I want to load winXP on to a second partition (small partition for XP) and then install to the first partition.

Ive done it for win98 and used DOS commands to start it, is it possible on winXP but not having DOS how would i go about starting the transfer from D: to C: partition?

One of the differences between the Win9X oses and WinXP/2K is that you can install multiple instances of the latter on a drive or drives or partition or partitions and use a multiboot menu described by boot.ini in the root of the boot partition (which is normally the first primary partition on Disk0).

If you have multiple instances of Win9x on a drive you must only show one active primary partition (containing the pointers to the OS) at any moment in time such that booting to the different installations can only be done by hiding/unhiding etc or by installing third party drive overlay such as bootmagic.

It's not quite clear if you want two different installation of XP or if you want to clone the version on 2 onto 1. Both results can be achieved - though such cloning is best done using third party partition/image managers.

You could of course just copy the three main folders (Windows, Documents and Settings and Program Files) from D to C and then add a line to boot.ini but you may still need to run a repair installation on the copied OS to get up and running if you go by this "direct route".

Thanks Paul,
But nothing to do with a dual boot, i want to copy the contents of WinXP cd to D: and set up C: from the copy now on D:.

So the active drive is C:, and D: contains the XP-cd.

Ahh - now I see. Just copy the i386 folder from the installation CD to your D drive (have it about 500MB formatted as FAT).

Then run the WinNT.exe file within the i386 folder to set up the installation.

All done from a boot floppy. Let us know if you need any help with the DOS commands. Alternatively copy the files to the drive whilst slaved to another PC.

;)

Questions,

1. When ive copied the i386 to D: will it give me a working OS on C:?

2. What commands run the WinNT.exe file?

3. How do i do this from a floppy?

Thanks Paul.

After you have copied the i386 folder to D, running winnt is equivalent to running setup from the cd. Just let the installation run and have your cd key ready.

Boot to a boot floppy diskette then type and enter the three following commands:-

D:

cd  i386

winnt

Will a 98 boot disk be ok?

Thanks Paul.

Should do just fine.