Setup scenario

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I want to setup my system so I can have win2k and win98 as boot options.
I have 3 HDs. I have win 2k on C: on HD1. Win98 is already installed on HD3.
HD 2 is just a data drive, no OS.

So, as I've currently got win2k as master with data drive as slave and a dvd
drive master and cd rom drive slave on my other ide channel, what I want to
do is unhook the cdrom and then add the win98 HD, swapping it so its master
with the dvd as slave:-

IDE Channel 1:
HD1 (Win2k) Master
HD2 (data) Slave

IDE Channel 2:
HD3 (Win98) Master
DVD Slave

My question is how to add the win98 drive as a multiboot option in my win2k
boot.ini file. I've previous had setups based around these various
combinations of drives and masters and partitions, but not this one, so can
anyone tell me what to put as that 1 line in the win2k boot.ini file?
Currently its:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=1
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

I'd be so grateful for any help on this, thanks.

 

[Dave Patrick]

If the system partition is NTFS, then it won't be natively possible. Also
you'll need to reinstall one or the other OS's to make this work, else use a
third party boot manager.

 

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If the system partition is NTFS, then it won't be natively possible. Also

you'll need to reinstall one or the other OS's to make this work, else use a
third party boot manager.

Well all my HDs are formatted FAT32 because I knew I'd try something like
this one day.

I'm just guessing but would this work?:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(2)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows 98" /fastdetect

 

[Dave Patrick]

No that can't work.

The boot sector for both OS's must reside on the System partition C:\ (first
primary active partition) Below assumes that Windows 2000 is installed on
the first primary active partition C:\ and that the partition is formatted
fat32.

First create an ERD; Programs|Accessories|System Tools|Backup, then choose
ERD, then if you check the box for "Also backup....", then the reg will also
be backed up to
%windir%\repair\RegBack
leaving the
%windir%\repair\
directory files intact as original installation.

Then install Win98 to second drive (possibly an over-the-top install). This
will regenerate a Win98 boot sector on the system partition.(also destroys
the NT boot sector). If Windows 2000 partition is NTFS then this wont work
as Win98 can't write a boot sector to NTFS. In this case you'll need a third
party boot manager.

Then boot the recovery console and from a command prompt issue the command;
fixboot

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks.
Press ENTER at the "Setup Notification" screen. Press R to repair a Windows
2000 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The
Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do
not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Once the password has been
validated, you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access
to the hard disk. You can only access the following folders on your
computer: %systemroot% and %windir%

This will cause bootsect.dos to be created from the contents of the Win98
boot sector.

Some background info;
When you dualboot Win9x and Windows 2000; Windows 2000 creates a file named
bootsect.dos; if you select an operating system other than Windows 2000,
NTLDR loads bootsect.dos and passes control to it. The operating system then
starts up as normal, because bootsect.dos contains the boot sector that was
on the primary partition before you installed Windows 2000, hence the need
to go through the steps above to create a bootsect.dos

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft MVP [Windows NT/2000 Operating Systems]

Well all my HDs are formatted FAT32 because I knew I'd try something like
this one day.

I'm just guessing but would this work?:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(2)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Windows 98" /fastdetect

 

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<snip>

Right, understood, thanks very much for that explanation.

However, as I think that I will only ever seldom boot to win98, I think that
is rather too much hassle for the intended rare use its going to get, as the
steps you indicate are the minimal steps I could take to configure a
menu-based multiboot system, is there a floppy based setup I could choose,
i.e, when I want to boot to win98, I could stick in a floppy to get the
intended result?

Many thanks.

 

[Dave Patrick]

From a win9x command prompt;
sys A:
Add the required files to the floppy, then adjust msdos.sys [Paths]
accordingly might work for you.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q151667
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q118579

 

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Thanks for the help - I eventually decided to go for a much simpler route -
to change the boot drive in the BIOS when I wanted to boot from the win98
harddrive and then swap it back when I'm done. Easy - and relatively pain
free : )