Windows on secondary without NTFS or FAT on primary drive

[e837c417e5b2e17f]

I install a lot of operating systems (I have eight right now XD), and Windows is the only one that does this to me.

I've got two EIDE drives and one new SATA drive. IDE Master contains zero FAT or NTFS partitions, because I use it for Linux and file storage (not that it would fare any better if I had BSD or Solaris on that drive). This pisses Windows off, and whenever I try to install it it starts complaining about how it wants to write to the MBR but it can't do it without a windows-compatible partition there. And I'm not gonna repartition that disk below the extended partition just for a whiney Windows installer. (Unhelpfully, the installer does not specify that it needs a primary partition, although I assume it does, since when I tried giving it 3 gigs of logical partition in the top end of that drive's extended partition, it didn't behave differently.)

Windows is the only OS that refuses to install without some way of writing to the MBR of a disk I'm not even installing it to. Other operating systems ask to, but you can tell them no.

What I've been doing to install Windows is unplugging my IDE cables just to install Windows, then plugging them back in and using GRUB or my BIOS drive selector to get to the Windows installs after they're done. Is there an easier way to do this? Windows is seriously the only OS I've ever had to crack my box open to install. I don't need to be trying to outsmart my OS before I even get it installed.

I think what needs to be done is to either trick Windows into thinking the SATA drive IS the master drive that it should want to write the MBR to (pereferably without messing with cables), or find a way to get it past the partitioning stage without complaining. Can Windows do this? If not, is there another way I can get Windows to install without repartitioning a drive I don't want it touching (it has already corrupted GRUB, yay for my grub-on-a-stick thumbdrive)?

I'm trying to get XP to install at the moment, but Vista had the same problem, circumvented by the above-mentioned cable unplugging.

I'm gonna clobber Windows' MBR with GRUB anyways, so it's just annoying how inflexible this installer is. Anyone with suggestions, I appreciate it.

 

[chibicitiberiu]

You're sort of weird...
But I think I can help you. Maybe Windows wants a primary partition to be able to boot. And for xp you need at least 10 GB to work properly (I had 6 on my old pc and it worked veeery slow). Vista (home basic) needs 20 GB to 40 to install (other versions).
You can get the bootable Partition Magic disk(s) and set your partitions the easy way.

 

[e837c417e5b2e17f]

No, I know partitioning and am quite comfortable doing it from a command line. I've got the partitions all set up and everything.

My drives boot in this order
1st: 250GB IDE Master (contains no FAT/NTFS partitions, and I'm NOT going to change them)
2nd: 40GB IDE Slave
3rd: 500GB SATA

The Windows installer will not proceed with installation until it has a Windows-compatible (FAT/NTFS) primary partition on my 250 GB hard drive. I am not going to give it one.

What I want to do is install it to a primary partition on my third (SATA) drive.

Windows knows that this is not the first drive to boot, and so insists on installing to my first (250GB) drive.

I do not want this and will not allow or tolerate it. However, Windows will not allow or tolerate NOT doing it. Thus, I cannot install Windows, as its expectations of me and my expectations of it are mutually exclusive.

So far I've been tricking it into installing by unplugging my first (250GB) and second (40GB) drives. This is a pain in the ass and I'd really like to just be able to control where Windows installs to. I don't think it's a high expectation of a tool to conform to the needs of the user, and thus the OS to conform to my partition and drive layout, I'm not asking the impossible of it, just asking it to do something it doesn't normally do.

Can I do this? Can I get Windows to not touch my first-boot drive without unplugging it and making something else my first-boot drive?