If you do see a boot menu and Win98 is listed but it won't boot then
Repairing the Windows® XP Boot Loader
http://www.dougknox.com/xp
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Boot.ini and XP/98
Hi Everybody
I (up until recently) had a dual boot system running 98 and XP.
I've had to reinstall XP (actually, do a recovery with the CD) and now I can only boot XP.
I know that in order to fix this i need to edit boot.ini or something, but i don't want to just edit it willy-nilly in case i stuff things up (which i have a habit of doing!)
So basically, i would like to know how to write a working boot.ini file , and where to put it in the system.
Something that might be of assistance:
I have two hard drives, a 20GB IDE and an 80GB SATA
The SATA is partitioned into two: approx 10GB for win98 and the rest for XP.
Naturally, the win98 is C: but the XP is E:\
(my 20GB data drive is D:)
Thanks, Gonzaria
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Answers
In that link I just posted just do this if you do see the boot menu but Win98 won't boot
Repairing the Windows® XP Boot Loader
1) Create a Win98/Me Startup Disk
2) Create a Notepad file with the following entries, exactly as shown:
L 100 2 0 1
N C:\BOOTSECT.DOS
R BX
0
R CX
200
W
Q
3) Save the file to the Win98/Me Startup Disk as READ.SCR
4) Boot the computer with the Win98/Me Startup Disk and at the A: prompt type
DEBUG <READ.SCR
Steps 1 - 4 create the BOOTSECT.DOS file needed to boot Win98/Me. For your convenience, you can download READ.SCR here. I suggest you use right click and Save As. You may need to use the ATTRIB C:\BOOTSECT.DOS -S -H -R command if BOOTSECT.DOS already exists and you get an error when trying to recreate it.
Hi CrazyOne,
Well, I tried the things in your first comment, I could boot 98 after that, and i did the FIXBOOT thing in the recovery console.
But i went back to XP and it had changed the letters of my drives
Anyway, while trying to change them back, i rooted up my whole system (don't ask how!!??) and couldn't boot to ANYTHING, so i did some pqmagic, fdisk and formatting stuff and then reinstalled both operating systems anyway. (sigh)
Thankfully i make backups.
But that's good reference material for future....and now i can boot to both operating systems again, so thank you.
Gonzaria
p.s. sorry bout the stingy points, i don't have many to be giving out and i have the distinct feeling i will need to ask more questions in the near future (sigh again)
p.p.s My IDE and SATA hard drives played havoc with each other, just the way that DOS sees them, and then the way the two operationg systems see them...somewhere along the line my IDE set itself as the boot drive, which it really really was not meant to be!
i unplugged my (backup) IDE while installing both OSes so they didn't try anything funny and try to install to that instead of the SATA (where everythin was meant to go!)
Just thought that might interest/bore you!?
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by: CrazyOnePosted on 2003-11-16 at 22:23:48ID: 9761758
Do you see a boot menu like you use to? If not then
Right click on My Computer
Select Properties
Click the Advanced tab
Click the Settings button under the Startup and Recovery section
Click the Edit button
or
Editing the boot.ini File
http://msdn.microsoft.com/
To edit the boot.ini file in Notepad
Start Windows Explorer. Go to Tools | Folder Options | View. Make sure that Show Hidden Files and Folders is selected, and Hide File Extension for Known File Types is cleared.
Go to the root directory of the boot volume of your computer (on single-boot machines, usually C:\). Right-click on boot.ini. Select Properties, and remove the read-only attribute of this file. Click OK.
Double-click the file icon to start Notepad with boot.ini loaded.
If you are using an MS-DOS® Command Prompt window, use the following commands instead of steps 1, 2, and 3:
c:
cd \
attrib -s -h -r boot.ini
notepad boot.ini
Edit the file. (For a description of the boot.ini syntax, see Contents of the boot.ini File.)
Save the boot.ini file and quit Notepad. (You do not have to restore the original file attributes.)
Shut down the computer and restart Windows.
Then add this line
C="Windows 98"