Good day guys is it possible to dual boot my 2 hard drive?My existing 120 gigabytes drive has win98se with 4 partition and i got a new one with 80 gigs.What i did was reformat the 80gigs creating 2 partition C NTFS and D FAT32 then i slave the 120gigs which has win98 all files were intact and i did the installation with winXP PRO,now can i make an option to select which i prefer to boot from? how? i dont want to reformat my 98 coz i had some softwares installed in it.

I successfully installed the XP and install all updates,when the pc boots up there's no option to select which i want to boot.Here's the boot.ini in my msconfig:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operation systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdsik(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

Can anybody helps me what i want to be if it is possible.Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in Advance.

you must install win98 first, then xp.
xp sets up the bootloader.
win98 can't do that

I think the boot.ini can be edited to make that dual boot work. I am unsure of the exact file, so I won't try.

Be patient, someone may come along and help.

mountain i'ved been using my win98 since two years ago and got the new one last monday and install the winxp.All i asked is too dual boot them if possible.

OtherHill thanks for the inspirational messege i just hope someone will help me on this.

As mountain said, if you already have win98 installed and then install winxp, the boot option would be set up automatically by XP. If it wasn't, you must have done something wrong.

Do you know how to use the Command Console in XP? (You boot using the XP CD, with both drives connected, and answer R the first time it asks you if you want to Repair Windows.)
There is a program there - it's name escapes me at the momemt - that can rebuild boot.ini on the XP installation so that it will add the 98SE installation and give you a multiboot choice when you boot.
If you have no clue about either I could dig around and find instrctions I've made in the past.
However, if you had the 98SE drive connected when you setup XP on the other drive, XP Setup should have made a multiboot choice automatically.

I found some notes, and modified them here for your situation.

- with your bios Setup boot order set to boot a CD in a CD drive before any hard drive, boot with the XP CD.
- let it load the initial Setup files. When it finishes that it will ask you if you want to Repair Windows (that's the first time it does so) - answer R - yes - that takes you to a black screen, white text - the Recovery Console.

XP then searches for Windows installations, and lists them.

Asks which Windows installation (default is only one) -
If it finds only one, * press 1, enter (don't just press enter).
(If it finds more than one, the drive letters are according to XP's rules. E.g. If both physical drives in this case have one partition and XP sees the partition 98SE is on as D, this step may see that 98SE Windows installation as D:\Windows - don't choose that.)
Asks for password
* enter the password, press enter - case is important
* My tips: - if the Windows XP installation has no administrator password, there are no asterisks ("star" characters, uppercase of 8 on your keyboard) beside Password - just press Enter in that case.
- If there are asterisks beside Password, it is the same password you used for your XP installation (then press Enter).
* you have 3 tries to get the password right - after a third unsuccessful one, the recovery console quits and you must start over.

- goes to C:\Windows and a prompt, a square white box
* The white square prompt symbol threw me off when I first saw it, but it is a prompt symbol just like > normally is

* default user is Owner (not sure about case of O) - not needed for Recovery Console.

* Type: help (enter) to get a list of commands.
* Type: (command name), space, /? for syntax.

NOTE that I have done the following sucessfully on a computer with 2000 and XP installations on it, and on several computers with more than one XP installation on it, and I am ASSUMING it will also find Win ME, and WIN 95/98/98SE Windows installations too. If you want to see what Windows installations are found before modifying boot.ini, chicken out and answer NO when you see Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All) the first run through for all Windows installations, and your existing boot.ini will not be modified; type: exit to reboot.

Type: bootcfg /rebuild (press Enter)
This command scans the hard disks of the computer for Windows installations, and then displays the results. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to add the Windows installations to the Boot.ini file.
For example, follow these steps to add a Windows XP installation to the Boot.ini file:

a. When you receive a message that is similar to the following message, press Y:
Total Identified Windows Installs: 1
[1] C:\Windows
Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All)
- answer Y - Yes ( or No if you want to chicken out - not add that or make any change to boot.ini)
b. You receive a message that is similar to the following message:
Enter Load Identifier (my note - TYPE SOMETHING, ANYTHING! or you will see no label for that Windows partition when you boot - you can change the label later if you need to)
This is normally the name of the operating system. When you receive this message, type the name of your operating system, and then press ENTER.
(my note - the drive letters, locations of the Windows installations are the same as 2000 r XP sees in Windows. You should be able to tell which one is 98SE by its drive letter location )
c. You receive a message that is similar to the following:
Enter OS Load options
When you receive this message, for Win 2000 or XP type: /fastdetect, and then press ENTER. For Win ME, 95, 98, 98SE you don't need to type anything - just press ENTER.

