Multi boot Windows 95/XP

[WAW]

I have a computer that shipped with Windows XP Home. I need to run a DOS
that runs fine in DOS command mode of Windows 95 (it runs with cmd of XP but
excruciatingly slowly). I installed a drive with Windows 95 as C and
Windows XP as D. I've read multiple KB articles on how to do this but they
all seem vague as to how you actually get this to work. I've done it before
with partitioned hard drives but not with two drives, although the articles
seem to imply that this can be done. I've tried physically manipulating
msdos.sys on the C drive and creating a boot.ini on the C drive but neither
seems to help. I gather that I need to boot the xp drive and go to startup
set up but how do I get the d drive to boot?
Thanks,

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have a computer that shipped with Windows XP Home. I need to run a DOS
that runs fine in DOS command mode of Windows 95 (it runs with cmd of XP but
excruciatingly slowly). I installed a drive with Windows 95 as C and
Windows XP as D. I've read multiple KB articles on how to do this but they
all seem vague as to how you actually get this to work. I've done it before
with partitioned hard drives but not with two drives, although the articles
seem to imply that this can be done. I've tried physically manipulating
msdos.sys on the C drive and creating a boot.ini on the C drive but neither
seems to help. I gather that I need to boot the xp drive and go to startup
set up but how do I get the d drive to boot?
Thanks,

Read the highly specific post titled "is that possible to run winXP
with win98???", posted in this newsgroup just two days ago, then
post again if you have more questions.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Boot the system with the WinXP CD and load the Recovery Console by hitting
"r" when first prompted. From the prompt, run fixboot c:. Then, run bootcfg
/add to add the Win95 installation to the WinXP boot prompt.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

What happens if the OP's WinXP installation resides on
an NTFS partition?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Further observation: If the OP's WinXP installation resides on
a FAT32 partition then his Win95 installation on the second
disk will appear on drive D:. Since it was born in a different
machine, presumably on drive C:, its registry is still full of
references to drive C:, which would make a very unhappy
installation.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

The current C: drive is housing Win95, so it can't be NTFS. This is why I
specified "fixboot c:", so that the boot files would be written there.

As to the further point, yes, that definitely could be an issue. There may
be no easy solution here other than bios switching.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I thought that his WinXP disk was the primary master
disk but I now realise that I was wrong.

BIOS switching is not the only way to resolve the
drive letter issue. The OP could also install a third
party boot manager that allows him to selectively
hide partitions. If so then he may have to adjust
boot.ini accordingly.

 

[WAW]

Following Rick's suggestion, the /add did not find any system to add except
the XP. Further, on the next boot the message NTLDR missing appeared.
Following the instructions suggested in KB 315233 I copied ntldr and
ntdtect.sys from the XP CD to the c drive. XP would then boot (95 is on the
master and xp on the slave but the disk config comes up XP as D and the 95
drive as E(?)). There is no detection of the 95 installation. I then
removed the XP drive and tried to boot 95 and was told the configuration was
damaged. I thought here was a bootfix or fixboot or something "boot" on the
DOS drive/RAMDRIVE but found nothing. Isn't there a fixboot in DOS? I cam
currently re-installing 95 in hopes that that fixes the problem.
Suggestions? By the way, the XP drive is NTFS and the 95 is FAT.
Thanks,

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

From a startup floppy run SYS C: to repair the Win95 install, it will take
over as the boot loader.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

This is hardly surprising. As I mentioned in my previous
note, the drive letter for WinXP ***will*** change in
your configuration. Furthermore, to make Win95 boot
in your current configuration requires some changes to
the native WinXP boot loader but this won't fix the
WinXP drive letter problem.

Now how about doing it properly with a third-party
boot loader, as described in the thread I referred to. In
your initial post you commented that you were unable
to locate specific instructions for this sort of thing. Now
that you have specific instructions, you should use them!