Name: S.S Date: February 27, 2008 at 13:49:13 Pacific Subject: Multi boot xp,nt 4\2000,95, and 3.1 OS: Windows xp CPU/Ram: P4 128mb Model/Manufacturer: IBM thinkcentre
Comment:
Is there anyway to multiboot xp, Nt 4.0\2000,95, and 3.1 without destroying my current xp partition
Yes, though it is complicated an risky. BACKUP before attempting. Also, the most complicated setup I've actually done is WinXP+WinNT 3.51+Win98+Win3.11, an it wasn't all at once, so I might be mistaken in some poits in this post. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
First, you'll have to pick a boot manager. I personally like XOSL (google for it). Then, with something like Partition Magic (or any other decent partitioning utility) resize you XP partition and then create: - 1 Primary FAT16 partition (2gb max) for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 - 1 Primary FAT16 partition (2gb max) for Windows NT - 1 Primary NTFS/FAT32 partition for Windows 2000
Now install the boot manager (you'll probably have to install XOSL using a boot disk), READ ITS DOCUMENTATION, and follow this instructions: - Create a boot item for your XP partition, make sure it doesn't try to hide any partitions from Windows XP. - Create a boot item for your second partition (Win95/3.11) and be sure it hides XP's partition, at least. - Create another boot item, this time for your WinNT partition. I don't think you'll have to hide anything here. - Create another boot item, this time for your Win2000 partition. I don't think you'll have to hide anything here.
Now for the installation: - Configure your machine to boot from Floppy, then CD, then HD. - In your boot manager, select to start Windows 2000 so its partition will be activated. Then put the Win2000 setup CD in the drive. Rebooot after the error message/blank screen. - Install Windows 2000. Restore your boot manager if necessary - Now, select to boot the Win95 partition so its partition will be activated. Then put a boot disk with CD support (from Win98, possibly) in the floppy drive. Reboot after the error message/blank screen. - Install Win95. Restore your boot manager if necessary. - If your Windows 95 OSR2 or higher (ships with "DOS" 7.1), you'll have to google for a patch that allows it to start Windows 3.11. I think it is called 3xstart. Apply it if necessary. - Modify your MSDOS.INI (read-only system file in the boot partition of Win95) and change BootGui=1 to BootGui=0 (or add it if necessary) - Modify your Config.sys/Autoexec.bat so you'll have two (initially identical) separate configurations (via boot menu, again, google): one for Win95 and one for Win 3.11 - In Win3.11's config, make sure your Win95 folder isn't in the PATH variable - Install Win 3.11 - Boot in you NT4 partition, put the same floppy disk you used before in your drive and reboot. - Install Windows NT 4 in that partition, and restore the boot manager if necessary. - Now, test everything and verify if it is all working - Update all your OSes. After the updates, NT4 (now SP6) will be able to read NTFS partitions from Windows 2000 and XP.
Again, this is risky, and I recomment reading about MS-DOS before starting, so the whole multiple configs thing. And, honestly, using something like VirtualPC would be A LOT easier.
>>>And, honestly, using something like VirtualPC would be A LOT easier.<<<
But given the OP's specs (128MB RAM), I'd strongly suggest a ton more (i.e.-1GB or better) RAM before attempted. Other than that, yep, you'd be hard pressed to beat a virtual-machine setup...
Hi, I have successfully made a multi-boot system. However, I decided to only dual boot: DOS 7.1 with Windows 3.1 and Windows 98SE. As for virtual PC,I have used it before and it is not the same as having a real computer. Thanks for your help.
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