Note The instructions that appear on your screen may be different, depending on the configuration of your computer.

9. Type exit, and then press ENTER to quit Recovery Console. Your computer restarts, and the updated boot list appears, and you receive the "Please select the operating system to start" message.

My note:
Bootcfg does not delete the existing boot.ini - it adds new entries that are listed before (above) the older ones.
When you have used bootcfg, choose only the Windows installations it found, the first one(s) - the other ones below that may now be invalid.

You can remove the old entries, at least one of which may now be invalid.
Control Panel - System - Advanced - Startup and Recovery - Edit - maximize the window - delete the entire lines below the lines below [operating systems] that were not detected by bootcfg.
Choose File in the top left corner - Save.
You can edit the label given to a partition in the same place.

(If after you edit boot.ini there is now only one operating system listed after [operating systems] in boot.ini, after you reboot, your computer will now boot without prompting you to select operating systems.)

Whew that was hard to read tubesandwires! And that doesn't address the Win98 reg entries that all point to c: but it now lives on d:.

It not that complicated jodans. Its a two part process to boot. Part one is the boot.ini edit and part two is a edit of msdos.sys. But that only gets you half way there. Read this completely before you make any changes.

From what you describe for your drives and layout you have drive1 as c: and drive2[98] as d: which makes your fat32 e: and the rest of the partitions f,g and h on the 98 drive.

Add this line to the boot.ini
d:\="Windows 98"

This tells the boot loader to look for io.sys. msdos.sys and command.com on d:

Then edit the msdos.sys on d:
change these lines
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C
to
WinDir=D:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=D:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=D

Now you can boot. But you are only half way there. Since this used to be c: your Win98 registry entries are invalid since they point to c: not d:

YOU MUST DO THIS STEP BELOW FIRST!

You boot the 98 drive as C:. [just disconnect the xp drive and set the 98 drive as boot in the bios] Run regedit and export the reg to a txt file. Save a backup copy just in case. Using Word do a seach and replace of c: to d:. Word should report almost 4000 reg entry changes.
Save the file as a .reg file
DO NOT DOUBLE CLICK ON THIS FILE or it will be merged doing double reg entries of which half will be right. A pain to clean up. Go into regedit and IMPORT the file.

Go back into regedit and search for c:. You should not find any entries.

Put the drive back as d: [dont'forget the bios] and boot your first drive containing the boot.ini.

You should come up fine now in both xp and 98

NOW HERE IS A GOTCHA. You write you have 4 partitions on the 98 disk. I AM ASSUMING 98 IS ON THE FIRST PARTITION. It gets a bit more complicated if its not but its doable.

Just a warning but improper usage of regedit can render your 98 messed up. I have done this a half dozen times for myself. In fact I am home writing from a machine that still has 98 even if I haven't used it in years [last time I played mechwarrior 2].

Additional note: if your programs are on the other partitions you will have to find the registry entries in 98 and change them to the correct drive letter. If this is the case you would be better off setting the 98 disk as c: and doing a repair install of xp. This will autocreate the boot.ini multiboot for both 98 and xp and correct the now invalid xp registry entries to be correct.

Note: there is even a method to boot 98 from a 1st drive primary partition that is NTFS. See here
http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article...

Are you ready for where Microsoft wants you to go today?

tubesandwires thanks for the great time for modifying but it seems too complicated as wanderer said and i doubt i might go install from scratch but again thanks alot.

I will try your suggestion wanderer if a get it to work but as you mentioned on the end of your post i might reverse the situation,i make 98 as c:/master with 4 fat32 partition and winxp d:/slave with 2 partition ntfs and fat32 can it also be possible.I need a guide to process but if its getting worst and complicated, i have to do what you suggested earlier.

Simple solution. Return your original 98 drive with it's 4 existing partitions to the Primary Master position. Put the new 80gb drive in as slave or secondary master. Format it to wipe out the current XP installation. Now boot up using your XP instal disk.
Do a clean instal into the NTFS partition on the second disk. XP setup will automatically establish the dualboot and assign drive letters.

I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

Go with Richard59 suggestion.

That is the way dual boot should really be set up.

Always the older MS OS has to be installed first. Also Win98 likes to be on the primary partition of the first hard drive.

Doing it the way you have is non standard and very fiddly to even try and get to work.

For more information visit my website (Homepage link) and look up dual / multiple booting.

___________________________________________
☺ When everything else fails, read the instructions.

Well, I told you someone would come along. Wanderer was one I had in mind.

