Dual boot 98se/XP on a Dell

[risk_reversal]

A friend of mine has bought a new Dell pc. He wants to dual boot his system by way of installing 98se on it.
I can see no reason in principle why this could not not be done but just wanted to get someones opinion on this.

He has a 160Gb hdd (with I guess SP2) and 512Mb ram. I also guess that his drive must be NTFS. I appreciate that 98se would have to be installed on the first partition of the hard disk and prior to XP.

He doesn't want to run anything fancy in terms of partitions just 2 partitions one with 98se and the other with XP. My understanding is that despite the fact that 98 will have FAT32 and XP NTFS this is not going to present any problems.

Lastly, I know that Dell do not provide XP cd but instead provide a 'recovery' partition is that likely to cause any concerns (I can't see how but I had better ask).

I was going to use PM8 for the task and in essence my steps would be as follow:

1. Reduce the XP partition from original size
2. Move the XP partition along the hard disk
3. Create and format a partition for 98 in the space vacated by XP
4. Install 98se and all hardware etc
5. Install boot magic as boot manager on the 98 partition

Am I correct in my thoughts.

Many thanks for any help that you can provide

[Paul Komski]

I appreciate that 98se would have to be installed on the first partition of the hard disk and prior to XP.
Well that's not strictly true - particularly if you use a boot manager - but it is the least complicated.

Dells come nowadays with a Windows installation CD and the other thing to note is that there is also usually a small preinstalled diagnostic utility Dell partiton at the start of the drive (and which can usually accessed by F12 during startup). It doesnt take up much room and might come in handy sometime so I would leave it there.

Since you want to install Win98 after WinXP I suggest that you first Resize the WinXP partition smaller by allocating some free space in front of it (and after any Dell partition). Then reboot and check that that you can still boot to WinXP and let it fix its new position in its registry. Then (from a PM or similar floppy) hide the WinXP partition if it is on FAT (the Dell partition will remain hidden) and create a FAT partition, as a primary partition, in the available free space. Then install Win98 into what it should perceive is the only partition on the HDD - ignoring any warnings about NTFS partitions if WinXP is on NTFS. Then install boot magic and configure any hiding/unhiding as necessary or desired.

It's not a bad idea to make a backup of your mbr before you do any of this. It can also be worthwhile making a WinXP boot floppy. Format a floppy (from WinXP) and then copy boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com onto it. Then boot to the floppy and see if it will startup the WinXP installation. One of the values of this is that you can thereafter easily edit or add lines to the floppy's boot.ini if you change the partition table arrangements such that WinXP fails to boot any more.

[risk_reversal]

Many thanks for your reply Paul Komski.

Let me make sure this is all clear in my mind.

1. On the HDD there will be a first / initial diagnostic utility Dell partition at the start of the drive. Leave that be.

2. Resize the XP partition smaller creating free space in between the Dell utility partition and the XP partition.

3. Make sure at that stage that XP still boots fine and has made appropriate changes to its position in registry.

4. Format a FAT32 partition (ignoring any NTFS warnings) in the free space created in point 2. and install 98 on it.

5. Install boot manager on 98se

So the disk will look like the

1st partition Dell utility
2nd partition Win98se :)
3rd partition XP

Sorry its just that you said

Well that's not strictly true - particularly if you use a boot manager - but it is the least complicated.
but then said

Since you want to install Win98 after WinXP I suggest that you first Resize the WinXP partition smaller by allocating some free space in front of it (and after any Dell partition)

As you well know manipulating partitions can be a tricky experience and I just wanna make sure at the outset what my exact proceedure is going to be.

Cheers

[ejaab]

need a favour,have to configure an ISDN external modem,it doesnt have a serial port,has two S rj45 connection and a U connection,dont know what am meant to do,what kind of cable to use.

[Paul Komski]

ejasb Welcome but please don't piggy back other posters threads - instead start one of you own. It is also a good idea to post in an appropriate forum such as peripherals or internet connectivity for your query.

[/b]risk reversal[/b]
Doing things that way should be just fine.

One can multiboot in three main ways.

(1) The microsoft way which involves only using one active partition and its boot sector (or a copy of another boot sector stored as a file). Boot.ini holds the multiboot menu. Installing an older version after a newer version screws up the boot sector such that the newer version will no longer boot. If, on the other hand, say Win98 is installed first it is very easy to install Win2K/WinXP in addition afterwards (and even onto the same partition. It is however the least flexible arrangement and leads to all sorts of recovery problems if they occur later on.

(2) The manual way by using multiple primary partitions and installing the OSes onto each partition (WHEN THAT PARTITION HAS BEEN FIRST SET AS ACTIVE, MANUALLY). A similar thing can be done by installing onto two physical drives and then swapping the boot order manually in the BIOS setup.

(3) The third party way by using a boot manager and overlaying the MBR. It is wise and may be mandatory to hide all other primary partitions while installing multiple OSes this way. The boot manager (if worth its salt) should take care of which partitions are hidden and active at each boot up.

Thus one can install an older version of windows after a newer one but it involves not doing things the microsoft way (or else having to repair things afterwards if one can). One has the greatest flexibility by using manual or boot manager methods but they do also require attention to detail. One will have the least problems if one doesnt keep moving partitions around (though with your large HDD this seemed impractical in your case) and if one keeps each installation always hidden from the others. If you need to share data then create FAT partitions on logical partitions for this purpose.

[risk_reversal]

Paul Komski, you are a star.

I am really paramoid about doing this because it is for a friend of mine who has asked me to help him and I hate the thought of things going wrong.
At least with my systems when I play, I back up everything and test for days and if anything does go wrong it's not an issue to get back to square one.

Again many thanks for your help......

[Paul Komski]

Well I think you are right about the backing-up bit. Whenever one messes with partitions just about anything can happen and the only way to get back to where one was originally is by having an image file to restore from. Perhaps it doesn't really matter that much with a brand new installation since one can always clean reinstall without too many considerations about how the system has been setup.

All I can say is that in the New Year I installed a Caldera Dr DOS partition inbetween the Dell Partition and the pre-installed WinXP partition for a client with a new Dell Notebook and then installed BootIt-NG as the boot manager; all analagous to what you want to do for your friend's PC. It all went without a hitch.

Ensuring the other OS partitions are hidden at each boot-up is one of the best ways of avoiding conflicts. The other important point to re-emphasise is to reboot WinXP immediately after moving/resizing partitions to fix the new parameters in its registry. Messing up boot.ini is quite easy to fix but screwing the registry can be irreparable without having a method of restoration.

[risk_reversal]

Good to know that you did something similar recently on a Dell pc. I must admit I was a touch worried re the boot manager (BootMagic) since the instructions say to put in on the first partition and in this case the Dell utility will be the first but we shall see and hope all goes smoothly.

Yes I was going to call my friend tonight and tell him not to install anything at all and just to leave it so that there will be nothing to loose if I [censored] up since I can revert to the factory install easily enough.

Cheers mate that's another large beer I owe you ...pretty soon I will have to buy you the factory..... :)