Partition question for installing WinXP Pro

[Larry Roberts]

I have 1 80GB SATA HDD. I have an old CH Pro Throttle that the
setup software needs a real mode DOS OS to directly access the
keyboard, so no virtual DOS programs inside WinXP will work. I want to
setup a 2GB partition for DOS programs that need a real mode DOS
environment (DOS 7.1 boot floppy).
Is it possible to set this 2GB FAT32 partition as drive D:,
while WinXP Pro will reside on the rest of the HDD's space as NTFS
partition drive C:? The only way I know to setup a dual FAT32/NTFS
partition is by the FAT32 partition being drive C:, and the NTFS
partition being drive D:.

 

[Bob Harris]

DOS and win3.1, 95, 98, ME all must be installed on the first partition on
the primary hard drive, also known as C:.

XP and LINUX can be installed on other partitions.

The most direct way to dual boot DOS and XP is to install DOS first on C:,
then XP on D:.

However, given that you already have XP on C:, there is another possibility:
Look into a boot manager that can hide partitions, so that when you boot
into DOS on D: it can not see C:, thus thinking that D: is C: for DOS
purposes.

Try a Goggle search on "boot manager". Also look
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads8.html for software in the this category.

However, be very careful, since boot managers play with a very fundamental
part of the hard drive, and if anything goes wrong the PC can become
unbootable. It would be very prudent to first make a total disk image that
includes the master boot record, just in case.

 

[Dr Teeth]

I was just thinking how wonderful life was, when "Bob Harris"

DOS and win3.1, 95, 98, ME all must be installed on the first partition on
the primary hard drive, also known as C:.

I have had Win 98 SE and Win ME running quite happily on second and
even third partitions in the primary hard drive. I have even had it
running on the second hard drive...however, to do this I had to
install on the primary drive and copy it to the secondary.

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.