Dual Boot Win Xp And Win 98

[ghost944]

i already have win xp pro on my system but i have some hardware and quite a lot of games that wont run under xp so i also need to put win 98 on my HD But i have some questions before i begin so i know if it is possible to do this and if it is then i need to know if i will be doing it right.

1.when i make the FAT32 partition with Partition Magic will the rest of the data on the HD be all right?

2.will Xp pro on NTFS be able to see the information on the FAT drive?

3.will i need any other software to help me do this?

4.What the hell do i need to do

Thanks

[3RA1N1AC]

before you dive into those more advanced points, you need to be aware of these things--

1) Windows 98 cannot be installed on a hard drive that already has XP, without a reformat or a repartitioning that allows 98 to occupy the beginning section of the hard drive. and Windows 98 has to be able to take the name C:\ for its partition. XP does not have to be installed on C:\, but 98 does. XP's partition can be named D:\, E:\, F:\ or any other letter.

while it miiiiiiiiiight be possible (with a fair amount of advanced tinkering) to install 98 on a hard drive that already has XP, i would not recommend trying to do it.

by far, the easiest way to successfully dual-boot 98 and XP is to first install 98 on a freshly formatted hard drive, and then install XP on a second partition, after that. XP will create a menu that lets you choose which version of Windows you want to boot.

2) Windows 98 only has built-in support for FAT 16 and FAT 32. it can't read an NTFS partition. you can install a third-party program that adds NTFS-reading support for 98, but you'd do that at your own risk. caveat empor, YMMV, and so forth. Windows XP can read & write FAT 16, FAT 32, and NTFS.

[Storm]

1st lisen 2 3RA1N1AC

Originally posted by ghost944+18 August 2003 - 14:36--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ghost944 &#064; 18 August 2003 - 14:36)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>1.when i make the FAT32 partition with Partition Magic will the rest of the data on the HD be all right?[/b]

yup, it will still be NTFS, but it should be fine (making backups never hurt ne1 though )

Originally posted by ghost944@18 August 2003 - 14:36
2.will Xp pro on NTFS be able to see the information on the FAT drive?

YES, XP can handle NTFS and FAT, though win98 can only handle FAT...... keep that in mind

Originally posted by ghost944@18 August 2003 - 14:36
3.will i need any other software to help me do this?

not really, just like 3RA1N1AC said: put them on diffrent partitions........

<!--QuoteBegin-ghost944@18 August 2003 - 14:36
4.What the hell do i need to do &nbsp; &nbsp; [/quote]ezest way:

format everything in NTFS
install win98
install XP on diffrent drive
if needed, change any of the drives (cept the one with 98 ) to NTFS......

[ghost944]

thanks for your help but how do i do it if win XP is the first OS installed, as i dont want or need to format my xp drive yet

[balamm]

Move XP up 5 or 10 gig with partition magic or prefferably, power quest volume manager. Then create a fat 32 partition from the first empty partition. Install win98se from the win 98 startup disk. When it&#39;s done, Open the XP Install CD from win98 and choose new install, not upgrade. When all files are copied and it restarts, choose repair. Go into the partiton where XP is installed and at the command prompt, type fixboot And then fixmbr and you should have a new master boot record and boot menu. You still might need to edit the boot.ini that you&#39;ll find in the root of c: to point to XP on the right partition.

If this doesn&#39;t work, go ahead and install XP the same way, from win98, to another temp partition and after install, edit the boot.ini to point to the old XP instead, then delete the new XP partition and remove it from your boot.ini.

[ghost944]

thanks for that i will try out today when i wake up