I currently have a 40 gig drive in my PC. It has Windows 2000 installed on it with an NTFS file system. I wanted to install windows 95 on a differnt volume, I put out 2GB out of that 40 for Windows 95, And I made that 2gigs into a FAT-16 file system (That is only because I have the Windows 95 A version) It installed ok, and all the files are on but when I go to start it says "Missing Operating System", Windows 2000 still works fine but 95 keeps on giving me this error. Is it possible that the NTFS file system and FAT-16 do not work together? Thank-You

It should be possible. I'd use three Primary partitions, install Windows 95 on the first, 2000 on the 2nd, and use the third for storing documents and files that can be accessed by either. Personally, I'd use Win 98 over 95, because it's generally more stable and has better multi-media functions. A used copy of '98 should be dirt cheap on eBay or elsewhere. Best Luck, Bob

Normally the older OS is supposed to be installed 1st, then the newer one: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=217210 but here's something that may work: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1047233,00.asp

Yeah, 95 should have been installed first. Then when you install Win 2000 afterwards, it sees the boot record for Win 95, and creates an entry in a file called boot.ini, which allows you to choose which OS to boot to. If you install 2000 first, Win 95 isn't capable of this. As far as FAT16 and NTFS, they are compatible on the same machine, meaning the 2 file systems can see the other partition. Bear in mind, if you do as an earlier post in this thread suggests and install Win98, be aware that Win 98 uses the FAT32 file system, which is NOT compatible with NTFS, meaning, the 2 partitions would not be visible to each other. However, in my opinion, the advantages of having Win98 outweigh the advantages of using the NTFS file system on the Win 2000 partition....SO what I'd do is start over, install win 98 on one partition, then install win 2000 on the 2nd partition using the FAT32 file system, not NTFS. OK, I'm done. Confused yet?

raincheck:: If ‘9x/W2K or ‘9x/XP co-exist in the same physical system then any (commonly accessed) fat16 areas are limited to 2gig max. This is because ‘9x/dos can only handle/see a max of 2Gig as fat16; NT/W2K/XP can handle fat16 to 4Gig max. ‘98x/dos cannot see/access ntfs (without an ad-in util…) thus ‘9x/dos cannot see/access an ntfs partition (on the same physical system). Across a network connection the file format issue is abstracted (it disappears from the equation). Jesse: http://www.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/21665.html -response #5 details a standard way to set up a dual-boot ‘9x/W2K from scratch; translates easily into ‘9x/XP and also W2K/XP. It covers it for single/dual-drive; and with/without either OS already installed… Useful to have read – perhaps – so as to see the how/why of it all; allows an understanding of how variations (for your situation) can be achieved and how they work… Ideally the oldest OS goes in first – but it isn’t essential. What is essential (in the above model) is the fat16 (common) system partition – which hold all installed M$ OS boot/start-up files; the actual system files for each OS (the OS itself) go into separate logical-drives. You can also do it using a separate Primary for each OS; you can have 4 Primary partitions or 3 Primary+1 Extended on drive. There are also conditions to be met using separate primary partitions. There pros/cons for each approach; I favour the model in the above link for most situations – but the other approach does have its place… To your immediate situation: You say you “tweaked” the drive partitioning – slightly. It ‘was’ all ntfs and now you have another fat16 Primary… Where is this fat16 (2gig) Primary? If it’s after the bulk of the remaining ntfs partition (i.e. towards the end of the drive) then that’s your first issue to address… You will have run into the boot-code boundary for the ‘9x… dos/win2x/3x must be in a (fat16 – 2Gig limit) primary that is physically first on the drive; ‘95a must within the 2Gig boundary, ‘95b/’98 within the 8gig boundary… Rather than going ‘deep’ into territory that may not be applicable here… post back with current partition details of drive. With that the info offered can be targeted to your situation. The situation you started from was recently discussed in detail here at computing.net, and a viable solution found… Based on your reply I can point you to that discussion and modify the suggestions therein accordingly if need-be…

trvlr: Jesse stated in his post that the partition he had set aside was 2 gig. So I'm not sure what the purpose of your reply directed to me was. I stand by what I said. His issue was that he installed Win 2000 first, instead of 95, and he didn't understand why his dual boot setup didn't work. As I stated, he can simply start over- knock out the 2 partitions he has then with fdisk, create 2 partitions, install 9x on one, the install Win 2000 on the other - Wallah - he'll have a working dual boot machine!

Or as I suggested, Jesse could try this: "You don't have to remove Windows 2000. Start by installing Windows 98 SE (Win 95 in your case) in a different partition. When you're done, insert the Windows 2000 CD and reboot to start Windows 2000 setup. On the Welcome to Setup page, press R (for Repair). When you reach the Windows 2000 Repair Options page, press R again. You'll then be prompted to select a repair option. Press M for Manual. Then press the Up Arrow until Verify Windows 2000 system files is highlighted; press Enter to clear this selection. Press the Down Arrow to select Continue (perform selected tasks), and then press Enter. The system will ask whether you have an emergency repair disk. Press L, indicating it should Locate your existing installation. Once it does so, press Enter to complete the repairs. This will establish dual boot for you." http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1047233,00.asp