Dual install win98/XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kelly and Marcy
  • Start date Start date
K

Kelly and Marcy

have XP Pro but have put off installation as I have a non-XP program that I
need. Now have opportunity to install new HDD, motherboard, etc. and want
to go ahead and install XP, but also need to retain win98. So, am planning
to partition and install both OS, but have never done that before. Tips?
Warnings? Advice? All appreciated. Thx.

Kelly
 
Kelly and Marcy said:
have XP Pro but have put off installation as I have a non-XP program
that I need. Now have opportunity to install new HDD, motherboard,
etc. and want to go ahead and install XP, but also need to retain
win98. So, am planning to partition and install both OS, but have
never done that before. Tips? Warnings? Advice? All appreciated.
Thx.

Kelly
Click to expand...

Just make sure you install 98 first, followed by XP. That will create the
boot manger for you to select which OS from which to boot. Also, it's
recommended that you install each to their own partition - try 98 to C: and
XP to any other partition.
 
Greetings --

The simplest way I've found to dual boot between Win9x and WinXP
would be to partition your drive(s) roughly as follows:

C: Primary FAT32 Win9x/Legacy Apps
D: Extended NTFS WinXP/Modern Apps

Adjust the partition sizes according to your actual hard drive(s)
size and the amount of space you'd like to allocate to each OS and its
applications.

Create the partitions using Win9x's FDISK so you can enable large
disk support (FAT32). (No need for 3rd party partitioning
utilities/boot managers and their frequent complications.)

Install Win9x first, being sure to select "C:\Windows" (or
D:\Windows, if you prefer) when asked for the default Windows
directory. When you subsequently install WinXP, be sure to specify
"D:\Winnt" (or "D:\Windows," "C:\Winnt" as referred/applicable) when
asked for the default Windows directory, to place it in the other
partition. The WinXP installation routine will automatically set up a
Multi-boot menu for you. The default settings for this menu can be
readily edited from within WinXP. NOTE: If you elect to place Win98
on the "D:" drive, you'll _have_ to leave the "C:" drive as FAT32.

This method can be adapted to using 2 physical hard drives by
placing the boot partition (C:, which still must be FAT32) and either
of the operating systems on the Primary Master hard drive, and the
second operating system on the second hard drive.

It is also possible to have a 3rd partition for shared
applications, but it would be necessary for such a partition to be
formatted in the common file format (FAT32). The applications would
also have to be installed into each OS (to ensure proper system file
placement and registry updates), one at a time, but the bulk of the
program files could be located on this common partition. I do not,
however, actually recommend doing this as, if you were to uninstall
such an application from one OS, you may not be able to gracefully
uninstall it from the second OS, having already deleted crucial
installation data during the first uninstall action.

Just about everything you need to know (URLs may wrap):

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q217/2/10.ASP

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gettingstarted/multiboot.asp


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
Back
Top