Dual-Booting Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 on NTFS Partitions

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This article was previously published under Q184299

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SUMMARY

Windows 2000 includes several new features for the NT file system (NTFS) such as disk quotas, encryption, and mount points. These features require changes to the NTFS format. If you are installing Windows 2000 to dual- boot with Windows NT 4.0 on a volume using NTFS, you may not be able to boot Windows NT 4.0.

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The version of NTFS included with Windows 2000 cannot be interpreted correctly by Windows NT 4.0. However, there is an updated Ntfs.sys driver in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 that enables Windows NT 4.0 to read from and write to NTFS volumes in Windows 2000.

When you install Windows 2000, any mounted NTFS volumes are automatically converted to the version of NTFS included with Windows 2000. If you plan to dual-boot Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 for evaluation purposes, you must first install Service Pack 4 or later on Windows NT 4.0.

This NTFS update enables Windows NT 4.0 to mount, read from, and write to NTFS volumes created in Windows 2000. However, the new features in the version of NTFS included with Windows 2000 are disabled when you boot Windows NT 4.0. Dual-booting between Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 is not recommended as a long-term solution. The NTFS update for Windows NT 4.0 is provided only to assist you in evaluating and upgrading to Windows 2000.