How do i start in MS-DOS mode in XP?

[thegreenberet]

how do I ? I'm gonna install another OS and need to install it from DOS...

 

[bozo1]

There is no DOS in NT/W2K/XP.

 

[thegreenberet]

Then how do i install win98 SE ?

If it aint possible to mulitboot 98 SE and XP, then how do i install win2k AFTER XP ?

 

[bozo1]

Just boot off the W2K CD and install it to a different partition.

As far as dual-booting 98 and XP, you should have 98 installed first. There are ways to do it after the fact using partition magic and jumping through some hoops - if you are interested in that, I'm sure someone can point you in the right direction.

 

[TheOmegaCode]

as for XP, I don't know... However, you can start an installation of Win2k from a DOS prompt.... What I like to do is take a 98 cd, boot with cd-rom support:
*with 98 cd in*
*98CD*:\cd win98
*98CD*\win98:\smartdrv
*Win2k*:\cd i386
*win2k"\i386:\winnt
you should be good to go... If I got any slashes mixed up.. I'm in linux right now...

 

[thegreenberet]

How do i boot off the win2k cd ? when i put it in the cd drive and reboot the pc it doesnt start automatically....

 

[TheOmegaCode]

make sure that your bios is enabled so that you boot to your CD before your HDD.

 

[Zlash]

Just make a 98 boot disk..

 

[TheOmegaCode]

<< Just make a 98 boot disk.. >>


I wouldn't recommend this.. Why? because if you create a bootdisk by going to Add/Remove progs, you can't install. The disk creates a Virtual Ram drive, and you unable to install an OS with that there. You would have to format c: /s to be able to boot to the HDD, but when you do, you won't have CD-Rom support. So just boot off a win98 CD.

 

[bacillus]

to the FAQS!
btw have you checked to see if your copy of win98SE is bootable??

 

[wjsulliv]

TheOmegaCode-

Actually you can boot and load OS's from a win 98 boot disk made in that way... I've done it several times.

All Win 9x boot disks make a virtual drive. That is where they store the utilities like FDISK and FORMAT. There is no way around that, there is not Win 9x boot disk that doesn't do that. That is the definition of a Win 9x boot disk.

But you can boot from CD-Rom, and that does seem cleaner, so do that if you can.


Simply to install a 98SE and XP dual boot machine:
Set up two partitions
Install 98SE to the second partition
Install XP to the first partition.

XP will automatically know you have another OS and add it to the XP boot loader and thus give you a chance to load either OS.

 

[bozo1]

You can only put XP on the first partition if you do not use NTFS.

 

[TheOmegaCode]

wjsulliv
Not really, I have NEVER gotten win98 to install off of a win98 setup disk with a VirtualRAM drive on it.
All Win 9x boot disks make a virtual drive.
no they don't. When you are installing 98, it asks you to insert a disk. That setup disk differs from the add/remove programs disk. When you boot to that disk, never once does it say that anything was loaded to a *d drive in your RAM.
I have to install win98 at least 5 times a week...
XP will automatically know you have another OS and add it to the XP boot loader and thus give you a chance to load either OS.
Saying that XP is that savvy toward other operates, is bold at least. It only recognizes other flavors of windows at best.

 

[wjsulliv]

1) Yes, because Win 98SE needs to have its files stored on FAT32, you can't install its boot records on a NTFS partition. Which means if you install 98SE on partition 2, and then XP on partition 1, both have to be FAT32.

Except:
You could make 3 partitions. One FAT32 for boot records (like 50 MB shoudl be more than enough), the Second one NTFS (when you install XP, you can change it to that), and the third FAT32 for 98SE. The procedure is basically the same. Install 98SE, making sure to tell it to install to the third partition. 98SE will automatically install its boot record to the first partition. Then when you've got that all good, pop in the XP disk (inside 98SE) and have it install to the second partition, making sure to change the file structure to NTFS.

Essentially you get:
c: 50 MB boot record partition - FAT32
d: XP - NTFS
e: 98SE - FAT32

However, you will not be able to access the NTFS partition from within 98SE. So if you want to pull files from the XP partition while in 98SE, you will be unable to do so. You can access the 98SE from within XP though.

2) I have never had trouble using any boot disk made in the system (Win 95, 98, or Me) to load an OS. Additionally, I was under the impression that the utilities loaded to the virtual drive were loaded there because they were compressed (zipped) on the floppy and thus couldn't be run directly on the floppy.

But what ever, I guess for some people, you can't use the System Disk created inside windows to reload the OS... Which is one of the reasons you can make one in windows, so that doesn't make sense. But there is no need to argue it. It will either work or it won't, and if you can't find the one made during install, then try the one made in add/remove programs, and if that doesn't work booting from CD should.

3) Yes, XP is savvy towards other flavors of windows, but not necessarily other OS's. If you want to load linux also, there is another process. You shouldn't assume that XP will recognize another non-Windows OS's boot record. And the easiest way to make XP recognize the 98SE installation is to put in the XP disk while in the 98SE installation and start install from there, selecting the other partition as the destination for install.

 

[JesseKnows]

TheOmegaCode - I believe the problem in installing Win98 from the add/remove diskette is because after the first boot the RAM disk disappears and the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive changes - you were installing from e:\win98, and want to continue from d:\win98.

A solution would be to copy the \win98 directory from the cd-rom to the hard drive and installing from the hard drive. I do that anyway so I can make changes in the OS without bringing the CD with me. It take about 140MB of disk space, but that is cheap today.