Wishing to re-install WIn 98 on a dual boot machine with Win 2K already installed + multiple Win 2K partitions - work ?

[JJFlash]

Is there a way to re-install Win98SE or ME on a C drive in a multiple boot situation, where Win 2K is already on the D drive (both logical on one physical SCSI HD) with 2 other SCSI drives and 2 other IDE drives and with the various partitions ? thru ?Q? established through Win2K ?

I have not been able to restore Win98 from within Win2K by re-copying the files back to the C drive, as I have ALWAYS been able to do in the past. I get an error message when attempting to boot to Windows 98 from the dual boot screen.

I do NOT want to screw up my main Win2K installation, or my partition table, at all. The C logical is wide open and the Windows sub directory has been deleted entirely to make way for the new installation.

Win 98 is used only for demo programs and to backup the systems files in Win2K that cannot be backed up from within Win2K.

I am a touch worried about booting from DOS to re-install Win 98, in case the (dual) boot.ini file gets messed up. I have backed it up, but Win 98 is going to see a different partition structure than Win 2K does, and as long as the re-installation of Win 98 does NOT mess up my 99% of the time usage of Win 2K, I am ok on going forward.

Any experiences or advices on this ?

 

[daveshel]

Be very careful with this. Even when you boot to Win2k on the D drive, you actually boot from the boot files on the C drive. Reinstalling Win98 will rewrite the pointers in the MBR and you will be unable to find the boot files for Win2k. You chould prpbably recover after that by reinstalling Win2k and any other operating systems, but that could get complicated. If you can still use the 99% you might be better off skipping the 1% until you are in a position to rebuild.

 

[JJFlash]

Thank you daveshel. That is what I was worried about. I am actually not willing to go through the rebuild of Win 2K that might transpire with Win 98. Having the MBR become corrupted happened to me several years ago and I will spare you the horrific details.
But would not Win XP pro comfortably be installable on that C partition ? It is a later OS, and presumably has the smarts to be familiar with the earlier OS of Win2k, and Win2K?s partition structure. ?
I look forward to your response, JJflash
PS
If so, Win XP pro could presumably add itself to the multi boot file and I can always text edit the multi boot file to ensure that it does not default to Win XP pro, later.

 

[GAZZA]

But would not Win XP pro comfortably be installable on that C partition ? It is a later OS, and presumably has the smarts to be familiar with the earlier OS of Win2k, and Win2K?s partition structure

Most deffinitely , and you'll still retain your dual boot abilities .
Just start the installation within Win2k and you should be fine , infact you'll end up having 3 OS's to select from but you can edit out the win98 option in the advance properties.

 

[JJFlash]

Thanks daveshel and Gazza, So to recap, I could install Win XP pro, from within Win2K (at the outset) and install it into the C logical (which is a logical partition on the SCSI drive that has the greater part of it devoted to the D logical, upon which is my important Win2K OS, and which is my main OS of operation.

WinXP would see Win2K and permit itself to be installed on the C logical and not screw up the master boot record pointers, and WinXP would add itself to the multiple boot screen (which I can easily text edit later).

This WinXP installation would work, whereas doing anything of the like with Win 98 is a recipe for disaster as the MBR is likely to be effected in an undesirable way. And WinXP has the smarts to not make this undesirable MBR pointer effect take place.

OK ?

 

[GAZZA]

WinXP would see Win2K and permit itself to be installed on the C logical and not screw up the master boot record pointers, and WinXP would add itself to the multiple boot screen (which I can easily text edit later).

This WinXP installation would work, whereas doing anything of the like with Win 98 is a recipe for disaster as the MBR is likely to be effected in an undesirable way. And WinXP has the smarts to not make this undesirable MBR pointer effect take place.

OK ?
Q]

YES , when you install XP it'll update the MBR automatically .

My wife's pc was setup the same way (lol just remembered) C:win98 D:win2k : Win98 was hosed as nothing could be done with it so rather than have to redo the whole thing all over again I just deleted the windows folder/program files folder for (win98 partition) and then proceeded to install XP from Win2K , choose not to upgrade but to install it as a seperate install.

Then once you have everything done then you can edit out the boot file so that Win2K and XP show up , these can easily be done from the "startup and recovery" tab in "system properties".

 

[JJFlash]

Thanks Gazza, your wife's (past) predicament is precisely, exactly what took place on this system. Nothing could be done to repair Win 98 on the C partition and I had, prior to this posting, deleted the Windows directory and copied over a backup, but to no avail.

In that the MBR is a bit of a phantom element that one cannot access directly, easily, it gives me the shivers, particularly in light of what happened a few years ago. But .... actually I should also do a "rescue" of the MBR record back up.
Probably Norton rescue is the most suitable.

Thanks for your help. I will proceed, after working out the MBR and partition table rescue backup aspect, to install from within Win 2K onto the C logical drive.