Win2k/Win98 dual boot question...

[Bires]

(I posted this in "software" but no one seems to know the answer...)

I have two harddrives. I want to install Win2k on one and Win98 on the other and dual boot. Can I do this?

[ccobalt]

Yes, you can. There is more than one way to do it. Proceed with caution and at your own risk.

You can install Win98 to the first drive, then do a clean install(not upgrade) of Win2K and chose the second drive as your install directory. It will add Win98 to its boot manager and upon bootup you can choose which OS to boot. Be aware not all of Win2K's files will reside on the second drive so if you want two totally separate partitions that can be reformatted independently, this ain't the way

That can be done also but that requires more knowledge about your system.
http://www.help.com/cat/2/191/192/206/hto/84/1.html

This site will give you a little more detail on the basics, if I can help just post back and I will do what I can. I currently have 3 hard drives and run BeOS, Mandrake, Slackware, Win2K, Win98Se, and WinMe so all my knowledge is from somewhat hard (l)earned experience

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CCobalt
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how you respond to it

[This message has been edited by ccobalt (edited 06-18-2000).]

[Bires]

I cannot install Win98 to a second drive while the first is active. If I install win98 to my primary drive, I have to have a partition for both OS's.
I want to install win98 to my D: and Win2k to my C:.

I deactiveated my c: and installed win98. I then reactivated my c: and installed win2k.

I want each OS on its own HD, not partition.

How can I manually edit the boot.ini to give me the option to boot to win98 on my d:?


CCobalt: can you post your win2k boot.ini? I'm more than a little curious.

[ccobalt]

LOL. Looking at my boot.ini would be rather boring, the only entry in it is Win2K and I never see it because I have it set to 0 seconds. I use Partition Magic and Boot Magic for my boot manager and it is a mess , I use D1P3 names so I can remember which OS is on what drive..heh he.

Win98 is finicky about where some of its files are(io.sys,etc.). It likes them on C:. What should work fine is setting Win98's drive as the first physical drive, Win2000 on second physical drive. Boot with Win2000's setup and repair install and it will put it's boot files on C: (just a few small files) and you can dual boot. Backup everything first for safety's sake.

Other alternative is to use a boot manager that will hide the first drive with Win98 set as second drive. You might try looking at Ranish http://www.users.intercom.com/~ranish/part/
he makes an free and open source, partitioning program and a boot manager. I have not used his boot manager since I started testing for Powerquest but his products are solid, if not very intuitive.

The first setup using Win2000 boot manager will work fine and all that will be on C: is the boot files which means if you want to delete Win2K, you knock out the bootloader and if you want to delete Win98, format the drive and repair install on Win2K to restore its loader.

[This message has been edited by ccobalt (edited 06-19-2000).]

[andyy]

From past experience, I have found it better to install windows 98 on the C drive and then 2000 on the D drive. You may want to try that. The Microsoft programmers have their way, if you protest, you'll suffer the consequences.