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Q140231: Changing Boot Partition from NTFS to FAT Hangs Setup

Article: Q140231
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): 3.51
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbsetup
Last Modified: 08-AUG-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 3.51 
- Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.51 
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SYMPTOMS
========

When you install Windows NT 3.51 on a startup partition (the partition that is
marked active and boots the system) which is formatted with the NTFS File
System, reformatting that existing NTFS startup/boot partition as FAT during
Windows NT Setup causes your computer to hang after Setup initially reboots, but
before the Boot Menu appears.

WORKAROUND
==========

There are three workarounds to this problem:

- Run setup again. When prompted, select the startup partition (which appears
  now as FAT) as the partition to install to. The following message appears:

  The partition you have chosen is recognized by Windows NT but is unformatted
  or damaged. Setup will have to reformat this partition to install Windows NT
  on it.

  To continue and use the partition anyway, press C. Setup will confirm this
  again later before actually reformatting the partition.

  Select 'C' to reformat the partition. Setup reboots and your computer starts
  normally.

  -or-

- Use FDISK from MS-DOS 6.22 to delete the non-DOS (NTFS) partition before
  running Windows NT Setup.

  -or-

- Delete and recreate the partition using Windows NT Setup, formatting the
  newly created partition as FAT.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.51. We are
researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Additional query words: prodnt lock
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Keywords          : kbsetup 
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNTWsearch kbWinNT351search kbWinNTW351search kbWinNTW351 kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTS351 kbWinNTS351search
Version           : 3.51

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