Solved Unable to reinstall older Windows versions

[indodario]

Hello,

I am experiencing problems in reinstalling old Windows versions on an old PC equipped with a 300GB hard-disk drive (and NO internet access, so seemingly virus free), where several versions have worked flawlessly for nearly two decades (Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP)... until the moment I wanted to try Windows 7 - and soon afterwards Ubuntu. (I am a proud user of Windows 7 Professional x64, but my main PC is much faster than the one experiencing this issue).
Either Windows 7 and Ubuntu do install and work at some extent (RAM is limited to 512MB and a Sempron CPU does the best it can), but since the time I "polluted" the system with those "new" OSs I am not able to downgrade back to any of the above-mentioned older versions. All of the bootable CDs I have, whether it's Windows 98 ME 2000 or XP, will start formatting the hard-disk, copy their files and successfully get to the first reboot (when you remove the Setup disk from the CD drive). Once the computer is restarted all goes blank with no message whatsoever. It seems as if something is wrong with the master boot record (MBR) or the partition that has been newly created. If I try to resume the setup and get to the console recovery, I will see partition(s) are either unknown or damaged (although Setup itself did it - with no error message).
On the other hand, if I install Windows 7 (or Ubuntu) the installation process completes and the OS runs fine (but still remains unusable compared to older Windows versions, due to low CPU speed and limited RAM).
I believe either Windows 7 or Ubuntu have changed something in my HDD that no utility that I am aware of seems to fix: format, fdisk, diskpart. I have even tried with a Ubuntu live CD "Boot-Repair Disk", from which I create a NTFS partition and format the drive before launching a new Windows Setup, but every time Setup gets there the partition(s) seem to be unknown or damaged and a new format is needed. And the loop goes on forever.
Is there a way to convince my hard-disk drive that with an older OS installed it will run as fast as before? Thank you for any suggestion you might give.
Regards,
Dario

 

[Megahertz07]

Try to boot from a Win 7 installation drive and launch a CMD window (Shift+F10) and type:
diskpart
list disk (it will list all drives. Identify HDD drive number)
select disk n (replace n by the HDD drive number obtained with list disk)
clean
convert mbr
create part primary
select part 1
format fs=NTFS quick
exit (to exit diskpart)

Now boot from the installation drive you want to install

 

[indodario]

Thank you, Megahertz07

I did exactly as you suggested, starting from:

[list disk] number=disc 0 status=online dimensions=298GB available=0byte dim= GPT=*
[select disk 0] ok
[clean] ok completed, now same as above but number=*disc 0 available=298GB GPT=
[convert mbr] ok succeeded, same as above
[create part primary] ok completed, same as above but available=0byte
[select part 1] ok 1 is selected
[format fs=NTFS quick] ok
[exit]

rebooted and started installation of Windows 2000 Professional, which reads 131070MB disc SCSI 0 id0 on atapi and shows:
unpartitioned 1MB
C: unformatted or damaged 305243MB

after selecting install, Setup reminds me that the partition chosen is either full, unpartitioned, damaged or not recognizable (most likely option), and starts formatting NTFS again (taking about 20 minutes). It then correctly copies all files needed and reboots, leaving me with another blank screen and an unusable disk (unless I install Windows 7 or Ubuntu, the only two OSs capable of booting my hard-disk).

Anything else I should try?

 

[dg1261]

rebooted and started installation of Windows 2000 Professional, which reads 131070MB disc [...]

Sounds like you're running up against the 128/137GB limit.*

It's been a long time since I've had to deal with it, but IIRC, use of a disk larger than that required W2K SP4 or XP SP1. 95/98/ME did not support disks larger than 137 GB. Depending on the age of the PC, there's a chance the BIOS also may not support large disks. I won't comment on why it seemed to work before because there are way too many unknown variables involved (such as disk overlays and partition sizes) to make a guess.

You might try limiting your partition size to less than 137 GB and seeing if the old OS will install. If it does, then you'll know that's the problem, and can decide how you want to deal with it.


* depending on how you count, the following are all equivalent:

• 137,438,953,472 bytes -- often referred to as 137 GB
• 131,072 MiB (binary megabytes, sometimes confusingly referred to as MB)
• 128 GiB (binary gigabytes, sometimes confusingly referred to as GB)

 

[Megahertz07]

If it's a old computer:
- Is the HDD original? Does the computer has SATA ports or you're using a PCI adapter?
- Does it claim for a driver when you boot the installation drive?

