I have a system with an 80GB hard drive, partitioned 60/20. On the 60GB partition, I have XP. Right now, the 20GB part is just formated NTFS and I use it for storage. What I would like to do it put Windows ME on it and have a dual boot system. Can this be done if XP is already installed as the main C: drive? If I left XP on it and just formated that 20GB partition to FAT32 and used a DOS bootdisk to install ME, would that take out XP? My goal is for XP and ME to both be the C: drive. XP is already the C; drive, and when I boot to ME, it wont see the XP drive because it's NTFS, so it will be C:. Is this possible with one hard drive?
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How would one install ME if XP is already installed?
- Thread starter Staz
- Start date
Your background info doesn't make sense.
After translation I am assuming the following:
You have one hard drive cut up into a 60 GB c: drive and a 20 GB d: drive? (They both can't be c🙂
The 60 GB c: drive is formated fat32 and has windows XP already installed on it.
The 20 GB d: drive is formated NTFS and is being used for file storage.
Your question is how to install Me on the same partition that XP already is on?
First, I wouldn't recommend that. Removing one later would really be a pain, and the system will be more stable if you have them on seperate partitions. If you just did a fresh install of XP, I would suggest doing it again, and following the FAQ's page about creating a dual boot (Install Me first to say a new partition, then insert the XP disk and tell it to install to the c: partition and it will create the proper boot loader for you).
If you haven't recently installed XP, you could try and install Me on the same partition, but if something goes wrong you may not be able to recover XP easily.
To do this I would do the following: (I don't know if this works)
Install Me on c:
Make sure it runs properly.
Set up your machine to boot from CD
Insert your XP CD and run the fix MBR stuff to restore your boot.
After translation I am assuming the following:
You have one hard drive cut up into a 60 GB c: drive and a 20 GB d: drive? (They both can't be c🙂
The 60 GB c: drive is formated fat32 and has windows XP already installed on it.
The 20 GB d: drive is formated NTFS and is being used for file storage.
Your question is how to install Me on the same partition that XP already is on?
First, I wouldn't recommend that. Removing one later would really be a pain, and the system will be more stable if you have them on seperate partitions. If you just did a fresh install of XP, I would suggest doing it again, and following the FAQ's page about creating a dual boot (Install Me first to say a new partition, then insert the XP disk and tell it to install to the c: partition and it will create the proper boot loader for you).
If you haven't recently installed XP, you could try and install Me on the same partition, but if something goes wrong you may not be able to recover XP easily.
To do this I would do the following: (I don't know if this works)
Install Me on c:
Make sure it runs properly.
Set up your machine to boot from CD
Insert your XP CD and run the fix MBR stuff to restore your boot.
CougarsLair
Member
Hi Staz,
You can do what u want but u really need a boot loader for it to work properly and you will have to create some new partitions.
i have successfully used a free boot loader called XOSL (search in google) - a small (fits on a floppy for installing)but effective tool that also creates quite a good looking loader menu screen.
You need to partition your drive more than you already have - you will need TWO NEW PRIMARY partitions (get hold of partition magic if u can as it makes this a breeze, although XOSL does include partitioning software but i cannot say how easy it is to use and wether it preserves your data).
You willl need one primary for your ME and also one for XOSL (this can be just a few MB in size).
So you will end up with 4 partitions - 1 for XP, 1 for ME 1 for your data and 1 for XOSL. I know it sounds like a pain but trust me it is worth doing and works well once sorted.
The primary partitions have to be hidden from each other (which XOSL allows you to do). This allows you to have in effect 2 C: drives (as they cannot see each other). Obviously each OS will be totally separate from the other (rather like having 2 PC's in one). You then install ME on the new partition you made for it. This overwrites the MBR and appears to leave u with just ME and no option to load XP - you just have to restore the MBR created by XOSL (easily done with the XOSL floppy you will create) and lo and behold you now boot to a screen that gives you the options of XP or ME plus u can set other options as well, along with choosing a default OS to boot automatically if u want.
This does work - I originally tried it with two Windows 98 installs on one system (and now use it on 18 machines) and have done it with 2000 and 98. As long as u take it carefully setting the partitions and read the XOSL instructions you wont go wrong.
Try it (it may sound complicated but as with many things is easier than u think)- its worth doing.
Incidentally I have nothing to do with XOSL its just something I found that works, has many options and is configurable, and is FREE. 🙂
Cougar
You can do what u want but u really need a boot loader for it to work properly and you will have to create some new partitions.
i have successfully used a free boot loader called XOSL (search in google) - a small (fits on a floppy for installing)but effective tool that also creates quite a good looking loader menu screen.
