If I use dual boot to put win 3.11 on my pc Do I need to use another program to partion my hard drive or can I have multiple operating systems with a single partition? If so should use partition magick? Will an older dos version work?

Sorry, partition magic.

What Os's are we talking about here?

Multi-Boot Computer Setup Review comparing System Commander by V-Com and Partition Magic by PowerQuest.

http://netmation.com/boot.htm

I own both products and agree with the reviewer.

"Smart Boot Manager" is a free boot manager that does not require a 32bit Microsoft OS. I know nothing about it. You can download it here.

http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/

Be sure to backup your MBR (Master Boot Record) before using a multi-boot product.

Here are a few backup utilities.

This is a shareware boot sector utility
http://www.nikosystems.com/index2.htm

and the next link has a free dos boot utility named "boot.exe."
http://computing.net/howto/advanced/linuxnt/

No you don't. If you have Windows 95A, I think installing Win3.1 will work fine without any problems. If you have Windows 95B, go here: http://www.powerload.fsnet.co.uk/win3x.htm

Near the bottom of the page, download OSR2-KIT.EXE. (same line as 3xstart.exe) This has a great utility that will let you install MS-DOS 6.22 from within Win95. Whenever you want to boot into Win3.11/DOS6.22, press F8 when you see "Starting Windows 95", then select "Previous Version of MS-DOS". This works great for me. If you don't have/want MS-DOS 6.22, download 3xstart.exe from that same page, which will let Win 3.1 install on Windows 95B/98's MS-DOS 7.1.

By the way, If you have Win95B and your hard drive is formatted FAT32, you'll have to use 3xstart.exe for running Win3.1, since DOS 6.22 doesn't support FAT32. (FAT16 only)

I dual booted DOS 6.1 and Windows 98 in a single partition without any kind of boot manager. The partition was FAT 16.

In 98 Start | Run | type msconfig | general tab | advanced | enable start up menu

This allows you to choose the previous OS, in this case DOS, from the start up menu. (Or use F8 as in the post above - F4 boots straight into DOS, I believe)

You have to install DOS first, and, if I remember correctly, you have to install 98 in a directory other than the default 'windows' directory. (3.11 installs itself in 'windows' - I'm not sure if you can change that)

PPorchos

Keep in mind that doing that won't work in Windows 95B. It has a strange bug (which is one of the things OSR2-KIT.EXE fixes) that keeps it from working. Selecting Previous MS-DOS work the first time, but after a restart, the system will have a complete boot failure. No 95 no 6.22, no nothing. Which results in needing to reinstall. (And that was fun...) But Win95A and 98 will work great with that.

From experance NEVER install Windows 95 upwards into anything other than C:\WINDOWS

If you want to use Windows 3.1 then install that into a directory called for example C:\WIN31 (It does give you the option by the way)

Why? Many newer 32bit Win9x programs will not register correctly if windows is not installed to C:\Windows! Least ways that is how it has been for me. Windows 3.1 has less of a control problem in this way, but is more prone to WIN.IN & SYS.INI faults. So back them up before each install of a new program!

Hal, I have Win32 installed in M$-CR*P and never have anything in My Documents, with the intention of limiting the spread of any infections. I haven't yet had any problems with software installations, and would be grateful for info of ones that have misbehaved for you.

"From experance NEVER install Windows 95 upwards into anything other than C:\WINDOWS"

?? I've never had any problems when installing and using Windows versions 95 and newer in folders such as Win95, Win98, Win2k, Win2000, WinXP. I have never seen a single app that complained about it.

I have never seen a problem, but there is a school of thought for always accepting defaults when installing software.