I have used dual boot for two versions of Windows multiple times. IMO this is the easiest to setup but the least fault tolerant. If the drive with the Boot.ini on it get corrupted or dies you can have trouble accessing the other OS.

You may want to look at a 3rd party boot logger. That creates a little longer boot up time but the OSes are totally indepenent of one another. When multiple physical drives are used this is even more advantagious.

If someone else here has a difference of opinion about this, feel free, I am by no means an authority on this topic.

"Always the older MS OS has to be installed first."
and
"Win98 likes to be on the primary partition of the first hard drive."

These are FALSE precepts mosaddique !

Always has been and always will be. Don't clutter the internet with MISINFORMATION!

Anyone can install any OS in any order you want. All you have to know is how to fix it so they all work as I clearly outlined with my post.

Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search

jordans
Look in System Information in XP.
e.g. Start - Run - type: msinfo32 (click on OK)
On the right pane, if your XP sees itself as installed on C, the line Windows Directory will say C:\Windows.
In that case the procedure in response 6 will work fine
Response 6 is wordy for the sake of more detail for newbies. A lot of the info in that is not normally provided when you find directions for how to use bootcfg /rebuild (note the space after bootcfg). Some I found only by trial and error, and have never seen mentioned anywhere, such as the asterisks/password thing (that may not apply to brand name system installations by the way - you may see asterisks in any case with those - try just pressing Enter first). It takes only 5 minutes or so to try that procedure, once you understand what is going on and what you need to do.

As for the drive letters 98SE sees, and whether you have to change drive letter assignments in 98SE, where is XP installed? If it is on the 80gb drive, you could make both partitions on that drive NTFS. Win 98SE cannot see NTFS partitions, so when you boot 98SE it will not see that drive or it's two partitions at all if both partitions are NTFS. If you haven't changed the partition 98SE is on on the other hard drive, you won't have to change any drive letter assignments at all with the 80gb drive and it's partitions invisible to 98SE.

wanderer

"Anyone can install any OS in any order you want. All you have to know is how to fix it so they all work as I clearly outlined with my post."

Sure you can do it that way, but it is a lot easier, especially for a newbie, to do it the standard ways as mosaddique suggests.
Both his statements are common all over the web.
Both statements are true or can be true if he had added recommended, as in:
It is recommended always the older MS OS has to be installed first.
It is recommended Win98 likes to be on the primary partition of the first hard drive (although I would leave out first hard drive).

In the latter case, there are many known bugs in Win 95/98/98SE maybe ME that will cause you problems in some circumstances if it isn't installed there, or on another primary partition on another drive, rather than a secondary one. And 95/98/98SE probably ME have restricitions as to where they can be installed on a large hard drive and still work properly that XP and 2000 don't have.

If you install the op systems in the order of their age, and install 98SE on a primary partition on a large hard drive, you are a lot less likely to encounter problems.

Tubes

All you state is true. However, in this case the OP did state there were TWO harddrives in the system with Win98 on one and WinXP on the other. I would assume if the Win98 install booted it must be on a active primary partition.

It is easier in this case to write a Boot.ini file than it would be to re-install XP. That is why I didn't originally suggest the OP do that.

"It is easier in this case to write a Boot.ini file than it would be to re-install XP. That is why I didn't originally suggest the OP do that."

I agree. That's what response 5 and 6 and the first part of 13 are all about.
But if one starts from scratch, I recommend one uses standard ways such as mosaddique suggests.

Agreed of course.

Tubes I would agree with most of what you say but never use the arguement that because its all over the internet that it must be true. There is a lot on the internet that isn't 100% correct especially in this field.

I am back on this thread because I think I forgot a step since it has been a number of years since I worked intimately with 98.

Actually it was mosaddique's comment about Win98 wanting to be on the first primary partition that got me thinking.

It is not that Win98 needs to reside on the first primary, it can exist on an extended partition or even another drive in the system. What it does require is that the boot files io.sys, msdos.sys and command.com exist on c:. What confirmed this in my mind is the fact there is the debug routine to create the bootsect.dos file if the first primary is ntfs. If fat/fat32 all you have to do is sys c: from a floppy disk and then run recovery console and fixmbr to restore the xp mbr.

This would also make my statement about the boot.ini incorrect. It would have to be c:\="windows98". Boot has to follow the chain of command. Bios hands off to the boot sector of the hard drive. That says what and where to boot [primary active and mbr] which in turn will load the OS.

I will confirm this when I go home tonight. I would hate to be posting misinformation :-)
Always fun discussing this stuff with you guys [and sometimes gals]

Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search

wanderer

The exact point you just made is what I was unsure of but believed to be the case. That is why I didn't take a crack at it.