You need to partition your drive more than you already have - you will need TWO NEW PRIMARY partitions (get hold of partition magic if u can as it makes this a breeze, although XOSL does include partitioning software but i cannot say how easy it is to use and wether it preserves your data).
You willl need one primary for your ME and also one for XOSL (this can be just a few MB in size).
So you will end up with 4 partitions - 1 for XP, 1 for ME 1 for your data and 1 for XOSL. I know it sounds like a pain but trust me it is worth doing and works well once sorted.
The primary partitions have to be hidden from each other (which XOSL allows you to do). This allows you to have in effect 2 C: drives (as they cannot see each other). Obviously each OS will be totally separate from the other (rather like having 2 PC's in one). You then install ME on the new partition you made for it. This overwrites the MBR and appears to leave u with just ME and no option to load XP - you just have to restore the MBR created by XOSL (easily done with the XOSL floppy you will create) and lo and behold you now boot to a screen that gives you the options of XP or ME plus u can set other options as well, along with choosing a default OS to boot automatically if u want.
This does work - I originally tried it with two Windows 98 installs on one system (and now use it on 18 machines) and have done it with 2000 and 98. As long as u take it carefully setting the partitions and read the XOSL instructions you wont go wrong.
Try it (it may sound complicated but as with many things is easier than u think)- its worth doing.
Incidentally I have nothing to do with XOSL its just something I found that works, has many options and is configurable, and is FREE. 🙂
Cougar
Another option is to put ME boot files on a floppy. Setting it up and booting with it is a little tricky, but it can be done. ME boot files can't be on C:, because it's NTFS. Do it this way and ME will boot up as C:, although in NT it will have a different drive letter (what it will be initially depends on your partition configuration, but it can later be changed in NT Disk Management).
Not quite sure I made my situation clear. I bought new 80GB hard drive. I didn't have a bootable XP CD, so used Fdisk to partition the hard drive. It wouldn't do it for the full 80GB, so I went 60/20. Currently, XP is installed on the 60GB partition as the C: drive using NTFS and the D: drive is a blank NTFS partition. I was going to use the D: drive simply for storing files, but thought it would be great to put ME on the D: drive. I would have to reformat the D: drive to become FAT32 for this to work. If I was able to get ME installed ont he D: drive, it would not recognize the C: drive since it is NTFS. So when I booted into ME, the only drive partition it would see is the FAT32 one, so it would become C:. Thus both OS's, when booted into that specific OS, would see itself as installed on C:, even when ME is really D: and XP is C: on NTFS.
Problem is I don't think I can install ME onto that 20GB partition without mucking up the XP boot files. The XP boot manager is on the NTFS partiton, and I don't think I can boot to a FAT32 OS from an NTFS partiton. I only want the ME partiton to play games that wont play in XP, which is why it can be smaller. I also don't want to touch my XP install, so reinstalling it is not an option.
I think a couple of your ideas might work. A 3rd party boot manager might work, but I know nothing about them. Also, the ME boot disk option will most likely work, but I think I would need to create the image of the ME drive on another system, get the boot disk working, then ghost it over to my main system. What about a 2nd drive and use the BIOS to switch between drives? Might that work? Thanks for all your ideas so far.
Problem is I don't think I can install ME onto that 20GB partition without mucking up the XP boot files. The XP boot manager is on the NTFS partiton, and I don't think I can boot to a FAT32 OS from an NTFS partiton. I only want the ME partiton to play games that wont play in XP, which is why it can be smaller. I also don't want to touch my XP install, so reinstalling it is not an option.
I think a couple of your ideas might work. A 3rd party boot manager might work, but I know nothing about them. Also, the ME boot disk option will most likely work, but I think I would need to create the image of the ME drive on another system, get the boot disk working, then ghost it over to my main system. What about a 2nd drive and use the BIOS to switch between drives? Might that work? Thanks for all your ideas so far.
Please tell me why you would --crash-- :| install WinMe.
It has --crash-- :| to be the worst operating system --crash-- :| made to date. If you look at it in an impure way it'll crap out on --crash-- :| you.
Sorry about the above, I'm using WinMe and had to reboot a few times while writing this.
It has --crash-- :| to be the worst operating system --crash-- :| made to date. If you look at it in an impure way it'll crap out on --crash-- :| you.
Sorry about the above, I'm using WinMe and had to reboot a few times while writing this.
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