Cancelling NT4 reinstall

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Hugo

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Apr 20, 2004
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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.setup (More info?)

On an existing up and running NT 4.0 SP6 Workstation
system I very foolishly inserted the NT 4.0 Install CD and
on the appearing screen clicked on Installing/upgrading
Windows NT. I just wanted to see what the upgrade options
were. The installer copied all the files from the CD to
the hard disk and then told me to boot. At that point I
clicked on cancel but the installer did not remove the
temporary files.

This was on a (ex-?) friend's system. This morning when he
booted the system the install process continued and ended
in a blue screen that according to my friend said
something needed changing from the Control Panel.

I have no experience of NT, is currently myself on Windows
2000 Professional coming from Windows 95.

I am going over to my friend tonight. How can I in NT
bypass the install process, get into some kind of safe
mode, and then what exactly do I delete and change before
rebooting? I have been looking for documentation on the
web. Are NT4 installation and user guides available on the
web?
 
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.setup (More info?)

"Hugo" wrote:
| On an existing up and running NT 4.0 SP6 Workstation
| system I very foolishly inserted the NT 4.0 Install CD and
| on the appearing screen clicked on Installing/upgrading
| Windows NT. I just wanted to see what the upgrade options
| were. The installer copied all the files from the CD to
| the hard disk and then told me to boot. At that point I
| clicked on cancel but the installer did not remove the
| temporary files.
|
| This was on a (ex-?) friend's system. This morning when he
| booted the system the install process continued and ended
| in a blue screen that according to my friend said
| something needed changing from the Control Panel.
* From this description it sounds like the install may have went too far.
Did you choose to install into \winnt or some other directory? If the former
then the old OS and registry was probably overwritten. If you choose a
different directory then you should have ended up with a dual-boot in which
case you should be able to start by choosing the correct OS from the
bootloader screen. It may have blue-screened because no controller driver
was supplied during text-mode portion of setup.


| I have no experience of NT, is currently myself on Windows
| 2000 Professional coming from Windows 95.
|
| I am going over to my friend tonight. How can I in NT
| bypass the install process, get into some kind of safe
| mode, and then what exactly do I delete and change before
| rebooting? I have been looking for documentation on the
| web. Are NT4 installation and user guides available on the
| web?
* Either case try creating a boot floppy. For the floppy to successfully
boot Windows NT the disk must contain the "NT" boot sector. Format a
diskette (on an NT machine, not a DOS/Win9x, so the NT boot sector gets
written to the floppy), then copy ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it;
and possibly ntbootdd.sys. Edit the boot.ini to give it a correct ARC path
for the machine you wish to boot.

Then if the OS starts correctly you can edit boot.ini located in the root of
the system partition (usually C:\)
boot.ini will be something like;

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=30
Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT"
C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Windows NT Setup"

Change it to; (note the 'default=' line must also change)

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=30
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT"


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.setup (More info?)

I didn't specify any options at all. I clicked on an icon
on the graphic screen that appeared when I inserted the CD
while NT was up and running, it didn't prompt me for
anything at all, just said copying files to harddisk. When
it finished copying the files it said time to boot, to
which I responded Cancel.

I am quite sure my friend didn't respond to any prompts
either, got the blue screen before that.
 
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.setup (More info?)

What happens now when you boot? Also try the boot floppy.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


<anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
|
| I didn't specify any options at all. I clicked on an icon
| on the graphic screen that appeared when I inserted the CD
| while NT was up and running, it didn't prompt me for
| anything at all, just said copying files to harddisk. When
| it finished copying the files it said time to boot, to
| which I responded Cancel.
|
| I am quite sure my friend didn't respond to any prompts
| either, got the blue screen before that.
 
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.setup (More info?)

>What happens now when you boot? Also try the boot floppy.
Same thing happens, normal start and then blue screen with
Windows NT Installer listing all programs copied to
harddisk saying it cannot continue. I didn't visit my
friend tonight so can't specify the reason Windows NT
Installer stopped. But it was definitely immediately
without any prompts or indications installation had
started.

I don't have another NT system in sight that could produce
the floppy. My floppy disk reader to my W2K system is 300
miles from here. I have access to an XP system but without
floppy disk that could copy to a removable USB disk device.
 
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.setup (More info?)

Widows NT doesn't do USB so that won't work. I don't know what else to tell
you. You seem to have absolutely nothing to work with.

Two things can you give us exact details on the following?

"the install process continued and ended
in a blue screen that according to my friend said
something needed changing from the Control Panel"

"Windows NT Installer listing all programs copied to
| harddisk saying it cannot continue."

