Multiboot system

[DEIfan]

I have a multi-boot system set up. It consists of four OS's, each on a
40Gig partition of a 200Gig disc. Three are in virtual drives in a primary
partition and one, XP, is in a virtual drive in an extended partition. The
lineup is W98SE/W98SE/W98ME/WXPPro. The XPPro OS is on the first drive in
the extended partition. The setup was done using PartitionMagic with
BootMagic as the boot manager. They work fine as is.

My problem is I would like to replace two of the W98 OS's with
installations of XP. I have the full install disc for XP. Three questions.

1. Will multiple installs of XP be compatible?
2. Will they all register since they are on the same machine or will I
have to purchase additional copies?
3. Any special warnings?

Tom Markley

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Tom,

....lineup is W98SE/W98SE/W98ME/WXPPro...

No such thing as W98ME, just WinME.

1. Will multiple installs of XP be compatible?

Yep, should be, just don't do multiple installs to the same partition.

2. Will they all register since they are on the same machine or will I
have to purchase additional copies?

Yep, hardware hashes will match, activation should not be an issue. There
has been some discussion as to whether this is in accordance with EULA
(technically speaking, it's one installation on one machine), but I see no
practical reason why it won't work.

3. Any special warnings?

Nope, it's really pretty easy, just follow Boot Magic's instructions for
installing each instance of the OS.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[DEIfan]

Hey, thanks Rick. I really appreciate that. I was going to try it anyway
but it makes me a lot nervous to hear that.

Thanks again.

Tom