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Subject: "Need Dual Boot Solution For Win98/WinXP Pro" Previous topic | Next topic
lucer2001Sun Dec-16-01 04:55 PM
Member since Dec 16th 2001
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"Need Dual Boot Solution For Win98/WinXP Pro"


          

I am currently running Win98 SE on a 30GB hard drive. My system is an AMD Tbird 1GHZ. I would like to do the following:

Install a 40 GB hard drive running WinXP Pro. I would like to be able to boot from either drive if possible, naturally I would consider any other options. This is my first visit and first post in this forum and I look forward to sharing what I know.

Thanks guys and gals!
Ra

Diablo

  

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SonnySun Dec-16-01 05:08 PM
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#1. "RE: Need Dual Boot Solution For Win98/WinXP Pro"
In response to lucer2001 (Reply # 0)


  

          


XP will handle the install for you and install on any recognized Drive/Partition, however you might want to read PC911's How-To on dual booting with Win98/W2000 to better understand dual booting. Again, XP will show you all options during the install process.

Before you get started I would suggest you insert the XP CD and run the compatibility option to review any hardware/software changes that you need to consider BEFORE attempting installation.

PC911's How-To dual booting option: http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/dualboot1.html




  

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Dan'lMon Dec-17-01 02:21 AM

  
#2. "RE: Need Dual Boot Solution For Win98/WinXP Pro"
In response to lucer2001 (Reply # 0)


          

My version of dual-boot is a bit different but serves me well. I chose to modify the method because I wanted to dual-boot using two separate hard disks but have a backup operating system if one hard drive died.

First, the standard method which I tried first:

I already had Win9X installed and running well on the C-drive (primary partition of hard drive on primary IDE channel). Then I booted the WinXP CD-ROM and told it to install on the D-drive (primary partition of hard drive on secondary IDE channel).

My objective was to switch operating systems by selecting the boot order of the two hard drives in the BIOS. I thought this would give me what I wanted, but it didn’t. When booting the C-drive I got the standard Microsoft dual-boot menu (which performed just fine by the way). But the D-drive was not bootable by itself. In essence, both physical drives needed to be present in order to boot into either operating system, since the boot loader program was stored on drive C. This didn’t serve my design goal of two “independent” operating systems.

What I finally did was this:

First repaired my original Win98SE system on drive C by doing a SYS C: and an FDISK /MBR. Now C: was bootable (by itself) with Win98SE. This of course, killed WinXP.

To get XP to independently boot on D: without C: present was the next task.

I went into the BIOS and set the first hard drive to NONE (not present, not available, or whatever your BIOS allows). I then booted to the WinXP CD-ROM and installed. WinXP did NOT see the first hard-drive as an available partition and thus installed completely to the second hard drive. More importantly, it put its dual-boot loader there.

Once XP was installed, I re-enabled the first hard-drive. Now the setup is this.

To run Win98SE, I boot from hard drive 1. To run WinXP, I boot from hard drive 2 (using BIOS selection).

In Win98SE, C = Win98SE and D = WinXP.
In WinXP, C= WinXP and D = Win98SE.

Advantages:
If one hard drive fails, I can still boot immediately into a viable OS.
Disadvantages:
Switching between OSs is not quite as fast as the standard dual-boot method.

Note that this method ONLY makes sense if you have the OSs on separate physical hard drives. Also, there may be other ways to accomplish my goal, but this one worked so I stopped there. I hope this offers a viable alternative.

Dan'l

  

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