Windows Whistler Installation Instructions for Early Builds.

This is a guide on how to install early builds of Windows Whistler. I am using 2202 in this guide, but the procedure should be the same for all versions that give the "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DISK" error. I could not find a good one for real hardware, so here's one from me:

Note: I noticed the images seem to have this odd thing where the top of the monitor looks really dark. I don't know why. It shouldn't interfere with the tutorial.

First, you will need to change your device’s BIOS time and date to the one needed by the installer. For 2202, this is 02-05-2000. You should be able to access the BIOS by pushing Delete or F2 on startup (the two most common ones). From there, set the time and date, save, and exit. (usually F10, then enter).

Next, get your boot disk. I am using a Windows 95 boot disk from here. Ensure you download the Windows 95B disk (direct link). The instructions on how to create it should be pretty straight forward if you use that link.

Insert it into your computer, then turn it on. You should eventually end up with a DOS prompt.

From here, ensure you can read a CD according to the instructions (in my case, type X:, then DIR to see if it actually sees anything on the disk, and then type A: again to go back to the floppy.

After that, run FDISK. It will ask if you want large disk support. Type “Y” then hit “Enter”. After that, it will show you with a screen asking what to do. In my case, I needed to delete a partition, so I did option 3. Then I selected 1, as that was the only partition on the disk, followed the prompts on screen, let it delete the partition, then pressed Escape to head back to the main menu.

From there, you need to select “1” from the option screen to create a partition, then “1” again to create a primary partition, and then let it create the partition. Ensure you select “Y” if it asks if you want to use the maximum size.

It will then prompt you to restart the computer. Press “escape” once more, then do a CTRL+ALT+DELETE to reboot the machine. Leave the floppy in the drive.

Once the computer boots back into the disk, type “FORMAT C:”. Follow the onscreen prompts, and let it format. This will take time.

From here, access the CD using the command X: (replace X with the letter of your CD drive, usually D:). I also reccomend running the command "smartdrv". It speeds up the file transfer quite a bit. From there, type “cd I386”, then winnt. Setup should open. Follow the onscreen prompts and you should be good to go. From here on, it should be a fairly normal Windows 2000 install. You won’t need to boot off of the CD anymore, but you will need to leave it in the drive. When it restarts, it will prompt you to select a drive. After selecting it, it will ask you to convert it to NTFS. Do that, and you should be good to go.

I hope this guide helped you get it up and running.