Hi all,

I have been trying to set up Dual boot using two existing XP PRO and an existing 98SE operating systems on two existing harddrives.
Xp is in 4 partition drive, (C),(D),(E),(F), and 98 is a single partition, (C).
Xp is drive 0 and 98 is drive 1
Xp is jumpered M/S
98 is no jumper Slave.


I tried to modify XP Boot.ini by adding the D:\="Microsoft Windows 98" line of code.

During boot attempt when menu comes up Win XP or Win 98, XP will boot ok and see 98 as drive G:\ and accessible. If I select 98 it will start reboot each time. I did try DEBUG in DOS to attempt to rewrite the BootSect.dos in 98 with no results.

Example of XP Boot.ini currently after adding D:\. Xp sees 98 as drive G:\.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
G:\="Microsoft Windows 98"

I understand now, being that both drives still function as stand alones, that I can start to reinstall XP and build the dual boot. Anyone got any suggestions. I really would like to know why 98 reboots when selected instead of booting normally.
Thanks!

you need to set it up as the actual partition, not the drive letter that windows recognizes it as.

this page should help you out: http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/dualboot.htm

the line G:\=Windows 98 -- in this, is G: drive the one with Win98? That is to say, whats the drive letter assigned by XP to the drive with Win98? If it's D:, then set it to D:\=Windows 98. Be advised that this partition should be active and should have the Win98 startup files.

hmm, you can use 3d party boot managers, for example os selector from acronis, it can automatically detect already installed oses and adjust boot menu.

dortz, thank you very much for providing that link - it led on via a whole tree of links to some fascinating and useful reading. Brilliant.

Goldeagle,
Initially Xp showed 98 as hardrive in G:\. Dos showed the H/D as D:\.
After an XP crash yesterday and a reinstall as new OS, DUAL BOOT Menu comes up, select 98 and instead of booting 98, it does a reboot in XP to DUAL BOOT menu each time I select 98.
XP drive is 0, C:\, 1st connecter
98 drive is 1, D:\, 2nd connecter

XP has crashed again, disk boot failure.

Marv1

I now have XP functional again after purchasing another H/D which I did not need. Possibly I should try to clarify that I am trying to dual boot two fully functional hardrives, not partitions. I previously was dual booting with 98 as the first choice. I now want to use XP as the first choice in the boot menu.

hi i used this boot manager to boot a ati ,harddrive win98 and a scsi harddrive .winxp with great results
http://www.osloader.com/download.htm

Thank you Caperjack!!! Problem solved. The OSL 2000 works perfectly. Now to configure and register.
Marv1 :cheesy:

your welcome,good luck