Dual Boot Win 98 system with xp

Can anyone point me to any literature which would explain how i could set-up
my system to be dual boot: with xp on a slave drive but asking which system
i'd prefer to boot (98 or xp) everytime i switch the pc on.

Cheers
G

"Gavin" wrote in message
...
Can anyone point me to any literature which would explain how i could
set-up
my system to be dual boot: with xp on a slave drive but asking which
system
i'd prefer to boot (98 or xp) everytime i switch the pc on.


just boot from your xs cd and install it on your 2nd drive.

the boot loader will be automatically installed and default to loading XP

once booted to XP just run msconfig

and in boot.ini you will have the option to "move down" the default OS
to windows98...
it will be called: C:\"Microsoft Windows"

Cheers Philo,

Can I ask though: will it have a dual boot loader? e.g. Can I select on
start-up which operating system i want to run on starting up the computer?

Secondly do i need xp to be in the primary drive on the slave or can i put
it into an extended/logical partition on the slave drive?

Cheers
Gavin


just boot from your xs cd and install it on your 2nd drive.

the boot loader will be automatically installed and default to loading XP

once booted to XP just run msconfig

and in boot.ini you will have the option to "move down" the default OS
to windows98...
it will be called: C:\"Microsoft Windows"





"philo" wrote in message
...

"Gavin" wrote in message
...
Can anyone point me to any literature which would explain how i could
set-up
my system to be dual boot: with xp on a slave drive but asking which
system
i'd prefer to boot (98 or xp) everytime i switch the pc on.

The XP boot loader will do that for you. It's no big complication
installing XP on the slave drive. Others will tell you how to do that.
I will tell you another way because I think it's a better multi-boot
method than the Microsoft way. First some basics.

The Microsoft method of doing multi-boot requires that the the boot
files for ALL the operating systems be on the System Partition.
Furthermore, as per Microsoft, "There will be one, and only one, system
partition..."

The operating system files or will be on boot partitions. Again, as per
Microsoft, "There will be one boot partition for each operating system
in a multi-boot system... The boot partition can be, but does not have
to be, the same as the system partition."

Now, that might sound like someone's looking at the wrong end of the
horse but it ain't. The boot files are on the one and only system
partition and the operating system files are on boot partitions. Think
of the DOS SYS command and it will be simple to grasp. If we stitch
together the earlier information from Microsoft we get the definition of
a Boot Partition:

Boot Partition
The boot partition contains the Windows operating system and its support
files. The boot partition can be, but does not have to be, the same as
the system partition. There will be one, and only one, system partition,
but there will be one boot partition for each operating system in a
multi-boot system.

So by now you are probably asking "What does this long winded
mumbo-jumbo have to do with installing Windows XP on a slave drive?"
Well, it all has to do with the way Microsoft handles drive letter
assignments. You see, there is only one system partition and that will
be the "C" drive, always. A system partition can also be a boot
partition for one of the operating system, that operating system will
also be on drive "C". The other operating system will be on which ever
drive letter it fancies itself to be on when you install it, usually "D"
but I have seen some strange drive letter assignments on some of these
Microsoft multi-boot computers. For ease of use and maintenance
purposes it isn't exactly ideal having the operating system on a drive
other than "C". I would say it's a bit annoying to say the least,
wouldn't you?

So, how to fool all the operating systems to think that they're on drive
"C"? Simple, let them all have their own system partition. Just
because Microsoft says, "...There will be one, and only one, system
partition..." it doesn't mean it has to be so, it fact it isn't. So
give each operating system its own system partition.

With 2 hardrives it's easy. Take the Windows 98 drive and remove it
from the computer. Take the slave drive and install it Primary Master
(where the Windows 98 was). Leave the Windows 98 drive on your desk,
you will slave it after you install Windows XP. Trust me, you don't
want XP on a slaved drive. After XP is installed and you see that it
boots and works properly, take the Windows 98 drive and slave it.
Windows XP will see it almost as if it was always there. Then edit the
boot.ini file and add a path to the Windows 98 drive and when you boot
the computer you will be offered to boot a choice of operating system,
it should work. The nice thing about this setup is that if you
completely screw up everything you just have to stick the Windows 98
drive back whence it came and the computer will boot to your old Windows
98 setup.

Sometimes it isn't so easy and third party partition and boot managers
handle the job better than Microsoft. BootItNG was (probably still is)
pretty intuitive and no nonsense boot loader. XOSL is another highly
recommended boot loader. XOSL if free BootItNG isn't but it has a fully
functional 30 day trial and it uninstalls in a snap.

Links:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;306559

http://www.bootitng.com/bootitng.html
http://www.ranish.com/part/xosl.htm
http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/multib..._guideline.htm

Good luck, by the way, do you know about FAT32 and NTFS?

John


Gavin wrote:
Can anyone point me to any literature which would explain how i could set-up
my system to be dual boot: with xp on a slave drive but asking which system
i'd prefer to boot (98 or xp) everytime i switch the pc on.

Cheers
G

Read this and the web links inserted in it.
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;305873

--
Jonny
"Gavin" wrote in message
...
Can anyone point me to any literature which would explain how i could
set-up
my system to be dual boot: with xp on a slave drive but asking which
system
i'd prefer to boot (98 or xp) everytime i switch the pc on.

Cheers
G

It should be eazy. Just insert the XP CD and tell it to install on the slave
drive. As long as the slave is shown in the system. After, you will get a
window at boot asking which OS to boot to. You should need NO boot manager to
do this.

"Gavin" wrote:

Can anyone point me to any literature which would explain how i could set-up
my system to be dual boot: with xp on a slave drive but asking which system
i'd prefer to boot (98 or xp) everytime i switch the pc on.

Cheers
G

"Gavin" wrote in message
...
Cheers Philo,

Can I ask though: will it have a dual boot loader? e.g. Can I select on
start-up which operating system i want to run on starting up the computer?

Secondly do i need xp to be in the primary drive on the slave or can i put
it into an extended/logical partition on the slave drive?



you can install several versions of windows on the machine.

be sure to install each one on a different partition.

i'd start with the oldest version first...
and when you get to win2k or XP...the bootloader will be installed by
default
note:

you may install any version of windows
on any drive you want...but *note* the files needed for booting
will always be on your primary (C partition !