DOS and Windows XP dual boot

[ardwark]

can someone give me insructions on setting up a DOS/XP dual boot
system. I dont care what version of DOS I have. I tried installing DOS
on a FAT partition (the first partition C and then on the second
partition (NTFS) I deployed a ghost image of the XP OS I needed. I am
confused as to how to bring up options for DOS and XP on boot.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

How to Multiple Boot Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 95,
Windows 98, Windows Me, and MS-DOS
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q217210

Multibooting with Windows XP: Introduction (1 of 4 parts)
Multibooting with Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/multiboot.mspx

How do I install Windows® 98/Me after I've installed XP?
(without 3rd party software)
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_repair_9x.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[ardwark]

thanks...I did look at those documents.....but no dice...I think I
missed something somewhere...

My current setup has DOS on one partition and XP on another. The DOS
was installed before deploying the XP image on the second partition. If
the DOS partition is made active it boots directly into DOS.
I tried making the XP partition the active partition and then changed
the boot.ini file to display OS options. When I boot up the computer
the OS options show up. If I choose the XP options the computer boots
into XP fine. If I choose the DOS option the computer just reboots and
comes back to the OS option screen.

I know I messed up somewhere but I do not know where. Does the DOS
partition need to be the active partition? If so, how do I bring up a
screen with boot options (without using a third party software).
Is there a way to make it dual boot with the option to choose which OS
to load without using a third party boot manager software?

thanks

 

[Ghostrider]

thanks...I did look at those documents.....but no dice...I think I
missed something somewhere...

My current setup has DOS on one partition and XP on another. The DOS
was installed before deploying the XP image on the second partition. If
the DOS partition is made active it boots directly into DOS.
I tried making the XP partition the active partition and then changed
the boot.ini file to display OS options. When I boot up the computer
the OS options show up. If I choose the XP options the computer boots
into XP fine. If I choose the DOS option the computer just reboots and
comes back to the OS option screen.

I know I messed up somewhere but I do not know where. Does the DOS
partition need to be the active partition? If so, how do I bring up a
screen with boot options (without using a third party software).
Is there a way to make it dual boot with the option to choose which OS
to load without using a third party boot manager software?

thanks

IMO, the last, best multi-boot system with MS-DOS would be the
one with Windows NT 4.0. Yes, the DOS partition needs to be the
active, system partition because everything boots from it. (The
alternative would be to use a third-party boot manager along with
multiple HD's, each configured for a particular operating system.)

With an ancient OS like MS-DOS functioning in today's computing
environment, it might be simpler (and better) to obtain an older
system and use it specifically for MS-DOS. This is due to the
limitations of MS-DOS itself, including type (FAT) and size of
HD partitions (<2.047 GB), cross-platform capability to just
DOS, and so on.

OTOH, Windows XP could be content to use a DOS partition and run
well-programmed DOS applications in the DOS box. A separate WinXP
machine would turn out better overall.

 

[ardwark]

that sucks!! I really hoped I would be able to do it.....Here is what
we are trying to do.....please tell me if anyone has any ideas....

Once we install XP and other software etc on a hard drive we create a
ghost image using Symantec ghost and save the image on a second NTFS
partition on the hard drive. If and when there is a problem with XP or
something we would then deploy this saved image back on to the C:
partition.
It would be great if we could create a third partition that would boot
to DOS. If and when we do the image restoration we would not need to
worry about ghost boot disks/network card drivers etc etc. we would
just boot to the dos partition, run ghost and do the image restoration.

any ideas?

 

[Ghostrider]

that sucks!! I really hoped I would be able to do it.....Here is what
we are trying to do.....please tell me if anyone has any ideas....

Once we install XP and other software etc on a hard drive we create a
ghost image using Symantec ghost and save the image on a second NTFS
partition on the hard drive. If and when there is a problem with XP or
something we would then deploy this saved image back on to the C:
partition.
It would be great if we could create a third partition that would boot
to DOS. If and when we do the image restoration we would not need to
worry about ghost boot disks/network card drivers etc etc. we would
just boot to the dos partition, run ghost and do the image restoration.

any ideas?

If this is the design, it is still an old-fashion way of
doing things. Don't use Symantec Ghost but Acronis TrueImage.
To restore an image, it is a simple matter of booting the
computer via CD to a runtime version of TrueImage, plug in
the external HD or slip in the cdrom with the image file(s)
and restore. It could not be any simpler and I believe Ghost
has the same capabilities. The need to go to a quasi MS-DOS
environment (e.g., DR-DOS) to restore an image file has past.