How to Install W2K on a Modern System (Lessons Learned the Hard Way)

Rev. Aug. 18, 2007

I've learned a bit more about this, and it's reflected in this revision post.

[start of an Aside on How This Got Started]

Learned from various sources including the thread I started here, "Can W2K

Be Installed on SATA Drives?"

Let me start with an explanation of "the Hard Way". I have a P5NSLI ASUS

motherboard that supports both IDE and SATA controllers. The key word is

"both". I wanted to install W2K on the STATA HD, a 320G WS SATA drive. I had

some fun trying to get to a point where the OS install asked how I wanted to

partition the drive. I was stumped by this window that came up in the install:

==============================

76294 MB Dis 0k on bus 0 on atapi

C:NIFS(Drv1_main) 76003MB<6360MB Free

D:FAT32(Drv1_extra) 290MB<237MB Free

131070MB Disk 0 at at 0? on? bus 0 on atapi (I didn't copy the ? legibly)

Unpartitioned space 131069MB

===============================

What puzzled me is that the disk was showing about 76G of space, but yet I

had 320G. In my sometimes dizzying attempt to get this far, I asked ASUS

tech, the techs at the store I bought the MB at, and others what's this all

about. Just continue on they all said. When you apply SP4, it'll take care

of the discrepancy. Wrong! That was my IDE 80G HD from my previous system. I

had mounted it safely, I thought, on the IDE controller thinking an install

would choose the SATA master. Not so. Let me say, charitably, the contents

of the 80G HD are no longer with me. (80/76 vs 320--Get it?) Instead it

contains only W2K. I probably won't miss the data too much, since over the

years I've moved the important stuff to my PC in the den. The world has

changed in the four years since I last completely built a PC, etc. :-)

I had a long discussion with the ASUS tech on how to get this right.

Basically, and what seems the simplest way, is to pull the 80G drive. That

will force the install to to the SATA drive. Then I'll clean (reformat) the

80G HD later (after hooking it up again).

[End of the Aside]

Here's the step by step procedure. Make sure you've taken care of IDE/SATA

issues as above. Make sure you are booting from CD as first choice. Make

adjustment as required. Most of this should be good for any MB.

1. Fire up the PC

2. Place their driver CD in the drive

3. Wait for the initial ASUS screen to appear, and finally a

prompt to boot from the CD. Press a key to start the boot.

(Of course, you need to set BIOS to know to start the boot

from a CD before trying a HD or other device.

4. Wait for a prompt to choose 32-bit, 64-bit or DOS prompt

5. I selected 32-bit. Wait for a prompt for a floppy

6. Place a 3.5" (fresh) floppy disk in drive-A. Wait for 8

files to be copied to the CD

Continuing with the install of W2K

1. Insert the W2K CD

2. Press the boot button when asked

3. Hit F6 soon

4. A prompt for the floppy appears.

5. Put the floppy in and continue

6. Select the "required" sources. In my case there were two.

Select one, then loop around to select the second.

6. Press F8 to continue the install

7. Continue on until you get to the partitioning. Make sure

you don't fumble the ball like I did.

8. Continue to the end of set up.

Change boot priority in BIOS to first boot from HD (see HD selection in BIOS

too) before you examine that it works. *You're not finished yet. See next

paragraph.*

Here's what to do after you get W2K installed (From Patrick above). I

haven't tried this, but it looks sound.

Be sure to apply SP4 (A) and these two below (B and C) to your new install

before connecting to any network. Internet included. (sasser, msblast)

A. SP4 dated 6/26/2003

<http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE>

B: Buffer Overrun in Messenger Service ... -- Issued 10/15/2003

Use Microsoft Windows 2000, Service Pack 2, Service Pack 3,

Service Pack 4 -- Download the patch.

<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx>

C: Buffer Overrun in the Workstation ... Issued 11/11/2003

Use Microsoft Windows 2000, Service Pack 2, Service Pack 3,

Service Pack 4 -- Download the update

<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx>

Then

D: Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (Critical security

updates rolled into one convenient package)

Validate by pressing Continue button (Validation Required), then on next

page run the validation tool (in step 1, press Continue) on the W2K machine

to get a validation code. Press validate after entering the code, in step 2.

Proceed to download.

<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?ampdisplaylang=en&familyid=B54730CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en>

Finally,

E: For systems with a HD with more than 137G capacity

<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305098>

Also see <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322755> on backing up the registry.

You may need to add space to the size of the partition if it only took up

137G of a larger HD. Partition Magic is probably the ticket here. I'm about

to look into it as I continue past E. I may revise the end of this procedure

if necessary, but the above is sound.

If you are installing on a new PC and motherboard (MB), install all the

drivers from the MB mfger's CD before going to far.

Enjoy your new installation ...

--

Wayne Watson (Nevada City, CA)

Web Page: <speckledwithStars.net>