Just one other point to make to the OP. Without reading all the detailed instructions above I would just say that you should rename and save the old Boot.ini as say Old Boot.ini00, then write the new one and place in the root directory. If something goes wrong you will then be able to easily restore the original Boot.ini. Just remember what you renamed it.

wanderer,

May be my choice of words were not too precise and I did not give the full detail.

What I was trying to indicate is that there is a common accepted way of dual booting which is simpler.

The way of putting win98 in a slave drive is non standard. I agree that it can be made to work a number of ways, but as I said it involves either using boot managers or additional tweaks including registry edits.

The common accepted way simply works by default.

I do not believe what I said was misinformation (may be not enough information). Plus I was trying to keep it simple.

I hope that is clear.

___________________________________________
☺ When everything else fails, read the instructions.

mosaddique

We are all cool here but this quote from your #10 response is what wanderer is referring to. The work ALWAYS is an absolute, no exceptions.
"Always the older MS OS has to be installed first".

OtheHill,

That is why I said

"May be my choice of words were not too precise and I did not give the full detail."

___________________________________________
☺ When everything else fails, read the instructions.

I understand. As I said we are all cool here.

"The way of putting win98 in a slave drive is non standard"

mosaddique everything is cool as OtheHill says but again you have to watch how you word things. I was doing your "non standard" config with windows 3.1 and 98 I bet before you were in the field of IT.

For a number of businesses with developed apps in 3.1 but wanting the networking of 98 this "non standard" config WAS standard.

It was amazing what you could do with a boot floppy in those days :-)

Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search

wanderer,

I am cool too.

Even when you read your post you can see a shoehorn process involving registry edits etc. Plus an additional need for a small FAT partition for the C: drive to host the boot files. NOT for newbies or the faint hearted.

I have no doubts about your abilities and prowess when it comes to this subject as I am conversant with your past responses/posts.

I have also never said it is not doable.

When I use the term standard, It is conventional wisdom and most websites including microsoft recommend it that way.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306559

My only point was and is simplicity. As I said, the common accepted way simply works by default.

As for my involvement in the field of IT, I have been in it from 1980 onwards and have worked on all MS OS'es (including DOS) except MS Vista which I have only toyed with during the beta testing cycle.

My Linux journey started with RedHat 5.0 and to date have worked with many different flavours of Linux. RedHat, Fedora Core, Mandrake now Mandriva, Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Knoppix to name a few.

My initial post has been flamed for lack of detail, which I admit I could have framed better.

___________________________________________
☺ When everything else fails, read the instructions.

Your post really wasn't flamed. Maybe heated up a little but not flamed.

Wow 27 years in the field !?! That was before the first PC was released. The first IBM PC ran on a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor and was released August 12, 1981.

I am surprised.

I worked with 8088's as handmedowns but my first pc was a 286 with 4meg of ram and a 5 /14" floppy drive.

Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search

"I worked with 8088's as handmedowns but my first pc was a 286 with 4meg of ram and a 5 /14" floppy drive."

Same for me for both, except a Sanyo 286 (proprietary mboard and PS, but used standard cards, drives, SIMM ram, keyboard, mice) 12mhz, 1mb ram, Dos 3.2 with an extensive printed manual, printed system manual, 32mb RLL hard drive and proprietary controller, and a sturdy Fujitsu keyboard. I don't think it came with a mouse - we added a serial one later. Over $1000. Added a 3 1/2 1.44mb floppy just after we got it - it was in the neighbourhood of $100 - and over time added 3 more mb of ram, which was about $100 a mb at the time we bought the computer. 1988 or 89. Eventually got a SB card (it did not have onboard sound, or come with a card - sound was a new thing back then) and IDE drives for it (it had one IDE controller built in but the IDE drives were a lot more expensive than MFM or RLL ones when we bought the computer), upgraded in steps to Dos 6.2 (3.3, 5, 6, 6.2) and Win 3.1, and skipped proprietary CD drives and got a 2X NEC IDE one which came with it's own IDE card, set to IRQ 15 (well over $100).
Setup was via a program on a 5 1/4 floppy - not much to set. The bios chip was not flashable. Investigated a web supplied bios upgrade chip (it was in a socket) but didn't go for it - over $100.

Wanderer,

That is right. The PC was yet to be invented.

Sometimes when you look back you realise the kind of progress that has been made in the PC field.

Like you my earliest PCs was the 286. I have even worked with the BBC B, BBC Master, ZX80 and many similar products.

