How do I make my PC into a Dual-Boot System- Win 98 and XP?

[Red]

Guys,

I've got an old gaming PC with Windows 98 SE on it and I want to put Windows XP onto it as well for some games that need XP to run.

How do I go about doing this?  Do I just install XP onto a different partition on this PC and then will it give me the option to choose Win 98 SE or XP upon booting up?

Any help on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

Red

[protokatie]

Not all that familiar with 98, but I would suggest backing up all of your HD data (regardless of what method you use) and reformat the HD and install XP on it, THEN install 98 as a secondary OS (you can change the default boot order in XP for what OS is default regardless of which one is on which partition). I would rather have XP handling the multi-OS boot than 98 (Esp when dealing with an NTFS system, if you go that route). Question: Why stick with 98? XP is usually just fine, esp if you use msconfig to get rid of stuff you dont need as services. I know a lot of BYOACers here swear by 98, but I have yet to see if it is in fact better than XP for MAME purposes...

EDIT: Missed the question you asked about how to go about it: In XP (maybe 98 as well?), after you have installed the extra OS, run MSconfig and select Boot in the tabs, it will give you a list of OS's and options regarding booting. Try it in 98, just go to run and type msconfig in and hit enter. There "should" be an option called "boot" in a tab there.

[Red]

I seem to recall reading somewhere about having to install XP AFTER installing 98 so that XP handles the Master Boot Record (MBR) and that way you can just choose what operating system you want to run at boot up.

I also seem to recall there being a program- System Commander I think that would do this- make your PC a dual-boot system, but I think it's an older program and not needed with XP.  I could be wrong here, just looking for some input from those here who've done this.  Thanks.

[Franco B]

Backup your data.

Reboot your PC with your 1st OS disc in (you may need to enter setup to change the boot priority so it boots from the CD-Rom 1st)

Press a key to run from CD.

You should now be in Windows setup. Format the disc using NTFS.

You should now be able to create partions in the empty disc space. Create a partition using the relevant key and size it according to your needs. You can also create the second partion for the other OS at this point to.

Then just follow the prompts and install the first OS in one of the partitions.

Once done, just install the 2nd OS by rebooting the PC with the 2nd OS disc in. You shouldn't need to format or create partitions this time, just install the OS following the prompts into the 2nd partition.

Once you have installed the 2nd OS change the boot priority so that the HDD boots 1st. Reset the PC and you should get a boot menu with both OS's.

This method worked fine for me for booting Win2000 and XP.

[Visitor Q]

Not sure if this helps or not but I have a dual boot here at work however it is XP and Vista. Two seperate hard drives installed for each OS, XP was installed first. I just installed Vista there after to the other hard drive and on boot it gives me the choice to boot from either OS.

[ahofle]

How do I go about doing this?  Do I just install XP onto a different partition on this PC and then will it give me the option to choose Win 98 SE or XP upon booting up?

Yes you are correct.  Boot up with the XP disc and install it on another partition.  Don't let it 'update' or overwrite the 98 installation.  You should then get a boot menu to choose XP or 98.  I've done this many times before.  And yes, 98 has to be installed first.  If you install 98 after XP, it will overwrite the boot record and you will not be able to choose your OS.

[severdhed]

Backup your data.

Reboot your PC with your 1st OS disc in (you may need to enter setup to change the boot priority so it boots from the CD-Rom 1st)

Press a key to run from CD.

You should now be in Windows setup. Format the disc using NTFS.

You should now be able to create partions in the empty disc space. Create a partition using the relevant key and size it according to your needs. You can also create the second partion for the other OS at this point to.

Then just follow the prompts and install the first OS in one of the partitions.

Once done, just install the 2nd OS by rebooting the PC with the 2nd OS disc in. You shouldn't need to format or create partitions this time, just install the OS following the prompts into the 2nd partition.

Once you have installed the 2nd OS change the boot priority so that the HDD boots 1st. Reset the PC and you should get a boot menu with both OS's.

This method worked fine for me for booting Win2000 and XP.

this will not work since windows 98 does not support NTFS partitions.

windows 98 only supports fat32, which xp will support also.

so install windows 98, then install xp on a separate partition , it will create the boot menu automatically when it detects the previous version of windows.

[daywane]

you can do it as you said.
I find it much more simple to add a second hard drive
format drive "D" and install XP on drive "D"
your done
when you reboot you will have a option for which OS you want

[Turnarcades]

Why the big need to run two OS's? Srely the games you want to run on '98 will work with XP, so it might be a good idea to upgrade the lot to XP at this point. XP is great and can easily be tweaked for better performance even on low-end machines.

[daywane]

I have a bunch of disks that will only run in 98

back in windows 98 days programs did some cheats to get around windows limits.

XP will not work with the bad programmings of 98 days

[protokatie]

I have a bunch of disks that will only run in 98

back in windows 98 days programs did some cheats to get around windows limits.

XP will not work with the bad programmings of 98 days

How well has compatability mode under XP worked for you with these programs? (IE, right click on the program,click properties and under the compat menu, select what specs to emulate). I have found this to work well for many games, and horribly for others... Just wondering.

[daywane]

not very well for me.
red neck hunter series comes to mind
deer hunters revenge also