Dual Booting Win 98 and XP

[Guest]

I know there are already quite a few posts already about this but I can't
find a solution to my problem.

I have a disk with 4 FAT 32 partitions (C,D,E,F) with C being primary and
with Windows 98 installed (note: I can't afford to lose the data on that
disk). I bought a new disk and a Windows XP copy. I got the new disk as
master and the old one as slave. The Windows XP installation saw the second
drive and the partitions but after I installed the XP, I can't boot Windows
98. I tried modifying the boot.ini in several ways
(multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect the original and I tried putting a
new line below with multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows 98 SE"), I tried getting the Win 98 disk primary and the Win XP as
slave and using the repair option from Installation CD. Nothing. Can anyone
help me?

Thanks in advance.

 

[db]

it looks like the modification
to the boot ini was inaccurate

however, in that tab inside
msconfig, there is a button
to search for boot paths.

this will create the accurate
line item in the boot ini.

- db
I know there are already quite a few posts already about this but I can't
find a solution to my problem.

I have a disk with 4 FAT 32 partitions (C,D,E,F) with C being primary and
with Windows 98 installed (note: I can't afford to lose the data on that
disk). I bought a new disk and a Windows XP copy. I got the new disk as
master and the old one as slave. The Windows XP installation saw the second
drive and the partitions but after I installed the XP, I can't boot Windows
98. I tried modifying the boot.ini in several ways
(multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect the original and I tried putting a
new line below with multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows 98 SE"), I tried getting the Win 98 disk primary and the Win XP as
slave and using the repair option from Installation CD. Nothing. Can anyone
help me?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Completely Lost]

Are you familiar with DOS?

Firstly, see these two sites:

http://www.dougknox.com

On Doug's site there are very specific instructions on how to do this.

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp.htm

Then try this:

Put win98 C: drive as master and new drive as slave.
If you need a win98 startup diskette go here:
http://www.bootdisk.com
Boot with win98 startup diskette.
Copy IO.sys and MSDOS.sys from the diskette to the C: drive and let it
overwrite.
That should restore your win98 startup.
Let the drive jumpers where they are.
Start to Win98 and install XP from within 98, do not try a separate
installation. Insert the XP CD and let it autorun. Click Install XP.
Tell WinXP to install on the new D: drive.

That will give to you an option to dual-boot.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I know there are already quite a few posts already about this but I can't
find a solution to my problem.

I have a disk with 4 FAT 32 partitions (C,D,E,F) with C being primary and
with Windows 98 installed (note: I can't afford to lose the data on that
disk). I bought a new disk and a Windows XP copy. I got the new disk as
master and the old one as slave. The Windows XP installation saw the second
drive and the partitions but after I installed the XP, I can't boot Windows
98. I tried modifying the boot.ini in several ways
(multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect the original and I tried putting a
new line below with multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows 98 SE"), I tried getting the Win 98 disk primary and the Win XP as
slave and using the repair option from Installation CD. Nothing. Can anyone
help me?

Thanks in advance.

There is no point in modifying boot.ini since it is not possible to boot
into WinXP with your current setup. Here are a few options:
a) If your BIOS has this option, select which disk should be the
master disk.
b) Install your disk in a removable drawer and insert whichever disk
you need.
c) Install a proper boot manager, e.g. XOSL (free). Post again
if you need some guidance on how to use XOSL.

You write "Note: I can't afford to lose the data on that disk". If this
is so then it is essential that you get another disk right now and make
a copy of that data. You can easily afford a new disk, especially
if you cannot afford to lose the data. This newsgroup is full of laments
from posters who have just lost irreplaceable data because they
never bothered to back it up. It's your choice.

 

[Rock]

I know there are already quite a few posts already about this but I can't
find a solution to my problem.

I have a disk with 4 FAT 32 partitions (C,D,E,F) with C being primary and
with Windows 98 installed (note: I can't afford to lose the data on that
disk). I bought a new disk and a Windows XP copy. I got the new disk as
master and the old one as slave. The Windows XP installation saw the
second
drive and the partitions but after I installed the XP, I can't boot
Windows
98. I tried modifying the boot.ini in several ways
(multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect the original and I tried
putting a
new line below with multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows 98 SE"), I tried getting the Win 98 disk primary and the Win XP as
slave and using the repair option from Installation CD. Nothing. Can
anyone
help me?

Who doesn't have data they can't afford to loose? So what's the resolution,
hope and pray some hardware failure, power problem or other issue doesn't
render the data inaccessible? Or get a good backup solution, such as drive
imaging program to image the drives to an external drive.

 

[Guest]

I am completely lost with all the technical jingo.
I have essentially thte same problem:
MY old disk (Disk H) has the Win98 and various other programmes.
My new disk partitioned into 4 (disk c,d,e,f) has windows xp on disk c.

When I boot, the computer starts with windows xp, naturally.

However, there are some programmes on my previous disk e.g. cheyenne bitware
which do not work with Win XP.

Therefore, to use such programs I have to switch to win98.

Can anyone please tell me a simple way to switch, e.g. by DOS or any other
way, without having to make technical changes like changing boot.ini etc.
because I want to use win98 only occasionally.

Thanks
br

 

[John John]

Get a third party boot manager. BootItNg is fully functional and free
to use for 30 days. It is easy to use and unistalls ealily if you
decide that you do not want to keep it.
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

XOSL is freeware that will also do what you want:
http://www.ranish.com/part/xosl.htm

John

 

[C.Joseph Drayton]

I am completely lost with all the technical jingo.
I have essentially thte same problem:
MY old disk (Disk H) has the Win98 and various other programmes.
My new disk partitioned into 4 (disk c,d,e,f) has windows xp on disk c.

When I boot, the computer starts with windows xp, naturally.

However, there are some programmes on my previous disk e.g. cheyenne bitware
which do not work with Win XP.

Therefore, to use such programs I have to switch to win98.

Can anyone please tell me a simple way to switch, e.g. by DOS or any other
way, without having to make technical changes like changing boot.ini etc.
because I want to use win98 only occasionally.

Thanks
br

Hi Br,

You might consider using a VM (Virtual Machine) instead of dual booting.

Microsoft VirtualPC 2007 is free and runs well. I am a software
developer and like to test my software running under different OSes.
My development machine runs WindowsXPpe. When I need to run for
example Windows98se, I just click on the link in my Start menu and
the Windows98se VM starts. Note this VM runs and is used as though
you were actually using Windows 98. Right now I have; FreeDOS,
Win95, Win98, Win98se, Win2000 Pro and WinME all running as
different VMs under WinXP.

It is very easy to set up, and since the virtual virtual HARD disk
size can be set to dynamic, you don't waste a lot of hard disk space.

Ciao . . . C.Joseph

"A promise is nothing more than an attempt,
to respond to an unreasonable request."