You can use a parallel installation of Windows NT to fix a failed NT
installation or to recover files on NTFS partitions. A corrupted installation
can often be fixed by copying over a single file, perhaps a missing boot.ini or
corrupted executable or dll. Although its easier with a FAT file system, like
most things in life, easy is not necessarily best. NTFS file system is simply
the only reasonalble choice for servers in a production environment. There are
times when a repair installation is best for recovery processes and times when a
parallel installation works best. If you suspect malicious behavior is behind
the failure, a parallel installation will allow you to examine the original
files and make a backup of all files for detailed forensic examination.
In any case, it takes about 125MB of free space to install the parallel
version of Windows NT. The process is similar to the original installation –
just be careful to not overwrite the original installation files. See the
Microsoft documents for more details if you are not familar with the process:
Q259003: How and Why to Perform a Parallel Installation of Windows
NT 4.0
Q244378: System Cleanup After a Parallel Installation of Windows
NT 4.0
