Install 2 operating systems on same HD

[ldsa]

Hi!

I have a perfectly working Windows 98 SE installed on my 30GB hard drive. I would like to partition the disk and install Windows XP Professional on one partition while keeping the current Win 98 SE installation intact.

Can anyone provide me with "How do I go about this ?" instructions.

Thanx.

[buck52]

Howdy ldsa

It should be very easy...when you boot to the XP CD it will walk you thru the process including setting up the boot file so you get a choice when you start the computer...

Here's an MS link to look at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q306559

buck

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just hav'n fun

[rond36]

Hello ldsa, Welcome to The PC Guide Forums
I assume that your C drive uses the whole 30GB drive. To do this you will need to use third party software(PowerQuest Partition Magic) to resize your C drive and create a D drive in the empty space. Win XP settup can do this but you will loose all data on your C drive because you will have to delete your C drive and create two drives in its place. Windows XP settup can not resize a drive without complete data loss. After you prepare the drive using Partition Magic follow the links in my signature.

This was copied from; http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q306559
Precautions
Before creating a multiple-boot configuration with Windows XP and another operating system, review the following precautions:
Before attempting to create a multiple-boot system, be sure to back up your current system and all data files.


Each operating system must be installed on a separate volume. Microsoft does not support installing multiple operating systems on the same volume.


If you have only one volume on your computer, you have to reformat and repartition your hard disk to contain multiple volumes before you begin creating a multiple-boot configuration, unless you are simply installing another copy of Windows XP. Doing this you will loose all data on your Win 98SE partition if you don't use Partition Magic insted of Fdisk and Format.


Do not install Windows XP on a compressed drive that was not compressed using the NTFS compression utility.


You have to use a different computer name for each operating system if the computer is on a Windows 2000 or Windows XP secure domain.


Install the operating systems in the following order:


MS-DOS


Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me


Windows NT


Windows 2000


Windows XP


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How to Use Fdisk and Format to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q255867)
How to multi-boot Windows XP (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gettingstarted/multiboot.asp)
Microsoft Expert Zone Multi-booting made easy (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/columns/russel/september10.asp)
MSKB How to multi-boot Windows XP (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q306559)



[This message has been edited by rond36 (edited 05-27-2002).]

[Dinosaur]

Buy Partition Magic 6.0 or 7.0 from PowerQuest. It retails for about $70.00 American. Now that 7.0 is available, 6.0 can be found at a good discount.

Partition magic will creae, resize, and/or move aprtitions without losing data. It includes a prgram called Boot Magic which controls a Multiple OS system.

The best way to run more than one OS from the same physical disk is to have two primary partitions, one of which is always hidden. Boot Magic presents a menu at bootup time, giving you a choice of OS (It defaults to one of them if you do nothing for about 20-30 seconds). It hides and unhides partitions as required.

It is a good idea to have one or two logical drives in an extended partition to hold data files common to both operating systems.

Partition Magic & Boot Magic are user friendly and intuitive. The documentation is good. They provide all the functions you need for a multiple OS system.

I run Windows 98 Se, DOS 6.22/Windows 3.11, and OS/2 Warp on my system. I have been using PM for ten or more years.

I would also recommend PowerQuest Drive Image and another hard disk. I use DI to make exact copies of my OS partitions. It is an incredibly convenient backup tool. I make a backup image any time I install new hardware or new software or do antything that might mess up an OS. If something goes wrong, I recover from the Image, restoring all the drivers, registry entires, data, et cetera.

If you go for a second disk, it is a good idea to put the OS swap files in small partitions on the second disk.

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Gouverneur, the Dinosaur from pre-compter era.
Eschew Obfuscation!
If one hundred million people believe a foolish idea, it is still a foolish idea.

[mjc]

Ranish Partition Manager (http://www.ranish.com/part/) will do the same and it is free....not quite as nice a user interface but the price is right.

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mjc
Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.