Dual Boot.....

Pearl Jammzz

Established Member
I have a few questions about bual booting my machine.....Fist, I wanna put win2k pro on it, and also win98 then use win98lite to get rid of most everything I can like IE (cuz win2k will have it) and other stuff like that. Will this work? here are my other Q's....

1. do I need to partition my HD?

2. If I do partition it, can I be in win98 and access things on the other partition that win2k is on?

3. Any places where I can get info on exactly HOW to do this?

4. kinda unrelated but I wanna have the best 2k setup I can....What all do I need? Win2k prof., and whatelse? They have any upgrades? expansion type things? what?

Hmmmm that's all I can think of right now, but I am sure I'll have many more questions after these are answered. Thanks guys, appreciate the future help (so there bette rbe some to appreciate!) hehe. Lata.
 
1. yes, and install win 98 first. it would probably be best to install it on the first partition.

2. maybe, it depends on how you format the 2nd partition. you can format it as a fat32 partition and win98 will be able to read it, but ntfs is preferred to fat32.

3. go to google and do a search for dual boot. there's stuff everywhere.

4. up to you, i guess. i doubt you will be using this as a full time server, so pro should be fine. just make sure to get all the services packs and stuff from windowsupdate
 
1. Yes, and Win98 can ONLY be installed on the first partition. You cannot put both on one partition.

2. Yep, but as KingM said, if you format it in NTFS, then no. NTFS gives you speed increases usually over 40GB, otherwise, stick w/ FAT32.

3. Quite literally, you install windows 98, then install windows 2000. There's nothing else to it. There are guides, and some of them say go through win98, which I don't recommend. Here's the quick and easy guide.

Install 98, but using the autoboot feature of the win98 cd, or setup.exe at the command line. Install it on the first partition ONLY. After that, use 98Lite, remove all the excess. After this I'd take an image of the partition, but that's just me.

Now, from a boot disk, or just from the dos prompt of win98, run the win2K installation by going into f:\I386 (or whatever drive the cd/files for installation of Win2K are) and type 'winnt'. If you haven't loaded smartdrv.exe, it'll recommend you to do so (you can do the install without it, but it's highly NOT recommended). Proceed with the install. It'll decompress the needed files, then ask you which partition to put it on. C: being win98, use D: or otherwise. It'll then ask you about formatting, and choose ntfs or fat32 (whichever you prefer, I kept mine fat32). After that it'll install.

Once the initial setup is complete, it'll restart. Here's where you'll see whether or not it dual boots properly: a menu will come up (it lasts for only five seconds) letting you choose between 'Microsoft Windows' (98) or 'Windows 2000'. Let it go into the GUI install (it does it automatically, of course) and finish the install.

Finally, enjoy a dual boot job well done.

Keep in mind win98 overwrites all boot information, which is why 98 must always be installed first. Because of limitations of the system, it has to be on the partition. It's lousy, but keep in mind what needs 98 was designed to address.

4. Make sure to get the service packs, which address any flaws or security holes in the system. The makers of 98lite are making 2000lite, so keep a look out for that. Like KingM said, unless you're using it as a full time server, you won't need most of the stuff that gets installed.

Also as an aside, unless you're running legacy stuff, I highly suggest using Win2K alone.
 
Originally posted by MTXBlau@Apr 2, 2003 @ 01:54 PM

After that, use 98Lite, remove all the excess.

I'd say a clean install using 98lite would be as good a way to go.. Make a floppy with the 98lite distribution file on it (98pro46.exe), and when you've partitioned and are ready to install, get to a dos prompt with a 98 boot disc and do a:\98pro46. Should set up a nice clean install.
 
I don't know if the 98lite demo can do a clean install (I just registered my copy right away to do that), but their FAQs should answer that question.

What I'd like to mention is when the time comes to install Win98se lite, make sure to run the setup.exe with the ACPI option enabled. I didn't know this when I did my install, and consequently Windows set itself up with the old APM power management rather than the newer ACPI, so that I can no longer shut down using the power button (it just turns the computer OFF right away, which is bad). There is a way to make Windows install ACPI at a later time, but this comes at the cost of wiping out all Device Manager entries and having to reinstall ALL of the system's drivers (video, sound, IDE, mouse/keyboard, USB, you name it). That's not something you wanna have to go through, I think.
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