Installing 98 "AFTER" W2k... Possible? 1

[MowermanED]

I would like to create a duel boot system by installing W98SE to a 2nd hard drive on my system. It ALREADY has W2k on the primary hard drive. Is this possible? I have Partion Magic and would like to use Boot Magic. If this is possible how would I go about it?

Primary HD "C"=W2K NTFS, "D"=Data NTFS
Slave HD "L" empty Fat 32, "M" empty Fat 32

 

[PAndersen]

BootMagic must be installed to a FAT or FAT32 primary
partition on the first hard disk. You must also boot
from your first hard disk when installing BM.

 

[blaksplash]

I haven't tried it with boot magic, but these are the instructions i used (I did have to convert the root c: partition from NTFS to FAT32 with partition magic):

This configuration will work ONLY if the root partition is FAT16 or FAT32 and the partition on which you install Win98 is also FAT16 or FAT32. The main problem is that Win98 setup won't run from Win2K. To work around this problem, you need a Win98 boot disk. The full installation version of Win98 includes a boot disk; however, if you're installing an upgrade to Win98, you need to create a Win98 boot disk on another system.
If you install the Win98 upgrade, the system asks you during setup to supply the original Win95 media or select a directory that includes Win95 components because Microsoft markets the upgrade to people who already have Win95. The full retail version of Win98 costs more than the upgrade, but I think it's worth the money if you're performing a first-time installation. Either way, run Win98 setup and follow the directions, putting Win98 on a separate partition from Win2K.
BEFORE you add Win98 to a Win2K Pro system, you need to create a Win2K ERD because Win98 will overwrite the Win2K Pro boot sector on your C drive, eliminating the option of booting Win2K Pro on system startup. To restore that option, you need the ERD and the Win2K Pro boot disks or Win2K CD. Make the boot disks by running makeboot.exe from the boot disk directory on the Win2K Pro CD-ROM. You'll need four blank high-density disks. After you create the boot disks, shut down the system, put the first boot disk in your system's A drive, and restart the system. The system will prompt you for the other disks. OR if you have the CD, you can boot using the Win2K CD if you are able to. Select the option to repair a damaged Win2K Pro installation. The system will prompt you to insert the ERD. Win2K Pro setup will replace the files on the boot partition, and you should have the option to boot either Win2K Pro or Win98 on the next restart. If the system doesn't give you the option to boot either OS, manually edit the boot.ini file on your C-drive partition by adding the following line:
C:\="Microsoft Windows"
Then, shut down and restart Win2K, and you'll have the option to boot either OS.

 

[badbromike]

Yeah thats a good way to do it. Unfortunately I'm bad at finagling my boot sector, so I opted to format and repartition my 30 Gig HDD like this.

- Created a 5 Gig Fat32 C: partition
- Created a 5 Gig Fat32 D: partition
- Created a 15 Gig Fat32 E: partition
- Left 5 Gig leftover for Linux.

- installed Win98 on C:, got it running solidly
- installed Win2K on D:, got it running solidly
- installed all apps to be shared betwixt OSes to E:
(you have to install from both OSes to the same place.)
pointed My Documents to same place in both OSes

Finally I installed Mandrake to the last 5 Gig.

So what happens is LILO loads, I changed the default OS to Windows, so it will drop to the NT loader which had recognized that Win98 was installed already and included it in the loader menu, I use 98 more often than 2K so I changed the boot order default os in 2K to be 98

pretty cool. I understand that you want to avoid reloading 2k, but just a suggestion in case you, gasp!, wipe out your mbr somehow.

Michael

"Anything can be fixed with a big enough hammer." Old Navy Proverb

 

[KevinM]

I found this worked for me.
I had win2k installed on c: and decided to instal win98 as a backup os on a 2nd drive (d
Installed win98 on d: which nonetheless put its mbr on c:. Then with the win2k boot disks and win2k cd (Or even better a bootable cd) 'repaired' win2k which just rewrote the mbr giving the dual boot option at startup.

Kevin

 

[MowermanED]

KevinM

Your solution sounds most like what I want to do. Did you install W98 from the boot disc or from the cd while running W2K? Please explain the procedure for rewriting the mbr also. I have both the W2K and W98 boot discs and the cds to both. I'm assuming that you're using the boot option that comes with W2K.

 

[KevinM]

Hi MowermanED,

Initially I had only one hard drive with win2k installed on it (fat32). I added a second drive and because I now had more available space I decided to add win98 in case of emergency.

Firstly with the win98 boot disk I partitioned and formatted the new drive (fat32). Then I installed win 98 on its primary partition d:. Because the win98 installation overites the mbr on c: you are left with only the option of booting to win98. However if you then boot with the win2k cd (or the win2k boot disks) you will be given the option to install or repair win 2k. By selecting repair your present 2k installation is left intact but a new mbr is created giving win 98 as the second boot otion (win2k has its own boot manager).

As far as I am aware most win2k cds are bootable but this is only possible if startup or boot in the bios puts your cdrom as a boot device ahead of you hard drive. Usually the cdrom is the third boot device after the hard drive which is easy to change. Boot cds are faster safer and more convenient not to mention easier to find when you you want them. In this regard, it is also a good idea to make boot cd of the win98 boot floppy. Nero et al have the opton for doing this.

 

[badbromike]

Good post Kevin. But do you need to make a ERD first, before you can do a successful repair? Just thought I'd throw that out, in case mowerman hasn't made one yet.
That could be bad to load 98 then try a repair and DOH! Repair disk? What repair disk?

Also, I played around with Boot Magic a few times, but didn't really care for it. I can see where it may be useful tho.

Michael

"Anything can be fixed with a big enough hammer." Old Navy Proverb

 

[KevinM]

Hi Michael,

To be on the safe side, you may well be correct regarding the ERD, but I suspect that the boot cd 'repair' option is okay for most situations. Perhaps someone has information on this.
In my own case I was not concerned about losing data (files backed up externally), and if things had gone badly, I was quite prepared to format everything and start again. As it turned out, I only did what I have already stated and it proceeded without a hitch. Mind you, isnt that always the case when your not concerned about losing files?

Kevin

 

[blaksplash]

Also, the c: drive HAS to be FAT or FAT32, because win98 can't read NTFS to put it's boot files there. If the c: drive is NTFS, it will have to be converted.