98/Me dualboot...how to?

[tea217]

Is it possible to dualboot Win98 and WinMe????
if yes, how to ???

 

[Doh!]

With Boot Magic or System Commander, you'll be able to dual boot 98 and ME.

 

[BCYL]

Since neither OS has their own bootloader included, you will need some 3rd party solution to do this... Something like System Commander will be good enough... once you get one of those software, it will be quite straightforward...

 

[bill_mr]

I knew someone would try to do this...

yes it is possible, no you dont need non-microsoft software


you just have to write some batch files.

let me just give you the overview

b4 installing winme copy all of the windows system files that are in the
root of c:\ to a folder I will call it c:\win98boot

install winme copy all of the windows system files that are in the root
of c:\ to a folder I will call it c:\winmeboot

make batch files to copy the proper files to the root of c:\
and reboot machine \

 

[AndyHui]

Ideally you need to install on 2 separate partitions. All the batch file needs to do is swap around the msdos.sys, io.sys (winboot.sys), and command.com for their respective OS's. Unfortunately, you need to select which OS to use at the end of the session.....ie, you need to consciously boot into one OS before you can reboot and switch to the other.....you can't make a choice during boot.

 

[Rand]

AndyHui, 9X based OS's NEED to be on the C: to operate properly. A (X based OS cannot be installed to any other drive but the C: so it would have to be on the same partition for dual booting 98/ME.

Remember you'll need your own bootloader since neither OS has one.
I like PowerQuest's Boot Magic.

 

[SUOrangeman]

Umm, Rand, WIn9x OSes *need* to write files onto C:, but they do not need to be installed on C:.

Do a lil reading (see the sig)

-SUO

 

[tea217]

bill_mr, ur idea sounds good cos i dont need any 3rd party programs. (I dont hv money to buy system commander nor boot magic >.<)
So can you explain detaily how to do that?
I am kind of a beginner.


1) &quot;b4 installing winme copy all of the windows system files that are in the
root of c:\ to a folder I will call it c:\win98boot
install winme copy all of the windows system files that are in the root
of c:\ to a folder I will call it c:\winmeboot&quot;

How can I install winme then copy its windows system files when i have win98 installed? Do u mean do a clean install of winme then copy its windows system files?


2) &quot;make batch files to copy the proper files to the root of c:\
and reboot machine \ &quot;

Can u elaborate on this?


Thx to others who tried to help me..I appreciate it.
I really prefer the batch file method but dont know how to do it.

 

[AndyHui]

Rand: Any Windows installation can be made on any partition. All versions of Windows simply need to write a few boot files on the C: partition.....that's all. A total of less than 1MB for any of the Windows OSs....and the rest on any other partition. Just as long as msdos.sys for Win9x and boot.ini for WinNT/2K point to the right places, everything is fine. And that's all a Win9x multi-boot batch file does.....swap around the contents of msdos.sys for whichever one you want to boot.

 

[tea217]

AndyHui: I want to install Win98 on my C: and WinMe on D: (they're partitions). Can you write and post the batch file here? I really dont know how to write it :frown:
and thanks in advance...

 

[TomBilliodeaux]

Dual boot is described very well by Microsoft at their web site.
JUst search for &quot;dualboot&quot;.
I just loaded Win2000. Completely dumbed 98se. What a difference!
Ask me in a few days and i can tell you in detail how to set up the dual and triple boot. Tombilliodeaux@hotmail.com

 

[Lunchboxah]

tea217,

Create a simple menu batch file (ie Bootchoos.bat) with a (1)98 or (2)ME option. Upon selection, each option calls another sub-procedure. In this sub-procedure use copy.com to copy the appropriate system files from either C:\WinMeBoot or C:\Win98Boot to C:\windows\system

In Autoexec.bat, call your Boot Chooser program.

 

[AndyHui]

Lunchboxah: you method won't work, since the OS kernal (io.sys) is already loaded before autoexec.bat is ran.

OK....here is what the batch file does....I don't know if it works with Win9x and WinME....I've never bothered to test it. I prefer Win2K over WinME anyway.

You need to have 2 copies of msdos.sys. One for Win9x, the other for WinME.

You need to make the following lines match which OS belongs to which file:

WinDir=
WinBootDir=
HostWinBootDrv=

Rename one to msdos.w9x and the other to msdos.wme.
Make copies of io.sys (or winboot.sys) and use the same naming conventions as above.

All the batch file will do is copy the version of whichever OS you want to the names that Win9x or WinME looks for, and removes the boot files from the other OS out of the way.

This may not work with WinME since most of the DOS functionality has been cut. This batch file assumes that Win9x and WinME both use io.sys in the same way.

 

[tea217]

thx guys!!!

so do I have to install both OS in C: and does it matter which one I install first???

also, if I dualboot Win98 and Win2k, does Win2k give me a option of dual booting instead of going through all this trouble of using batch files, etc.????

 

[AndyHui]

I suggest you avoid the idea of dual booting WinME and Win98, and go with a Win2K and Win98 dual boot. I recommend Win2K over WinME any day.

There is no need to muck around with batch files at all with Win2K. You install Win98 1st on one partition, then install Win2K on another partition. Win2K will create its own boot menu that allows you to pick which OS you want when booting up.

 

[TomBilliodeaux]

Yea, AndyHui is right.
ANd you might consider adding Win2k-1 to another partition as a backup for WIN2k. There is no real boot disk if your system is corrupted. I had to re-install several times with each new hardware component.
You will just select which one to boot to. Maybe even adding Linux also. Win95? How about Dos?
Confused yet?

 

[Webratta]

I would highly discourage using the &quot;copy the system files here to boot this version&quot; method of dual-booting. You can run into lots of problems that way. For instance, say you've installed a lot of programs using Win98, and then the computer crashes (which could be very likely). Then, when you restart, you're back to before and you'd have to reinstall any software to get the registry keys back in the registry.

I'm sure you can do some fancy coding (sigh.. if only .bat files could be as cool as bash scripts) to say, &quot;if last_operating_system == win98 and current_option == win98 then don't copy files&quot; but that's still rather inefficient. The best way to load multiple OS's is to use multiple partitions. And Microsoft doesn't seem to want to make things easier.

 

[bill_mr]

Webratt you could always boot from floppies.. but you miss the point

I agree that going to Windows 2000 is by far a better choice,
but some people do have 9x on their machines and want to install winme
to see what it looks like, and not torch (upgrade?)their 9x install
in the process.