Reference number: CH000346

Dual booting information.

Issue:

Dual booting information.

Additional information:

Users may find it helpful or useful to have multiple operating systems on their computer. The below document explains various issues and information about dual booting with various operating systems.

• Users who are using Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP in their dual boot and wish to change the options of which operating system to load as the computer first boots need to modify the boot.ini file. Additional information about the boot.ini file can be found on document CH000492.

Solution:

We believe it is important to first mention that dual booting between any operating system is almost never supported by the computer manufacturer or the developer of the operating system. 

Dual boot Windows 95 with Windows 98
Dual boot Windows 95/98 with Windows NT/2000
Dual booting Windows 95 with Windows ME
Dual booting Windows 98 with Windows ME

Dual boot Windows 95 with Windows 98

It is possible to dual boot Windows 95 with Windows 98, but without any utilities it is required that the msdos.sys be changed to point to the appropriate drive or partition. In addition, if drive space (Disk Compression) is being used, drvspace must be copied as well.

NOTE: Some "OEM" versions of Windows 98 and Windows ME (sold with new computers) will not install on a partition where there are existing Windows operating systems present.

Process of Dual booting Windows 98 with Windows 95:

1. It is recommended that at least two partitions be created, one partition for Windows 95 and the other for Windows 98. Information about creating partitions can be found on document CH000345. If the partitions need to be deleted, information about deleting a partition can be found on document CH000344.
2. Once at least two partitions have been created on the computer, if you have an OEM version of Windows 98 install it first as it will search for pre-existing operating systems. If you have a retail version of Windows 98 you can either install Windows 95 or Windows 98 first.
3. Note: If you have a Windows 98 Retail or OEM it is also important to know that you can boot from this CD and install Windows.
   
   Once one of the operating systems has been installed in the computer, boot the computer from a bootable floppy diskette and at the MS-DOS prompt install the other operating system onto the other partition. Note: you do not want to install Windows 95/98 through Windows, it must be done from MS-DOS.
4. Once both operating systems have been installed onto the computer it will boot to the last installed operating system. To boot to the alternate operating system you will needed to edit the msdos.sys file and change the WinDir= and the WinBootDir to the appropriate drive letter. If you find yourself needing to boot between the operating systems often it may be easier to create two different msdos.sys files and then use a batch file to switch between these msdos.sys files.

• Additional information on editing the msdos.sys can be found on our MSDOS.SYS page.
• Additional information about batch files can be found on our batch file page.

Dual boot Windows 95/98 with Windows NT/2000

Dual booting between Windows 95/98 and Windows NT is generally effortless as these two operating systems will work fine if placed on different partitions.

To dual boot between Windows 95/98 and Windows NT it is recommended that two partitions be created and that Windows 95 or Windows 98 be installed first onto the computer. Below is the steps we would recommend to follow in dual booting these operating systems.

Process of Dual booting Windows 95/98 with Windows NT 4.0:

1. It is recommended that at least two partitions be created, one partition for Windows 95/98 and the other for Windows NT/2000. Information about creating partitions can be found on document CH000345. If the partitions need to be deleted, information about deleting a partition can be found on document CH000344.
   
   Additionally, it is important to consider if you plan on utilizing NTFS. NTFS will allow for security but if you need to access this drive from Windows 95/98 you may want to consider using FAT16 or FAT32 if you are installing Windows 2000.
   
2. Once the two partitions have been installed on the computer and Windows 95/98 is installed onto one of those partitions, boot to a MS-DOS prompt, loading the CD-ROM Drivers (Windows bootable disk can also be used).
3. Once at the prompt, enter into the below directory.
   
   X:\WINNT>
   
   The X: being the letter of your CD-ROM drive.
4. Once at this prompt we recommend that you do a diskless installation. To do this type:
   
   winnt /b
   
   Additional information about this switch and other Windows NT switches can be found on our Windows NT switches pages.
   
   Additionally, if you find that the Windows NT installation is slow, please see document CH000187.
5. After the installation once the computer reboots, you should notice the Windows NT menu has the option for both Windows 9x and Windows NT 4.0.

Dual boot Windows 95 with Windows ME

Because Windows ME will detect if any Windows operating system is present on the computer before the installation, it is important that you create at least two partitions and first install Windows ME and then Windows 95. Below is the steps we would recommend be done.

Process of Dual booting Windows 95 with Windows ME:

1. It is recommended that at least two partitions be created, one partition for Windows 95 and the other for Windows 98. Information about creating partitions can be found on document CH000345. If the partitions need to be deleted, information about deleting a partition can be found on document CH000344.
2. Once the two partitions have been created reboot the computer with the windows ME CD in the computer and install Windows ME onto one of the partitions.
3. Once installed, boot to a MS-DOS prompt or bootable diskette and install Windows 95 onto the other partition.

Dual booting Windows 98 with Windows ME

Because both Windows 98 OEM and Windows ME look for pre-existing operating systems, Windows 98 retail must be used. If you do not have a retail version of Windows 98, unfortunately, you will not be able to dual boot Windows 98 with Windows ME.

Below are the steps we would recommend be done to dual boot between Windows 98 retail and Windows ME.

Process of Dual booting Windows 98 with Windows ME:

1. It is recommended that at least two partitions be created, one partition for Windows 98 and the other for Windows ME. Information about creating partitions can be found on document CH000345. If the partitions need to be deleted, information about deleting a partition can be found on document CH000344.
2. Once the two partitions have been created, reboot the computer with the windows ME CD in the computer and install Windows ME onto one of the partitions.
3. Once windows ME has been installed onto the computer, boot to the Windows 98 CD and install Windows 98 onto the alternate partition.