Dual Booting Questions

[Goku7]

Well, guess what?  My dad finally wants to take that big leap to using more than one OS.  Only thing stopping him is that he really doesn't know the details of how to do it (I don't know most of them either, for that matter.)

Specifically, he's gonna try to do a dual boot of Win98SE and Win2000.  And, he's been doing a few searchs at the Microsoft Knowledge base and he keeps hearing stuff about Bootloader (AKA OSLoader), and neither he nor I know where you get it, though I suspect it's a buried part of Windows that pops its head up when it detects more than one OS.....

So, I told him I'd ask you guys about what you know about dual booting.

Thanks in advance.

[ficedula]

Yup, you got it. Windows, or at least Win2K, can happily boot to more than one OS.

To dual-boot Win98 and Win2K I'd suggest installing Win98 first onto one partition, then once that's set up and working, installing 2K onto another partition. If you do that, Win2K *should* recognise there's already another OS installed, and simply add it to the list of bootup options.

If Win2k doesn't give you a bootup list, then you can turn it on under System Properties/Advanced/Startup.

[mirex]

My personal experience is that i used software called OSL2000. It is less then 0.5 MB, it can boot any number of systems AFAIK. Just install each system on different partitinon

[J*** H*******]

Message

[Goku7]

Well, I've forwarded the email reply notice to him, so he should see it soon.

But mirex, I have a tiny problem, and it's that I don't know if you're advising for or against OSL2000; if you'd observe the quote.....

My personal experience is that i used software called OSL2000. It is less then 0.5 MB, it can't boot any number of systems AFAIK. Just install each system on different partitinon

Heh....I'm pretty sure it's a typo, but I'm checking just in case.

[mirex]

yup its a typo, im sorry.  It CAN boot more than one system, surely, else it would be good for nothing

btw, here is link to its page: osl, and here is a screenshot, how does it looks at start of the computer shot

[Aaron]

Dual-booting is pretty easy to set up.  You can use fancy software, but Win2k has a built in boot loader (menu controlled by boot.ini - easy to edit) - just make sure you put each OS on a different partition.

Um...  I'm a quad-booter myself.  :-p

[sanjiyan]

Well, for the well-bred and trained, using OSL2K or even fdisk (shudder) would work well, but for the beginner, using a software utility (like Partition Magic) may be the better way to go.

I bought it and have been very satisfied with it. Setting up an OS on a new partition is easy enough just by using the wizards and if you read some additional material in the manual, manually doing it can be even better. Plus, it comes with its own version of an OS loader called BootMagic. Although 7.0 supports WinXP, 6.0 should be sufficient if you're sticking with Win2K (note: 6.0 does work with XP)

2nd Note: If you're thinking about installing DOS as an OS, be very familiar with the stiff requirements that DOS has on its partition's location, size, and so on.

--Sir Sanjiyan
"To Earth's four corners,
Sakura blossoms abound.
Segmentation fault."

[Sephiroth 3D]

I'm crazy. I simply put multiple OSs onto the same partition. Of course, I'm only working with Windows, so...

I guess my opinon is invalid.

Sephiroth 3D

"I don't understand..." "You don't have to understand." - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Sephiroth 3D.com
[email protected]

[Goku7]

Not really, Seph3d.  My dad is trying to do a dual boot of Win98SE and Win2k, and AFAIK those two versions are still windows. :p

So, your opinion is valid, since he (my dad) would only be dealing with the Windows OS here.

[Aaron]

I remember reading that Windows 9x doesn't like to be on the same partition as a Windows NT/2K/XP install (will sometimes give you some error in IE or something), but I've never actually tried it myself, so I can't confirm or deny this...

Alas, I erased my Windows2K and Linux partitions to get more space back for my other two... I never used either one of them (and I hardly use my 98).  Running low on space these days...

[Edit]
GRR!  I put (and I hardly use my 98)   and it thought the "8)"     was a smily!!  Grr.

[Sephiroth 3D]

Actually, Win2k & 98 work fine together, so long as the partition is a FAT32 drive. As for the IE error, I wouldn't know. I use Netscape.

Sephiroth 3D @ School

[Kendrilian]

Keep in mind when Aaron says that he is "running out of space" he means he has fully installed every game he has, downloaded every Star Trek Enterprise episode that has come out, and he "ONLY" has 6 gig of space left!!

Need I go on?

Kendirlian