ahead' of W2K Primary; install NT4 there - alone - no contact with W2K at all. Then use PM's Boot-magic to choose which Primary to be active, and thus which OS to boot. Problem here is that you will not be able to share data between the two primaries (OS's) as the 'inactive' primary will be hidden from the 'active'. To get around this irritation/limitation - establish an Extended partition (for shared data) after the W2K Primary and make it fat16; it can be ntfs - as long as you have SP4 or later in NT4 installalation - for reasons outlined earlier... Extended area is visible to whichever primary is 'active'.

Overall it would be much easier and cleaner to start afresh???

The M$ way (link below) is essentially the common system partition (all boot/start-up files in the same active primary partition) approach - and you will see that the order of OS installation is oldest first, newest last - to avoid complications and the need to run repair routines.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q217/2/10.ASP

As you're at school, the following links may be worth a read too...?

http://www.win2000mag.com/Articles/Index.cfm?Action=USPrint&IssueID=396

Have a good read of the several articles re NT and W2K.

and also at:

http://www.win2000mag.com/Articles/Index.cfm?Action=USPrint&IssueID=439

They're from the back-issues section at the Windows 2000 magazine site.