I ahve heard in about a gazillion (seriously) places that if you replace 2000's boot loader (ntldr and ntdetect.com) with XP's, 2000 will boot a little faster. Same with 2003 files with XP.

On to my question: Something I have never heard is about the 2003 boot loader on 2000. Will it work, or will it give you a blue screen? Has anyone ever tested it?

Logic says that 2000 will boot even faster, but microsoft doesn't use that a whole lot.

the_guy

Guy, just to clarify, you're talking about replacing Win2k NTDETECT.COM and ntldr with Win2k3 Server NTDETECT.COM and ntldr, correct?

@tommyp, since I plan to do a test run soon, I'd be willing to give this a shot. Let me know if you think HFSLIP will cover this?

Yes, that is what I mean. I've just never heard of it.

the_guy

hfslip'll do it. i tried it (2003 files) and it worked on my machine. windows 2000, that is. i just use the xp files... dunno why.

Edited October 13, 200520 yr by fdv

I guess you'd have to get 2k3 Server NTDETECT.COM and ntldr files from SP1 to Win2k Server.

Anyone know if a later hotfix updates 2k3 Server's NTDETECT.COM and ntldr files?

I know the 2k3 boot loader works in xp it works very well. It reduces the comitt and makes xp overall more responsive.

This is a good thing if it will work in 2k.

The later versions of ntldr and ntdetect.com support all of the older switches and then some more. This is in part due to the fact one might dual boot Windows NT4 and, say Win2k3 or leghorn. The experiment box has this combination, the plan is to introduce some form of XP (prol sp1 or sp2), and Win2k.

For example, you can't boot a MININT session from a NT4 or W2K boot loader, you need XP sp1 or better. The later versions do fix up the bugs in it.

Note that XP introduces a new debug dll (dbcom.dll) into the kernel, which is why the lockthorn /USENEWLOADER works with these versions [when the %windir%\system32\winload.exe is copied from leghorn to these versions. The older versions (NT4, W2K) do not support this dll, or the new switch.

For the moment, i don't reccomend using leghorn's boot loader, but loading it by a back-door hack.

W

For the moment, i don't reccomend using leghorn's boot loader, but loading it by a back-door hack

What is this "backdoor hack"

I have tried this myself two days ago. It works, but I prefer the XP boot files which I'm using now.

I have an AMD X2 4200+, and Windows 2000 is set up as "ACPI Multiprocessor PC". This causes the system to boot a little slower, and sometimes I still get the white loading bar on the black background. In my experience, if I get the white loading bar, it stays longer when using the 2K3 boot files; the rest of the boot up process is a little bit slower as well.

Maybe we should make this a poll?

Everyone who's tried out both votes so that we can see easily which is preferable on Win2k, the Win2k3 or XP versions of NTDETECT.COM and NTLDR?

For the moment, i don't reccomend using leghorn's boot loader, but loading it by a back-door hack

What is this "backdoor hack"

Some proggie i found on the net, which loads under NTLDR, and then loads lockhorn's bootmgr.

It's called AVLDR.EXE, it comes with some utility i dug up for booting leghorn's winpe from the hard drive.

W

Hmmm leghorn, lockhorn.... Lookout outbreak express... me see some similiarities creeping in...