Questions on dual boot with XP and 98

[Ludwig77]

I currently have Windows 98 and am getting ready to purchase XP Home
Edition but I'm going to need to set my system up for a dual boot
until I upgrade some hardware.

Wanting to make sure that I have all my ducks lined up, I have a few
questions:

1. Although I have two hard drives, I would ilke to set up XP's system
and boot partitions to be in the same partition as my Windows 98
partition, so that I don't have to repartition the hard drive using
third party software like Partition Magic. Will this cause any
problems?

2. How will I have to configure the boot.ini file for this dual boot
to work?

3. Will the Windows XP install cd give me the option from some sort of
menu to tell it that I want to configure it for a dual booting system?

 

[Gordon]

1. Although I have two hard drives, I would ilke to set up XP's system
and boot partitions to be in the same partition as my Windows 98
partition, so that I don't have to repartition the hard drive using
third party software like Partition Magic. Will this cause any
problems?

Yes. Don't do it. You will have to create a new partition for XP.

 

[Malke]

I currently have Windows 98 and am getting ready to purchase XP Home
Edition but I'm going to need to set my system up for a dual boot
until I upgrade some hardware.

Wanting to make sure that I have all my ducks lined up, I have a few
questions:

1. Although I have two hard drives, I would ilke to set up XP's system
and boot partitions to be in the same partition as my Windows 98
partition, so that I don't have to repartition the hard drive using
third party software like Partition Magic. Will this cause any
problems?

You cannot put two operating systems on one partition. If your hard
drive is big enough, you can create separate partitions and run the two
operating systems that way. HOWEVER, you will need third-party software
to do this (such as Partition Magic or BootItNG) because XP's built-in
partitioner is destructive of data. It would be ideal to simply put XP
on the second hard drive, but if you don't want to do this and want to
keep the current Win98 installation intact, you'll need additional
software.

2. How will I have to configure the boot.ini file for this dual boot
to work?

3. Will the Windows XP install cd give me the option from some sort of
menu to tell it that I want to configure it for a dual booting system?

Set your pc to boot from the cd drive. Start the Windows installation.
Tell XP to install on the partition or drive you made for it. It will
automagically create a dual boot for you.

Be sure your computer can handle XP. Get the MS Upgrade Advisor from
their website.

Malke

 

[Ron Sommer]

Are you sure that XP will support your current hardware?
Do not put the XP and 98 system on the same partition.

 

[pjp]

I've just done this 1/2 dozen times over last few weeks.

Just install XP to the 2nd hard disk. Keep the current file system, e.g.
Fat32. Doing so will retain any data already on that hard disk and allow it
to be seen and used when in 98 also. If instead you allow it to be converted
to NTFS then existing data on the hard disk will be lost and you won't have
access to it's storage space from within 98SE.

It'll setup the dual-boot automatically and then once within XP you can
change the default OS to either choice.

All that said, XP's gone here probably to never return. Mt trial runs have
convinced me that I don't want my OS to control me but rather the other way
around. The system acted slower, games ran slower, more network
screwarounds, crude all of nothing security policies, all kinds of crap
running that I didn't ask for, need or want (e.g. cryptology services etc.)
etc. etc., and there appeared to be nothing I could do in XP that I couldn't
do in 98SE. Setting up multipule users in order to specify exactly what each
of these users can and cannot do is useless as it's a "all in this group or
not" design more apt to use in a call center or such.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Just install XP to the 2nd hard disk. Keep the current file system, e.g.
Fat32. Doing so will retain any data already on that hard disk and allow it
to be seen and used when in 98 also. If instead you allow it to be converted
to NTFS then existing data on the hard disk will be lost and you won't have
access to it's storage space from within 98SE.

It'll setup the dual-boot automatically and then once within XP you can
change the default OS to either choice.

If you try you *must* install XP to a different folder than the Win98 -
do *not* attempt to use the same C:\Windows, but over-ride that
suggestion in favor of say C:\WinXP. It would have to be done by
running the CD from the 98 and taking New Install, which will set up the
dual boot.

But the two systems would still be seriously at odds over the use of
Program Files; and much other software (which you would have to
reinstall under the XP to use from that) might well conflict over
versions for the two systems. So the advice must be as others have said
- *DON'T* try

 

[pjp]

The reason to put XP on the second hard disk is because of the "Program
Files" problem. If done that way, 98 will use "C:\Program Files" while under
XP it'll be "D:\Progam Files", e.g. two separate paths. If instead they're
both installed to the one drive (separet folders, e.g. C:\Windows and
C:\WinXP) they'll want to use the same "C:\Program Files" path which,
agreed, is not a good idea. Also when it came time to dump XP, it became a
lot less of a problem deleting things, e.g. could deltree entire "D:\Program
Files" and not worry about screwing up the 98's C:\Program Files..

 

[Ludwig77]

I currently have Windows 98 and am getting ready to purchase XP Home
Edition but I'm going to need to set my system up for a dual boot
until I upgrade some hardware.

Wanting to make sure that I have all my ducks lined up, I have a few
questions:

1. Although I have two hard drives, I would ilke to set up XP's system
and boot partitions to be in the same partition as my Windows 98
partition, so that I don't have to repartition the hard drive using
third party software like Partition Magic. Will this cause any
problems?

2. How will I have to configure the boot.ini file for this dual boot
to work?

3. Will the Windows XP install cd give me the option from some sort of
menu to tell it that I want to configure it for a dual booting system?

Currently, my 20 Gig HD is my boot/system drive for Windows 98 and my
80 Gig HD is just for data storage.

If I were to forego repartitioning my 20 Gig HD and simply install XP
on my 80 Gig HD for a dual boot configuration, wouldn't this be my
easiest option?

Would I lose any data on the 80 Gig Hard Drive when installing the XP
upgrade?