Dual Boot XP and 98SE ?

[joshg]

Hi gang, I'm trying to dual-boot Windows XP and Windows 98SE, but having some problems.

I installed 98SE first on my D: partition, then got it running and everything. Next, I moved all of the files that 98 put on the C: drive over to D:. Then, I installed Windows XP Professional build 2600 onto the C: partition. Ok, good and wonderful, XP is running great and peachy. I edit my C:\boot.ini file to include Windows 98 as an option, running it from basically D:\WINDOWS is what I am telling it (and yes I know how to edit the boot.ini file I am pretty sure).

Ok, everything is working EXCEPT, when I choose Windows 98 from the boot menu, I get this error saying that the file "<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll" is corrupt or missing, then it restarts my computer. So, I load XP to go and check it out and there is no file named hal.dll in the system32 folder, so what's up with that? Also I know for a fact that all that was left on the C: drive by this install of 98se onto D: was a few files all located in the C:\ directory, such as autoexec.bat, msdos.sys, command.com, etc., no extra folders or anything.

Can anyone tell me what I need to do to repair this? I really don't want to have to go through another reformat and then reinstall both OS's, someone please enlighten me! Thanks!

- Josh

 

[Jim]

Win9x *has* to be on the first partition of the first drive in a dual boot scenario.

 

[joshg]

hrmm... That's what i was afraid of.. ok...

Here's how I have my drive partitioned:

C: - 10GB, for Windows XP
D: - 3GB, for Windows 98SE
E: - 25GB, for Data Storage

Actually my HD is a 40GB HD, but since it's Western Digital that number moves down to about 38 after it's formatted, that's how come the math doesn't work

Anyway, so would there be a way using FDisk so that I can delete the primary DOS partition, and the logical D: drive, and actually change it to where it makes drive C: 3GB and drive D: 10 GB? I think this should work I just want to make sure before I go do it so that I don't lose my currently 17GB worth of data

Thanks,
- Josh

 

[MCS]

Win98 does not have to be on the first partition of the drive, it just has to be the ONLY 9x on there and it needs to put files on the Primary DOS partition, C:. You probably wiped the files it had on C: when you installed XP.

By far the easiest way of doing this (the way I have done it) is to install Win98 first on C: drive, then put the WinXP CD into the drive while 98 is running. Select New installation and select the option to specify where you want to install it to (it might be under the Advanced button). When it reboots you can select the install partition as D:, and the XP setup will take care of the boot menu automatically.

 

[joshg]

OK, thanks for the tips everyone, got it up and running.. I did some major backup/trashing of old crap I didn't need and actually got it down to where I could have the primary partition set to 3GB, install 98SE AND put all the data I needed on there, then I went into FDisk and rearranged everything, now as:
C - 3GB for 98SE
D - 10GB for XP
E - 25GB for data

OK, so I formatted D and E after this (C already had 98se running) and then did a clean install of XP on D drive. Everything is working GREAT and I didn't even have to set a thing up! All I did was go into boot.ini and change the name of 98 from "Microsoft Windows" to a more appealing/meaningful "Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition", then change the timeout to 10 sec boot to XP.

Everything is working like a champ, having a grand ole time .