I also still remember buying my son his first top of the range PC for £2000!!. That was a Gateway 48DX266 with 4M of RAM. I then paid £100 for a 4M RAM upgrade and another £96 to have a sound blaster 16 value card fitted. Imagine that!!

As for taking trips down memory lane:

I do not know if you remember, but I have even worked with the CP/M operating system.

As a software development engineer, I have also worked on board level with intel (8086 & 80C51 family) and motorola (68000) kit and used PLM and ASM (mainly PLM86 and ASM86) to write both what was at the time termed as high level (PLM) and Low level (ASM) software.

I even remember the days when PROMs were programmed on machines where the firmware to be embedded was read in by paper tape readers.

Many a christmas we used to use them for office decorations.

I am currently working in designing and developing embedded systems using Real Time Operating Systems mainly PSOS and Embedded Linux. Most of it being done using C and C++. So the journey is still ongoing.

___________________________________________
☺ When everything else fails, read the instructions.

My brother had a hand me down Xerox CP/M system for awhile - two floppy drives, no hard drive, 8" floppies, a few programs and games came with it, 8mhz?, Motorola cpu?. You could order a few programs and games on the web for it till the mid 90's, on 8" disks. His next one was an Ambra 486 - when he got that he scrapped the Xerox.

Very cool. Pretty amazing the price of things then and now. CP/M was before my time but always thought it cool, if not tedious, to program a MFM drives defect table with debug. My forte has been hardware and networking with a CNE, lantastic, and VMS and remember the first demo in San Francisco of MS's server that crashed [had a great laugh that day but sure regret not buying MS stock then now!]. Now I am a CIO. Go figure where career paths take you.

Best of luck guys!

Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search

"...always thought it cool, if not tedious, to program a MFM drives defect table with debug. "

Been there.
I fiddled with MFM and RLL drives and controllers I got cheap in the mid to late 90's. The biggest problem was the printed directions and specs that came with the controllers were usually not with them - some were available on the web, and some controllers used the more common address locations, but some I never did figure out. But Disk Manager came out and made all that easy for most controllers, and will even find (and map) new defects and the best interleave ratio and other best settings automatically.
I still have one early 90's RLL drive (30 mb?) and several controllers, including at least one 16 bit one (no info), and an 8 bit IDE controller (for 8 bit IDE drives only - you could use them on XT's or higher - never came across such a drive)- anybody want them? I have some info for most.

mmm... been away for a few days; and boy did this one get a litle heavy at times...?

Wonder which way Jodans went in the end?

One option I would offer (even a this late stage) is to do as Wanderer mooted at the end of one his early post - put the 98 drive as Master to the XP drive (with XP already installed to it when a stand-alone Master). but do not run the XP repair routine (which is a valid approach). Rather - first - with the XP drive still set as Master etc... copy the boot.ini from it to a floppy; and lock that floppy. Then restore/reset the '98 drive as Master to the XP drive now slaved.

Copy the boot.ini from the floppy to c: root on the '98 drive. Afterwhich simply start an XP installation (CD boot etc., not from within '98) - to the '98 drive - as c:\temp\winnt (or c:\temp\windows (whichever it proffers for XP folder) and abort it at first reboot. Remove all disks and reboot - to a standard XP boot-menu listing the aborted installation - set as default; the 98 installation (probabby c:\windows); and the XP installation on the XP drive.

Boot to XP on the "other" drive; set it as default; edit the boot.ini to remove references to the aborted installation; delete the c:\temp\winnt folder; empty '98 recycle-bin. Reboot to verify XP still boots OK on its own drive; reboot to '98 and defrag that drive (to tidy up the scene).

Job done.

This approach allows the XP drive to be reset as Master again - and still boot OK - should the need arise...

In this model both OS will boot as c: etc. : i.e. XP will still boot as c:\winnt (or c:\windows - whichever); and '98 will boot as c: etc. XP will assign a drive letter other than c: when "viewing/displaying '98 drive, but this will cause no problems...

The registry entries for XP includes all drive letter assignments. This registry is consulted during the boot-sequence; thus all original XP entries remain valid - and the installation on the XP drive will function as though still a stand-alone installation...

The other variation is to Slave XP as above; run the c:\temp installation as above and allow it to complete. Then run the bootcfg command - via recovery console - as per:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixth...

This will add the original XP installation to the boot.ini on the '98 drive; afterwhich one can simply delete the c:\temp XP installation from the '98 drive, and clean up the boot.ini thereon.

In both cases XP setup will create the required bootsect.dos to allow '98 to boot via the XP boot-loader.