Dual boot xp and 98se

[murphy]

Currently I'm dual booting xp with linux, I intend to
wipe off linux and install 98se, could anyone tell me how
to go about it? I do have partition magic with me, could
I use pm to do the job? A step by step explanation will
be great!

 

[Barry Watzman]

The nominally right [Microsoft] way to do it is to start with a blank
hard drive, create a partition and install Windows 98SE on that
partition as drive C:.

Then create a 2nd partition installing XP into it. If it's FAT32 (which
it must be be for 98SE to see it, although this is optional), it will be D:.

In my own case, I then created an E: partition for all data, which is
fully shared by both OS'. That is, "My Documents" exists on E: and is
used by both OS'. I have arranged (with difficulty, in some cases) for
all of the programs that are installed on both OS' to use the same data
files. That is, I can use Win98se and outlook 2000 to access my E-Mail
".PST" file, then use XP and Office 2003 and access the same E-Mail PST
file. Both OS' fully see work done in the other OS. Similarly, I have
a common profile for Netscape (which I use as my main browser), also
Quicken, Microsoft office, etc. Again, it's not always easy to
configure things this way, some programs didn't intend for you to
manually manipulate where they keep their data files. My hard drive
also has F:, G: and H: partitions. All partitions are FAT32 except for
H:, which is a large (80 gig) NTFS partition for video editing. I made
sure that H: began before the 137 gig barrier, which conveniently
avoides the issues that Windows 9x can't use any space beyond that barrier.

 

[D.R.]

Currently I'm dual booting xp with linux, I intend to
wipe off linux and install 98se, could anyone tell me how
to go about it? I do have partition magic with me, could
I use pm to do the job? A step by step explanation will
be great!

XOSL is a great multiboot:
http://www.ranish.com/part/xosl.htm

Its been ages since i've used XOSL, but it's really easy to use. Install 98 on
one partition and XP on another. Set the fat32 partition (98SE) to be the active
partition to boot from using fdisk and then install xosl on it. Add a menu item
for each partition and you should be fine.

For Linux, if you install Linux last, lilo will be in your MBR. To boot to Linux
with XOSL, you don't boot to the Linux partition, but you boot to the "old mbr".
Linux must be installed last, or at least lilo run after installing Windwos. If
you make any changes to the mbr, you will have to re-run lilo and then reinstall
XOSL. Only takes a minute though.

D.R.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Currently I'm dual booting xp with linux, I intend to
wipe off linux and install 98se, could anyone tell me how
to go about it? I do have partition magic with me, could
I use pm to do the job?

Given you have PM, you have its Boot Magic boot manager. I would use
that. Use the Win98 startup floppy to run its FDISK and Remove the
non-DOS partition where Linux is (be very careful not to remove the XP
one). Be sure to have everything essential on the XP backed up first -
just in case

In its place make a new DOS Primary for the Win98, and set it as the
Active partition. Also use FDISK /MBR to get rid of any lilo or grub
that you may be currently using as boot manager. Reboot the floppy with
CD support, FORMAT C: and install 98 from the CD. Now install Boot
Magic on it, and set up a boot instance each for the two systems.