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


"Hugo" wrote:
| >What happens now when you boot? Also try the boot floppy.
| Same thing happens, normal start and then blue screen with
| Windows NT Installer listing all programs copied to
| harddisk saying it cannot continue. I didn't visit my
| friend tonight so can't specify the reason Windows NT
| Installer stopped. But it was definitely immediately
| without any prompts or indications installation had
| started.
|
| I don't have another NT system in sight that could produce
| the floppy. My floppy disk reader to my W2K system is 300
| miles from here. I have access to an XP system but without
| floppy disk that could copy to a removable USB disk device.
 
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.setup (More info?)

Also is the file system fat16 or NTFS?

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.setup (More info?)

Ok,
got my friend to restart the computer. There was a
flashing of the start menu and then the blue screen that
said "Inaccessible boot device".

Restarting again there was time to change the start menu
from Windows Installation to Windows NT 4.0 that started
the machine normally. Going into the Control Panel and
System it was then possible to change default operating
system back from Windows Installation to Windows NT 4.0.
Restarting again this booted NT 4.0 normally.

So what remains is to delete what the installation process
added.There are a couple of new folders under C:\. Do I
need to update the registry? How do I delete the Windows
Installation option in the start menu?
 
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.setup (More info?)

See my comments earlier in this thread about boot.ini and as always; what
George tells you is spot on.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


"Hugo" wrote:
| Ok,
| got my friend to restart the computer. There was a
| flashing of the start menu and then the blue screen that
| said "Inaccessible boot device".
|
| Restarting again there was time to change the start menu
| from Windows Installation to Windows NT 4.0 that started
| the machine normally. Going into the Control Panel and
| System it was then possible to change default operating
| system back from Windows Installation to Windows NT 4.0.
| Restarting again this booted NT 4.0 normally.
|
| So what remains is to delete what the installation process
| added.There are a couple of new folders under C:\. Do I
| need to update the registry? How do I delete the Windows
| Installation option in the start menu?
 
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsnt.setup (More info?)

Fortunately you did not provided correct disk driver during installation, so
it cannot overwrite your current one. You need not to manipulate registry.
All you need to do is to remove installation option from startup menu (ie.
from boot.ini file) and to delete installation temporary folder.

* First open Windows explorer (or use "My computer" link) and navigate to
root of your C: drive. Look for file named BOOT.INI here. If you cannot see
it, you have turned on hiding of system/hidden files so go to "View" menu
and choose "Folder options" (newer versions of window explorer have this
option under "Tools" menu). Here go to View tab and check "Display all
files" (or only uncheck box near "Hide hidden/system files" this depends on
actual version of your window explorer).
* (optional) Create NT boot floppy to be sure you can restart your computer
in case of any mistake. Format floppy under NT system and copy following
files from root of C: drive: NTLDR., NTDETECT.COM, BOOT.INI and, if exist,
also optional NTBOOTDD.SYS driver file. Switch machine to boot from floppy
and try to boot from it.
* Right click on file C:\BOOT.INI and choose "Properties" from context menu,
uncheck "ReadOnly" box (if checked) and click on OK.
* Double click on BOOT.INI to open it with Notepad. You will see something
like:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=30
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT"
C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Windows NT Setup"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT [VGA]" /sos /basevideo

Remove line pointing to setup instance, save file and try to reboot. Startup
menu now either do not display setup option or do not be displayed at all.
In case there is only one OS record under operating systems section, startup
menu is skipped. However, it is highly recommended to keep second OS record
with /basevideo startup switch here, especially if you have not off-line
access to boot.ini file. Standard (generic) BOOT.INI content (in case only
default options during installation were used) is like following (text in
description part of record depends on version of OS):

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=30
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT ..."
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows NT ... [VGA]" /sos
/basevideo

Eventually you can have operating system record starting with scsi() instead
of multi() in case disk or partition you installed your OS to is not fully
accessible using standard BIOS disk services.

* Reboot. If you do not see installation option, you can remove folder (or
folders) setup created on your disk. They will probably start with
C:\$WIN_NT$.~

luck


"Hugo" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> píse v diskusním príspevku
news:88bc01c43272$3710b980$a001280a@phx.gbl...
> Ok,
> got my friend to restart the computer. There was a
> flashing of the start menu and then the blue screen that
> said "Inaccessible boot device".
>
> Restarting again there was time to change the start menu
> from Windows Installation to Windows NT 4.0 that started
> the machine normally. Going into the Control Panel and
> System it was then possible to change default operating
> system back from Windows Installation to Windows NT 4.0.
> Restarting again this booted NT 4.0 normally.
>
> So what remains is to delete what the installation process
> added.There are a couple of new folders under C:\. Do I
> need to update the registry? How do I delete the Windows
> Installation option in the start menu?
 
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