Dual-booting XP and Windows 98..

Factual Questions
1

Is it possible? And if it is, anything I should know about or tips would be appreciated.

2

It is possibe, here are some tips:

  1. Read the extended instructions from the Borg. . . I mean, from Microsoft before starting:
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q306559&

  2. Please do a back up of your data.

  3. No, really, do a backup.

  4. Windows 98 is supposed to be installed already, or to be installed before XP is.

  5. When installing XP do not select upgrade, do a full install, preferably in a different volume, and don’t upgrade the windows 98 volume to an NTFS one, so windows 98 can still have access to the files and programs.

  6. Please note that only the NTFS volume will have file system security and other XP features, and files in a NTFS volume will not be available to Windows 98.

3

I read when you put on XP, it asks you if you want a dual boot system to be created. Is
this right?

4

I have a triple boot of Win98, Win2K, and WinXP. You must install different Windows OSs to different partitions or you will have serious problems. Get your partitions ready beforehand with FDISK or Partition Magic. Windows 98 doesn’t have to be installed first, but it’s easiest if it is. Otherwise, everything GIGOBuster said.

WinXP doesn’t ask if you want a dual boot in so many words. It will ask if you want to upgrade the current OS. If you say no and do a clean install to a separate partition it will create the dual boot ini file for you.

5

Urg. Thought of a few XP installation tips to pass along.

  1. If you have Windows 98 installed already, copy the XP install files (I386) from the CD to your hard drive first and install from your hard drive (run WINNT32.EXE from the I386 directory). This will save you heartache in the future whenever XP asks for the install disk it will always be available on your HD and you won’t have to constantly point it there.

  2. Before installing, hop on the internet and download all the drivers for your peripherals and put the under a single directory on your Windows 98 partition. XP may have them, then again it may not or it may have outdated drivers.

6

Yeah, I second that but XP cds have a program on them that run tests for you to see
if they have drivers for all your programs, etc. One should run it first, it doesn’t install XP.

7

Thanks guys. I’m already using XP, I just want 98 because some of my games don’t work. I’m thinking of just creating a partition with Partition magic, and putting 98 on the new partition.

And if that fails, could just format the entire HD and install 98… ^_^… thanks again everyone

And will I be able to use programs between the two? For example, if all my mp3s are on the 98 partition, could I boot with the XP partition, and play those mp3s?

8

In that sense, yes. Data files will be compatible across the multiple OSs. Applications will not. If you have OfficeXP installed on WinXP you’ll need a separate installation done on the Win98 side. It’s best if you don’t try to “mix” programs installed on the same partition. Some simple ones may tolerate that but most won’t.