CCP14
Methods, Problems and Solutions
Installing WinNT as part of a Multi Boot PC
The CCP14 Homepage is at http://www.ccp14.ac.uk
With reference to WinNT 4.0
While it is the author's opinion that WinNT is not a good choice as a client (or server)
operating system for crystallographic/scentific computing, you may be required to install
Win NT for testing of software under different conditions. This page tries to help give
you some guiding tips and tutorial run-throughs if you have to install WinNT in a
multi-boot/dual-boot situation; and some of the kludges that may be encountered. Having
the option of a multiboot WinNT means you can save some cash buying an extra NT
dedicated computer. Though it should be noted that you should be able to mix and match
PC based operating systems with the minimum of hassle using the below described Ranish
Partition Manager.
The following tutorials use the Freeware/Shareware Ranish Partition manager as this
software is a work of genius, is friendly to use, and gives maximum flexibility. It
is not only a partition manager but also quite a nice and flexible "boot manager". Links
to alternative methods for multi-booting WinNT are given below.
Note with latest Ranish Partition Manager (27th April 2000 update)
New facilities in Ranish Partition Manager 2.38 (release dated March 14, 2000) not yet covered in these tutorials:
- Handle disks over 8G
- Copy disks and partitions
- Format and Resize FAT partitions
- Boot MS-, PC-, DR- DOS and Windows NT from partitions above 2G
- Boot Partition Manager from a floppy without any OS
- Now added SIMULATION program which lets you play with
Partition Manager without messing the real disk
Major Kludge in WinNT
The major kludge in NT is that the bootable area of NT has to be in the first 2 Gig
of the hard-disk. If you have an existing operating system (i.e., Win95) that spans
that 2-Gig, this can mean some major reorganisation is required. However, if you
have a small (~8Meg) boot manager partition at the start of the disk, this can be
used and is big enough to allow NT to put its boot files there.
Other "known" kludges involve:
- WinNT not working as advertised; mainly with it refusing to format
small FAT partitions (can get around this with Ranish Partition Manager doing the formatting).
- While installing the WinNT boot files in a small DOS partition, having the main NTFS file
system straddling the 1024 cylinder mark on some types of hard-disk may result in WinNT installing,
being able to do a preliminary boot, but failing on trying to complete the boot up due to
what it says are hard-disk incompatibilities.
- PC hard-disks not able to support more than 4 primary partitions (most (all?)
operating systems require a primary partition to be able to boot)
- After installation of WinNT, you may have to go back in with the Ranish Partition manager
and see what the partition numbers are as the installation of WinNT may have caused the
partition numbering sequence to change. This can be important
when you have other operating systems installed such as Win95, Linux and FreeBSD.
Relevant links:
