Ok, I have read over a dozen posts and pretty much have the gist on how to fix the 'invalid boot.ini file' problem, BUT...my question is about the c: drive placement. My computer's OS is on the h: drive, which is subsequently a separate HD. I USED to the standard c: before I added the second drive. If it is important - I have two drives, one has partitions c: d: e: and the second drive (larger and faster) has h: i: partitions. So my question goes back to the way to fix this problem. I have no remnants of the old OS on the c: drive. How do I do the rebuild of the boot.ini file so that it is on the current OS boot drive and not where it THINKS it should go. For further info, I have had similar problems as other posters -invalid boot.ini file warning but systems stills works, it says it is going to the C: drive -I have no boot.ini tab when I do the msconfig option -boot.ini file cannot be opened when I go to my computer>properties>advancedstart up and recovery>settings. There is nothing in the drop down area of 'default operating systems' Anyway, I think you all have the idea. Thanks for the help.

I'm slightly confused as to whether or not you can actually boot thru' to XP on second drive? If you are able to boot to XP (on the second drive in partition "h"), and there is boot.ini in c: root..., it's relatively easy to locate/view and edit the boot.ini to reflect the correct location of XP on the second drive. In XP the boot.ini can be accessed and edited via MyComputer\properties\advanced-tab\start-up/shutdown option; or by opening the file in notepad/wordpad. So presuming you can actually boot thru' to XP (on partition "h")... To see the boot.ini (other than via MyComputer\properties etc...) you have to enable "view all files and system files" - via XP Explorer\tools\folder-options\view. There will be two check-boxes to check/uncheck accordingly... It can then be opened/edited via notepad/wordpad etc. (but first you may have to remove the read-only attribute - via the file's properties)... To set the boot.ini (ARC path/statement) entry for XP installed on "h:" all you do is edit the line for XP previously installed on c: to reflect the correct location of the XP installation (on second drive - i.e. "h" is at/on: rdisk(1) in partition(1). For a single OS installation with the actual OS (system files) on the second drive your boot.ini will resemble: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect rdisk(0) refers to the first physical drive; rdisk(1) refers to the second physical drive. partition(1) refers to the first partition on a given drive - that drive being defined by the entry/value for rdisk. Thus your "h" partition is at: rdisk(1) partition(1). The boot.ini will atually be on the first/Master disk (rdisk(0) in partition(1) but that info. is NOT included in the boot.ini details. Only actual locations of all installed (and detected) OS are present in the boot.ini. If you still cannot see/access the boot.inni as outlined earlier above, then you could simply cut 'n paste the example I've given into your c: root. Just be "absolutely certain" that the folder name for your XP-Pro is actually winnt - not windows or whatever else it may be (by default or your personal choice). If your XP folder name is not winnt then alter that part of the boot.ini example (above) to reflect whatever the XP-Pro folder name is on your drive "h" - before you paste it in... Otherwise your system may not boot thru' to XP... - until you do a little more (fixing style) tweaking... However these M$ KB will be worth a serious read/study. They offer a way to get XP boot-utils to do it all for you.... http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;289022 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;289022&Product=winxp is a pretty detailed M$ KB on locating and editing the boot.ini; also briefly on using the bootcfg command to detect any NT/W2K/XP installations on the system - that are are not already included in the boot.ini... More detailed M$ KB re' using bootcfg is at: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=291980 That little routine may actually be easier on this occasion; the other routine(s) I've covered above may be useful at times in the future? http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314081 explains the XP boot.ini in a little more detail. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;102873 explains ARC path conventions etc.; info is valid for NT/W2K/XP/W2K3 (and presumably Longhorn). If you're still having problems after the above digests... post back. If possible include any current boot.ini (providing you have managed to find it...) - and include (clearly) the folder name for your XP-Pro installation on drive/partition "h".

Trvlr, Wow! Thanks for the detailed information. I will read through all of that this weekend and try to implement your instructions. I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks...

[boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect this is my boot.ini .......for some reason my primary hard drive is h witch is the NTFS and my recovery hard drive is c which is now FAT32......how can i fix it so that my primary hard drive(NTFS) is c

Your boot.ini as posted is saying W2K is on the first physical-drive and in the second partition... (rdisk(0)partition(2) Did you run the " bootcfg " routine as per the info/links I posted you; somehow I tend to think not... If you did it should have found the W2K installation in " h " and added it to the boot.ini on the c: drive. Post back with what you did manage to do (as per the assorted sugestions in my earlier post). Also confirm the folder name for XP-Pro as installed on the " h " drive/partition. You can determine what it is by booting to XP (on " h ") and seeing what the folder is called in Explorer. Also please advise how you installed XP-Pro on the second drive; was it with that drive attached/installed as Slave to the original (Master) drive? If you installed XP-Pro to the second drive with that drive installed alone as Master (the original drive was removed or else was attached as a Slave) - post that information too. Also the new drive is faster? You could set that drive to be Master and get then XP-Pro to boot correctly. The original drive could then be slaved to it and used for data etc. (as there's no OS on it). The faster drive ideally goes as Master whenever possible...

i'm not quite sure what you are asking of me....all i know is that somehow windows xp pro got installed on h drive.....what i am trying to figure out is why was it not installed on c drive.....other than that windows xp pro is working well on h drive...there is no problems with it...i just didn't know why it was on h drive instead of the c drive wich is usually where it is installed in other cases.

How did you go about installing the new drive and then XP? Did you remove the original drive and then install XP with the new drive as Master drive (with or without the original drive set as Slave)? Your iniitial and subsequent posts seem to imply that you are not happy with XP being where it is; that you have only a single (and incorrect) entry in the boot.ini that says XP is on "c" whereas it's on "h". Unless you re-install XP to either drive (and whichever drive it is would ideally beo set as Master) the version on "h" will always show itself as being installed on "h". This will be the case even if that XP drive became the only drive installed in the system. XP (and NT/W2K/W2K3 etc.) store drive letter and installation details/location in the registry; and this is consulted during boot-up. This is why XP on "h" will always come up as being installed on "h" . Even if you moved the drive around physically, changed the partitioning of the either drive, XP will remain as installed on "h". I'd be inclined to set the (newer/faster) XP drive as Master to the older (slower?). The performance of XP will be better that way. If you decide to go this route you will have to run XP repair routine - fixboot and fixmbr - to enable it to boot up properly. And again it will still say it's installed as "h" (even though logically it would be "c" on the first partition on the Master drive...) - but otherwise it will run as normal. Your call etc...