Question

Dual Booting with Windows XP and 98

Asked by: _Dan_

Hello, I currently have a computer with windows XP pro installed on one hard drive and windows 98 installed on the other.  What I'd like to do is add windows 98 to the boot menu so that I can pick which OS to load on start-up.  The best way I can figure to do this is to add a line to the boot.ini file similar to this one: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

However, I have no idea what the syntax would be for adding an entry for Windows 98 on the slave drive.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Asked On
2004-07-19 at 14:20:01ID21064006
Topic

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
2
Points
250
Comments
10

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Answers

 

by: SheharyaarSaahilPosted on 2004-07-19 at 14:21:36ID: 11587563

Hello _Dan_ =)

HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q289022

!! GOOD LUCK !!

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-07-19 at 15:33:22ID: 11588067

You will need to add this line to your boot.ini file:  (Not the change in the disk from 0 to 1, as I am assuming that the 98 installation is on your second Hard drive, in the first partition(

multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 98" /fastdetect

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-07-19 at 15:35:51ID: 11588080

Additionally, here is a link to many articles that deal with the dual boot issues..

http://windows.about.com/cs/dualboot/

Remember that if you are going to dual boot 98 and XP, and you want to 'see' your XP data, that disk must be formatted with FAT32, NOT NTFS...

FE

 

by: SheharyaarSaahilPosted on 2004-07-27 at 12:31:39ID: 11650127

Dan ,,,,,,, any progress.... if u still having the problem then plzz come back and tell us, otehrwise if it is solved u can close this question :) for more info. on how to close a Question, plzz refer here >> http://www.experts-exchange.com/help.jsp#hs5

!! THANX !!

 

by: _Dan_Posted on 2004-07-29 at 11:32:07ID: 11669803

Sorry I haven’t been able to get back to this in a while.  I tried adding the line

multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 98" /fastdetect

to the boot.ini file and that successfully created a menu before the OS loads, however when trying to select windows 98 I got a generic error message saying Windows could not start due to a computer disk hardware configuration problem.

I'm not sure what's causing the problem although it may stem from the fact that windows 98 was installed on the slave drive while that drive was set to master (the windows 98 install would not let me install on any drive but C).

The current hard drives installed are C (windows XP, NTFS, master) and E (windows 98 FAT32, slave).

Thanks for your help so far and any additional suggestions would be greatly appreciated.



 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-07-30 at 11:07:27ID: 11679893

If it were me, I would try to reinstall the 98 OS again, overlaying the install on the second hard drive.   You should be able to specify the drive to place it on, and it will fix any problems that your original install created...

FE

 

by: _Dan_Posted on 2004-08-05 at 06:25:03ID: 11725818

I would have done that initially FE, but for whatevr reason I cold only install to C:/Windows.   For whatever reason I was never presented with an option to pick another location to install too.

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-08-05 at 12:50:50ID: 11730103

That is probably because it was originally formatted in one partition.  The way it should have been done is to use something like Partition Magic to create a second partition, then installed the OS there.  The way it is setup now, you are asking for trouble.  Again, I highly suggest that you start from scratch, wipe the drive, create 2 partitions and reinstall..  that is if you really want to dual boot..  

Am really sorry to give you that news, but I believe most of the experts will agree with me on this one...  :)

FE

 

by: _Dan_Posted on 2004-08-11 at 09:53:32ID: 11775478

Heh, that's okay.  I kind of figured as much when there wasn't an easy fix.  It's not worth starting from sratch just to dual boot, but thank you both for your help.

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-08-11 at 10:07:53ID: 11775653

No problem, and thank you..

FE

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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