Dual Boot Windows 98SE and Windows XP Pro

[Rich K.]

I am trying to dual boot Windows 98SE and Windows XP Pro
with little success, and I need some advice.

I've installed Windows 98SE on one physical drive
formatted as FAT32. I've installed Windows XP on a second
drive formatted as NTFS. Both are clean installs, and both
were done separatly (ie. only one drive connected during
O/S installation). Each drive & O/S works (that is worked)
on its own when connected individually.

I connected both drives at the same time, XP drive as
primary master, and 98SE as secondary master. I booted
into XP and edited the Boot.ini file to include both O/S.
I can select the XP option from the boot loader menu and
it works fine. I select 98SE from the menu and get a
HAL.DLL missing or corrupt error message. Running
bootcfg /rebuild didn't fix the problem, running XP
recovery console didn't fix the problem, replacing the
HAL.DLL file didn't fix the problem, so finally I
reinstalled XP from the original CD with both drives
connected and now XP bombs with a Mainfest Parse Error
message (...control.man). Tried reformatting, tried
connecting just one hard drive, and still the same error
each time I install XP.

Obviously I now have multiple problems. First, how should
I be loading/installing/configuring my system so that 98SE
is on one hard drive and XP Pro is on another hard drive,
and so that I can simply select which one I want to run
from the boot loader menu? Second, what's up with the
Manifest Parse Error message?

Help,

Rich K.

 

[Jerry]

Put both hard drives in the computer.

Reformat both.

Install SE wherever you want.

Install XP on the other drive, or wherever, and tell it to do a dual boot.

Done - everything works.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

You can't set up dual boot that way unless you are going to use third party
software in which case it's not necessary for you to edit the boot.ini.

Dual booting is more complex than just a boot.ini edit.

If you want XP to handle the dual boot chores as opposed to third party
software, first, have both hard drives connected and recognized then,
install 98SE. When finished, while at the 98SE desktop, place the XP CD in
the drive. Begin setup from there and choose new installation from the
dropdown list when it asks what type of installation you are seeking.

During setup it will ask you where you wish to install XP, select the drive
and XP will do the rest including creating the dual boot configuration.
This will place the XP boot.ini on the 98SE drive as well as adjusting the
MBR for the dual boot. NOTE: in this type of configuration, if for some
reason you must reformat and reinstall SE, you will have to reinstall XP as
well.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Also, See my web site, www.dougknox.com and go to Win XP Tips

For Win9x/Me: Install 98/Me after XP is Installed.
For Windows 2000: Install Windows 2000 after XP is installed.

 

[Rich K.]

Thanks. That did it. I reformatted both drives while both
were connected, installed Win98 first, then Win XP, and I
can now dual boot. Microsoft's Tech Forums made it sound
like editing the boot.ini was a quick way of accomplishing
the end result, but in the end, the final boot.ini was
nothing like that in the Tech Forum examples.

Rich