Lost Win ME boot sector on updgrade?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.setup_upgrade (More info?)

I performed a clean install on W2K Pro on my Win ME
machine. This left me with a dual boot system, which was
fine - except for the fact that there were NO files in the
root directory when I was done! Fortunately, I had another
hd where I had gone through the same exercise, and copied
the root directory files from it, which allowed me to boot
in W2K Pro. However, when I try to boot in Win ME, the
system treats the hd as unbootable.

I didn't really care about keeping ME except for the fact
that I had some education programs that were installed
under subscription, which has since expired. I'd like to
know if anyone can tell me how to get my Win ME boot back,
or how I can migrate my registry so that I can get those
programs to run again.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.setup_upgrade (More info?)

Dave,

You do great work here - I hope someone pays you for this!

In this particular case, the drive was not formatted,
though it seems to partially behave that way. Only the
files were missing from the root directory, not the
folders. I copied the root directory files from another
similarly configured hd to get Windows 2K to boot - but,
when I try to boot in Windows ME, I get the
message "Invalid system disk - replace and strike any key."

It's not that I'm in love with Windows ME, but I had some
important programs installed under ME. All the files are
there, but I can't run the programs because they weren't
installed under Win 2K. If there was some way to import
them into the Win 2K registry, then getting Win ME back
wouldn't be necessary. I can't reinstall the programs
since the keys were provided to me as part of a
subscription which has since expired.

I'm thinking some important system file is still missing,
but I can't figure out what it might be. Any help you can
provide will be deeply deeply appreciated.

Thanks,

Dennis

>-----Original Message-----
>Sounds like the drive was formatted. You'll need to
delete the options you
>want removed from the boot.ini, it's a system, hidden
file in the root of
>the system partition C:\. So you'll need to show-all-
files, hidden, system,
>in Explorer. You should end up with something like this.
The timeout value
>is not functional when there is only one startup choice.
The line your going
>to remove from the boot.ini will be similar to;
>
>C:\="Microsoft Windows"
>
>[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="Microsoft
Windows 2000"
>/fastdetect
>
>
>--
>Regards,
>
>Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in
newsgroup.
>Microsoft Certified Professional
>Microsoft MVP [Windows]
>http://www.microsoft.com/protect
>
>"Dennis Doherty" wrote:
>| I performed a clean install on W2K Pro on my Win ME
>| machine. This left me with a dual boot system, which was
>| fine - except for the fact that there were NO files in
the
>| root directory when I was done! Fortunately, I had
another
>| hd where I had gone through the same exercise, and
copied
>| the root directory files from it, which allowed me to
boot
>| in W2K Pro. However, when I try to boot in Win ME, the
>| system treats the hd as unbootable.
>|
>| I didn't really care about keeping ME except for the
fact
>| that I had some education programs that were installed
>| under subscription, which has since expired. I'd like to
>| know if anyone can tell me how to get my Win ME boot
back,
>| or how I can migrate my registry so that I can get those
>| programs to run again.
>|
>| Thanks for any help you can provide!
>
>
>.
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.setup_upgrade (More info?)

Dave,

That was an interesting idea... unfortunately, for some
reason my WinME startup disk just gets me to a DOS prompt,
from which I can run diagnostics.

Do you know if it's possible to merge a registry from one
WinME disk to another? I have another dual-boot system,
same configuration, and I can mount the problem hard drive
as a secondary drive.

Thanks very much for all your help.

Best Regards,
Dennis

>-----Original Message-----
>Can you start WinME if you boot with your WinME startup
disk? The registry
>structures are completely different so importing from one
OS to the other
>wouldn't be possible.
>
>--
>Regards,
>
>Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in
newsgroup.
>Microsoft Certified Professional
>Microsoft MVP [Windows]
>http://www.microsoft.com/protect
>
>"Dennis Doherty" wrote:
>| Dave,
>|
>| You do great work here - I hope someone pays you for
this!
>|
>| In this particular case, the drive was not formatted,
>| though it seems to partially behave that way. Only the
>| files were missing from the root directory, not the
>| folders. I copied the root directory files from another
>| similarly configured hd to get Windows 2K to boot - but,
>| when I try to boot in Windows ME, I get the
>| message "Invalid system disk - replace and strike any
key."
>|
>| It's not that I'm in love with Windows ME, but I had
some
>| important programs installed under ME. All the files are
>| there, but I can't run the programs because they weren't
>| installed under Win 2K. If there was some way to import
>| them into the Win 2K registry, then getting Win ME back
>| wouldn't be necessary. I can't reinstall the programs
>| since the keys were provided to me as part of a
>| subscription which has since expired.
>|
>| I'm thinking some important system file is still
missing,
>| but I can't figure out what it might be. Any help you
can
>| provide will be deeply deeply appreciated.
>|
>| Thanks,
>|
>| Dennis
>
>
>.
>