Changing the Root Directory for Windows NT

This is an informational article on how to change the directory name of Microsoft Windows NT after it is installed. This could be desirable when, for example, users who have upgraded from Windows NT 3.1 to Windows NT 3.5 wish to change the directory name to reflect the current Microsoft Windows NT version.

NOTE: Microsoft does not support the method described in this article. The supported method is to reinstall Microsoft Windows NT into the appropriate directory. Also note that third-party applications that do not use the Microsoft Windows NT System_Root Flag may also have to be reinstalled.

There are two methods, one for systems in which the Windows NT system root is on a hard disk drive partitioned with Windows NT File System (NTFS) and one for those where the system root is on a FAT partition.

Here is the method for systems with NTFS:

1. Install a parallel copy of Windows NT in a temporary directory.
2. When you start the computer, select the new install of Microsoft Windows NT.
3. Log on and open File Manager, then select the Windows NT directory you wish to rename.
4. From the Options menu at the top of File Manager, click File, and then click Rename.
5. From File Manager, select the Boot drive.
6. From the Options menu, click View, then click By File Type and select the Show Hidden/System Files check box.
7. Highlight the Boot.ini file in the root directory and click File from the Options tool bar.
8. Select Properties then click to clear the Read Only and System attributes check boxes. Click OK.
9. Open Boot.ini with Notepad.exe for editing.
   
   NOTE: Changing the directory name should automatically change the directory name in the Boot.ini file unless it is the default entry. Check the Boot.ini file to make sure the correct directory names are being used.
10. Change the Winnt_Root directory pointer in the following places:

***This is an example of Boot.ini***



Here is the method to use for systems with FAT:

1. From File Manager, change only the attributes for Boot.ini from the Properties window as in the directions above. Do not edit Boot.ini at this point.
2. Ensure that you have a bootable DOS floppy disk with a DOS editor and the Move or Xcopy commands. (If you have a third-party utility that will allow you to change directory names, this can be substituted for the Move and/or Xcopy commands.)
3. Boot your computer from the bootable DOS disk.
4. From the prompt, create the new directory you wish to use (for example, MD WINNT351).
5. Use the Move or Xcopy command to move the Windows NT directory, its files, and its subdirectories to the new directory.
6. Edit the Boot.ini file with an editor following the instructions from above. (NOTE: Since you did not have to install a second copy of Microsoft Windows NT as was true on the NTFS volume, you will not have any entries for a temporary directory.)
7. After saving the new Boot.ini file, remove the system disk and restart the computer.

In addition to the preceeding steps all references to the Windows NT directory in the setup.log file in the repair directory and on the emergency repair disk must also be modified in order for repair to work. For example:

[Paths]
TargetDirectory = "\WINNT35"

[Files.WinNt]
\WINNT35\System32\EEPRO.HLP = "EEPRO.HLP","c56a","\epro","Intel EtherExpress PRO Driver Disk","(null)"

NOTE: After performing the procedure outlined in the article, some programs or services may not function properly because their registry entries are hard-coded to the Windows NT directory name that was in place during the installation of the components. To resolve this with Windows NT 3.51, run Regedt32.exe and on the Registry menu click Save Subtree As and save it as a .txt file. Then run Notepad to search for the old directory path (such as c:\winnt). Take note of the registry entries that need to be modified and change them with Regedt32.exe. To resolve this issue with Windows NT 4.0, you can run Regedit.exe and search for the old Windows NT directory name and replace it with the new directory path.