 

[indodario]

Thank you both for your feedback. I would not bother too much about the 131070MB reading, as it may only be a false (as false as the full or damaged partition statement).

I bought that custom PC in January 2005, originally with a 80GB hard-disk. Initially I used Windows XP, but when Service Pack 3 was released I decided to step back to Windows 2000 Professional. In March 2009 the hard-disk failed (with a data loss of 5-10% after recovery), so a new 320GB Western Digital was fitted. I do not remember any change in hard-disk settings, BIOS or else, I have successfully used it from 2009 to 2018 as my primary computer with at least three clean installs over the years, always using all of its 320GB. It connects to a SATA port, and does not need any driver. For simplicity I have always single-partitioned it as C: drive.

As explained in my original post, something happened after I installed Windows 7 and Xubuntu in late 2018 (either in single and in dual boot). I am not sure which of the two is the real culprit, but I am positive something was messed up during their installation. The hard-disk is not damaged, it does work fine if I now install Windows 7 or Xubuntu (though being too slow with Windows 7 and too ugly with Xubuntu). Something seems to prevent me from installing any of the older versions. I even tried to install on a limited-size partition the other day, with the same result. I do not understand much about MBR, GPT and partitions, but I reckon the problem could be there.

 

[Megahertz07]

The Diskpart commands I gave you cleans all the disk and it has format as NTFS.

Lets try to do it again leaving it as unformatted.
diskpart
list disk (it will list all drives. Identify HDD drive number)
select disk n (replace n by the HDD drive number obtained with list disk)
clean
exit (to exit diskpart)

Now boot from the Win 2000 Pro or Win XP CD, format the drive and try to install.

 

[indodario]

I apologize for the first statement in my last post, the issue is actually related to limits in addressing hard-disks larger than 137GB (as correctly pointed out by dg1261). I found the very same issue at LARGEST HARD DRIVE IN WINDOWS 2000 - Microsoft: Windows - Tek-Tips and a solution here How to Install a Large Hard Drive (>137GB) on Windows 2000 | Kuhnline.com.

So I repeated the Windows 2000 install once more on one of the two small partitions seen by Setup, and this time it succeeded. Don't ask me why it failed the other day, and why I never needed to do so in the past years. Once installed, I manually added the new EnableBigLba registry key and the whole disk capacity was finally revealed.

Now I am afraid, in an attempt to extend the small ~80GB active partition to full size, that I mistakenly turned the disk from basic to dynamic (in Disk Management), and so I am stuck again. No worries, I am going to reinstall this OS and walk through the above steps over again. The question now is: how do I extend the volume so that I can have only a 320GB C: drive? (I do not want to use third-party software). I might have forgotten about registry key additions in the past, but I'm sure I never needed external partition managers.Thank you for your patience, I feel I'm getting closer to solution now.

 

[Megahertz07]

if you install in a partition (120G for example) and leave the remaining as unallocated once you change the register, reboot and with Disk Manager you can extend the windows partition to the end of the drive. If Win 2K doesn't have a Disk Manager that allow to extend a partition you can do with Diskpart
Extend a data volume - Windows Server | Microsoft Docs

 

[indodario]

Sorry for the delay, I was out of town for a few days.

So, I have once more made a fresh new installation of Windows 2000 on a 80GB partition of my hard-disk. After formatting it NTFS and copying the files, it reboots fine. Once Setup is finished, I proceed with the upgrade to Service Pack 4 and add the registry key EnableBigLba set to 1, reboot so that eventually I can open Disk Management and see the remaining 220GB of Unallocated space on my drive. That is excellent.

Now, how do I merge C: NTFS partition of nearly 80GB with those Unallocated 220GB to make a single 298GB partition? Apparently I cannot find any Extend... command. Also, from the article Megahertz07 suggested "Extend a data volume...Microsoft Docs" I read of Diskpart.exe, but there is no diskpart.exe file on my system. I must be missing something, please help.

 

[Megahertz07]

Boot from a Win 7, 8.x or 10 installation drive (on a DVD or USB drive) and on the install screen press Shift+F10 to launch a CMD window and then run the diskpart command to expand the partition.
Extend a data volume - Windows Server | Microsoft Docs

 

[indodario]

Hurray! Thanks very much, Megahertz07.


The diskpart.exe utility did the trick in just a couple of commands. That was Windows 7's grateful contribution to its predecessor.

 

[Megahertz07]

Well done.