Hi:

I've been following the guide at http://flyakite.msfnhosting.com/ to create my first multiboot dvd. I've been successful with most OS's, but am having trouble with Windows 2000 Pro. I copied the files from the CD onto my hard drive, slipstreamed SP4, then followed the rest of the directions in the guide. However, whenever I run virtual PC, I get the following error "STOP: C0000221 UNKNOWN HARD ERROR \SYSTEMROOT\SYSTEM32\NTDLL.DLL". I should probably mention here that my copy of Windows 2000 uses four floppy disks in order to boot. I searched through this forum to see if others had the same problem, but found little that was useful. Any and all help with this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

No replies? If people haven't had this exact same problem, could you at least give me some ideas where to start looking for answers? Thanks again!

one of the files (dll's) during load is corrupt or has a bad crc. Try copying the files again from the cd or redownload the 4-disk set used to boot windows 2000. Make sure the cd you are copying from does not have scratches or read problems. And replace ntdll of course.

Thanks for the reply, LiquidSage!

Unfortuantely, no matter how many times I tried re-copying the files, I couldn't get Windows 2000 to boot properly in the Virtual PC. On a whim, I decided to just burn the ISO image to disc to see what would happen if I booted it in another machine. And guess what? IT WORKED!! I even tried to boot the disc in the machine I was having so much trouble with initially, and it worked too. What's up with that? Any insight would again be appreciated.

What is the total size of your ISO....

If it is more the 1.97GB... VPC WILL NOT BOOT.

You MUST use a second emulator... Alcohol 120 or daemon tools or such other program...

I found out the hard way.....

a fairly obscure cmd is during the promt for flppy based drivers... Press F6 screen, if you press F7, supposedly a different (more compatible) set of hardware drivers are used. Windows 2000 may be having problems with whatever mix of real and emulated hardware you have. Did you add your own drivers to the install?

And as the prev. post stated, if booting off a big iso, you will run into problems. Did the other OS's (XP 2003) work? I don't think it is ISO file size however because that usually stops you upon boot. It sounds like you got stopped after booting and selecting a OS. You can also use a XP boot folder to trigger a 2000 install. Might as well replace 2000's ntdetect and ntldr while your at it as well. Good luck and try it on VMWare. Just reg. an email and you can get an eval of v5 fully working.

Thanks once again for the responses...

First, the size of my ISO is over 3.2GB. I didn't actually know about the limits of Virtual PC until I looked today at http://unattended.msfn.org/global/virtual.htm. It probably would help if the information was posted right on the Multiboot DVD guide site. Anyway, I first tried to load the ISO in Virtual Clone Drive before loading the drive in the virtual machine. No luck. Then I downloaded and installed Daemon Tools and everything seemd to work. The only questions I still have are 1) can I actually install an OS on a virtual hard drive in Virtual PC? and 2) why, when I try to install Windows 2000 using my multiboot dvd do I get an error saying "The following value in the .SIF file used by Setup is corrupted or missing: Value 0 on the line in section [sourceDisksFiles] with key "SP4.CAB""??

1. yes you can still install any program in VPC.... even after mounting it in daemon tools....

2. can you post your winnt.sif file...

Are you usesing a SP4 slipstreamed 2k disk/image.... did you kae shure to copy all of the files to the root where needed... and delete the files mentioned in the guide...Multibppt dvd guide

BrandonS:

Thanks for the information about installing in VPC. I'd be happy to post winnt.sif, but I've searched all my hard drives and can't find a file with that name. Could it be named something else? For Windows 2000, I slipstreamed SP4 after extracting the files from the original CD. I also copied the data from the four startup disks to create my 2PRO directory under C:\AIO-DVD. I followed the instructions at http://flyakite.msfnhosting.com/ to the T, but will try again from scratch if you think that will help.

Suggestion..... Use Nlite... Put 2k in cd drive... havve nlite dump cd on HDD... get nlite to the slipstream sp4 for you.... have nlite make the disk bootable... stash in cd vault... then use the new "win 2ksp4" for your project... first test just the "cd" or single ISO (2k only) in VPC... make sure no problems... if none then integrate into you AIO project...

I'll try it tonight BrandonS...Thanks!

The SIF file it's referring to is your txtsetup.sif, not winnt.sif. You can post that here if you're still having problems after trying the above suggestions.

SUCCESS!!!

I followed BrandonS's instructions and used NLite to extract, slipstream, and convert my original win 2k files into a bootable ISO. The resulting image worked in a stand-alone install and when I integrated it into my multiboot project (in fact, I'm writing this reply from within VPC's version of win2ksp4!). It's crazy, but this project, although generally completed, has me asking more questions now than when I started it. For example, can I partition my virtual hard drive and thus create a multiboot virtual hard drive? Can I install a VPC within a VPC? And what about all the possibilities with BartPE and with creating custom startup menus? I actually quite fascinated by the possibilities here and will be sure to explore more as time permits. In the meantime, thanks once again for the input. I now have a working 8 OS multiboot DVD!