DUAL BOOT QUESTION?

[Barbusa]

I have partitioned my hard disk so that I have the option of booting into my original Windows 2000 Pro system or my new Windows XP Home Edition (set as default).

The Windows 2000 system is located on drive c: (has about 15 GB of free space) and Windows XP on drive d: (has over 100 GB of free space)

Whereas I have no problems at all when booting into Windows XP, when I opt to boot into Windows 2000 I get a message, in a DOS type box, saying that the drive needs to be checked for errors.

When I confirm that this is ok, as recommended, it starts a process which takes at least 20 minutes during which thousands of lines of text scroll through the 'DOS' box.

When the process eventually finishes it boots into Windows 2000 with no problems.

Could it possibly be something to do with files needing to be re-indexed for each system?

I would be grateful if anyone is able to please enlighten me as to why this process is necessary and, if it is not, are there any changes I can make to prevent this happening.

 

[Igorian]

Did this only start after you set up the dual boot scenario?

CHKDSK (or rather AUTOCHK) runs automatically at bootup because the dirty volume bit has been set. This can happen if the operating system, or part of it is in an inconsistent state or if cached changes were not committed to disk during shutdown.

Use the event viewer to examine the output from CHKDSK. This should give you an idea of the errors and the files involved. You can post your results here for more information.

You can also use the FSUTIL command (from a command prompt) to check the status of the dirty bit (assuming you are using NTFS). The syntax is FSUTIL DIRTY QUERY C:
Change the C: to whichever drive you happen to be checking.

I am assuming that your volume was not originally partitioned before you installed XP. Did you use a tool to partition it on the fly (partitionmagic for example). I have known these tools to leave 'peculiar' markers on the disk, which can fool certain tools into thinking there is a problem.

 

[Barbusa]

I think you may have a point. My disk was indeed partitioned, using Partition Magic, before I installed Windows XP onto it.

I will give the "FSUTIL DIRTY QUERY C:" a try and let you know what happens!

Many thanks

 

[Barbusa]

I can't seem to get the "FSUTIL DIRTY QUERY C:" to run.

It is not recognised in Windows 2000 and I cannot run it using the 'run' command in XP.

 

[Igorian]

Run it from a command prompt in Windows XP.

START>RUN then type cmd and press <ENTER>

Type it in the window that opens.

 

[Barbusa]

I've run the FSUTIL DIRTY QUERY C:/D: and neither volume is 'Dirty'!

 

[Igorian]

What errors exist in the event viewer under WIn2k?