Windows ME - Installation Help Needed - Part 2

[riceboi5]

I finally got the Win ME installation to start the install process on my system. Before I started the install I had win '98, Win NT and Win2k all on different partitions. Trying to get all 4 OS's on the same machine

In the install dir I choosed a empty partition. F:\winme

Then after it finished copying all the files, it rebooted and gave me ' file vmm32.vxd not found ' and then prompted me for a new path which I gave, but it refused to use it. So I manaually moved the file in dos to C:\winme\system.

Then rebooted. No error msg. Now when choosing Win me from the startup it simply says 'starting windows millenium' and then runs the hd for 2-3 secs, then reboots!

Anyone have any ideas ?

 

[SUOrangeman]

I don't think you can naturally multi-boot Win98 and WinME. You have to use somehting like BootMagic or System Commander and hide the Win98 partition from ME and vice-versa.

-SUO

 

[riceboi5]

SUO, thanks for the reply. Basically to install win me I deleted the win.com from the win '98 dir. Otherwise it wouldn't let me install.

So I guess I can either have win me or win 98 and not both. Damn it .

I am now going to delete win me from dos. Do you know what I have to add to my boot.ini file so I can resume using my win 98 ? Would I have to re sys C: with the win '98 stuff ? since now I cannot access dos from the F8 or f5

 

[SUOrangeman]

Hmmm, I dp know that running 'sys C:' will definitely destory any boot loader information you have now. Your best bet may be to reinstall Win98. I think it is smart enough to not overwrtie NT/2K's boot loader, if that's what you are using.

-SUO

 

[MCS]

riceboi5 - I am trying to do the exact same thing as you!

I had C:Win98 and D:Win2K, I created a new partition, I:, and wanted to put WinME there. It seems that I can either have ME or 98 - not both...

The best I have come up with so far is this. I used Ghost to image my C:Win98 installation. I then formatted C:. I installed ME, and told it to install to I:. It installed fine, detected Win2K fine, and gave me the boot menu for the two OSs. On C: it put all the typical "root dir" files, such as msdos.sys, boot.ini etc etc. I simply copied all of these files into a folder on another partition. I then reinstated my Win98 image, and copied its root dir files into a directory on another partition. So the Win98 "Windows" dir, "Program Files" dir etc are on C:, and the WinME dirs are on I:. When I want to boot to ME, I copy its files that I saved to another partition back on to C:, and when I want 98 I copy its files to C:.

Sounds complicated but really its quite simple! And at least its a solution for the time being. I am working on which EXACT files are the ones that trigger the OS, I am sure there is a better solution though......

Hope this helps.....

 

[riceboi5]

Thanks for the replies guys. After deleting all the winme dir's I had to sys C: (with a win '98 bootdisk) to get my win 98 back. However this caused my win 2k and NT to stop booting. Used the win 2k setup and repaired the boot area. Now win 2k works, but I messed up my NT

Damn win me causes too much trouble

Mcs that seems like a solution. I plan to just use '98 (only used for games) until there is more driver support for win me, then I'll scrap '98.