low-level geek question

I feel like I should (and do) know the answer to this, but I want to get a second opinion.

1. On a system where there is at least one NT-type partition (NT, 2K, XP) there will be a boot.ini file on C:, which lists the available Windows installations to boot from. Yes? (that is, this file is never absent if such an installation is present?)

2. Even if there is only one and has ever been only one (do Windows installations kill each other with big swords?), this file still exists, and just lists the only available partition as default and probably with timeout=0 so it's automatically selected. (this is the one I'm not sure of).

In other words, if I want to swap C and D in my computer so that I am booting from C and not from D (where my Windows XP install is - I want to wipe C with its Windows 2000 install, and have it be D and use it for backup) - do I need to first put a boot.ini on D, even though it's only going to list the one partition? Or if there's just the one, will it be automatically found and booted to as with 98? (neither of my parents' computers has this file, but I have a feeling that's because they're Win98 and not because that's the only Windows install they've had, but then again I'm not sure, so that's why I'm asking.)

low-level geek question

I feel like I should (and do) know the answer to this, but I want to get a second opinion.

1. On a system where there is at least one NT-type partition (NT, 2K, XP) there will be a boot.ini file on C:, which lists the available Windows installations to boot from. Yes? (that is, this file is never absent if such an installation is present?)

2. Even if there is only one and has ever been only one (do Windows installations kill each other with big swords?), this file still exists, and just lists the only available partition as default and probably with timeout=0 so it's automatically selected. (this is the one I'm not sure of).

In other words, if I want to swap C and D in my computer so that I am booting from C and not from D (where my Windows XP install is - I want to wipe C with its Windows 2000 install, and have it be D and use it for backup) - do I need to first put a boot.ini on D, even though it's only going to list the one partition? Or if there's just the one, will it be automatically found and booted to as with 98? (neither of my parents' computers has this file, but I have a feeling that's because they're Win98 and not because that's the only Windows install they've had, but then again I'm not sure, so that's why I'm asking.)