It used to be possible (NT4.0) to have a Windows install without a directory called windows.
You could even install multiple Windows OS on same partition as long as each one had a different "main" directory. The bootloading "boot.ini" was automatically edited. Sadly they changed way the boot works.
I'd used that more than once to fix customers workstations or servers with no backups. Install 2nd copy of same version, update to same level of service pack etc. Then fix whatever they broke. Then when original is booting with working GUI you can delete the extra copy in C:\fixwin or whatever.
Of course some idiot programmers assume paths instead of calling APIs.
Sample from a copy of XP
Code:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional (#1)" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
You can see it explicitly lists what the main Windows OS directory is called.
So the trick likely works on XP too.
You can see that has an Alternate XP on a different disk. The disc controller and channel on it can be specified too.
I had one laptop where that had 2 different versions of NT, A Win98 that could boot WFWG3.11 and a version of Linux, without using GRUB as the OS selection bootloader.
MS Skipped Windows 9 because too many idiot programmers used wrong APIs for OS versions and feature and some programs would mistake Windows 9 (NT family) for the last non-NT family, which was Windows 9x & ME.
NEVER assume what you've always seen is how it has to work!