How do I install two operating systems, and should I?

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aaronbjames

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I've read in these forums that a few of you (or maybe a lot of you) have installed two Operating systems on your machines (Win98 and WinXP, or something like that) so that you can run one of the OSes for music projects, and another for other everyday applications. How do you go about doing this (I have no idea), and is it worth it / helpful to do it? Or, just point me to some resources for instructions/info on how to do it and maintain it. I have my hard drive partitionned into three drives with Win98 installed on the C: drive. Thanks
 
I haven't done it at home, but I've done it at work (Win2k and Win98). Although I've heard of people who have apparently done it successfully, I wouldn't recommend it based on my experience. The installation was a nightmare, and I had software problems galore.
 
I run both Win 98SE and WinXP on my machine (switchable)... Some of my old fave softwares don't run under XP. But I have 2 physical HD on my system. Install the 98 first, then the XP... Go www.musicxp.net for info about WinXP...

;)
James
 
You might have better luck with third party programs like Norton Ghost that manage OS's and partitions for you.
 
?

Why need 2 OS's. Make users :)
Ex: User:
1)Recording (can access the recording software)
2)<Yourname> (can access everything else and stuff)
I can do this in win2000 but i don't know if it's possible in XP.
Maybe go look for some info, i dunno :)
Bye
 
2 OS's on one hard drive is a bad idea. I have 2 hard drives, and i have a different OS on each drive, which is a good thing. BUT , everytime you want to switch between OS's and hard drives you need to go into your BIOS and switch between which drive to boot from.
Why would you want 2 OS's on one drive? I have an OS on each drive, one for regular stuff and one for audio, this way i install less programs on each drive, they get less cluttered, run more efficiently, etc... But if its all on the same drive doesn't it sort of defeat the purpose? I suppose if you split your drive up using partitions it might work better. If you had one for the audio and one for regular stuff. I think you could work that, and still do the thing where you switch between "drives" in the bios.
 
I have been running Win2K and 98SE off the same partition for over a year now. I don't remember when I last reinstalled the OS. I've tried a lot of configs. XP and 98 will never work correctly, even on two partitions, only on two independent hard drives.

After I added a second drive, my intention was to install Win2K and audio OS onto that drive. I got lazy.

I use 98SE Lite, though, so maybe some things are not the same as a stock install. Some of my favourite programs (Games!!!) will not run in 2K/XP, so 98 is something I'm stuck with, at least for a while...

You can always try it out, if you don't have any data on your machine.

I install 98 first, and then put 2K on top of that as a second install (I have no clue what it is called anymore. I haven't seen an install screen in about a year). After installing everything I make a little image of the drive and back it up for a rainy day...

My setup is:

Drive 1: C:\ 7GB approx. for the two OSs
D:\ 15 GB approx, for applications (all, for both OSs)
E:\ 15 GB approx, for basic data (M$Office files, downloads, that sort of stuff)

Drive 2: One large 37 GB partition for audio data and the swap files.
 
Maybe you should try having two disks with a swap bay. They are pretty cheap and well. I have had nothing but bad experiences with dual-Os's.
 
win xp and 98 =NG for some but not all, Is it 98se, I like se, and I have had 2000pro and xp together/ if 98 is involved you have to load xp last.
The one thing is the file sys differences.

BUT XP,XP is good.

I disagree with some but a single disc with multi partitions is actually a safe choice.
I have 4 OS on one virtual drive:Gaming, Audio,Home,Test.
Home is used for every day family affairs, and test is where all software is tested on and mail,downloads,etc are directed for quarantine and virus scaning. Audio is 5 and change gb with no pretty little shadows or fade effects or for that matter no internet, all but a few drivers enabled, no background services running, Gaming is similiar.

My point is that I have crashed certain partitions and simply reformat that part, usually the test part which is 4 gb free space, no sweat, and I never had to load all the programs on all the parts.

Multi partitions, multi hard drives, multi OS the same or different there is no need to goto the bios to change partitions or OS.
2 ways 1) you can rename each partition or change your boot screen to give you each part and OS loaded, named by you, the amount of time they are shown for what color the letters are etc... inside the control panel. If you want specifics I will provide.
2.) Make an extra partition 500 mb , this is where you put your boot manager.Ditto with specifics but I like 1.
 
Dual boot is very easy to do, and is quite reliable as well. In fact, windows is designed to supprt it without any 3rd party software installed.

First partition your hard drive using "FDISK". One partition for each OS. Note the logical drive letter for each partition. You might want to give each partion a fitting name as well. I chose Win98 and Win2K for example. Now format each partition.

You must install the oldest OS to the first partition (win98 in my case) then in chronological order to the rest of the partitions. The computer treats each partition as a bootable drive. Each time you start up your computer, you will be given a choice which OS you want to load.

Though I haven't tried it, the microsoft knowledge base claims that you can even share apps between the two OSs to avoid having to install them twice.

Your audio drive, CD drive, etc. will be accesible from either OS as well.

Careful when you're installing ANYTHING that you have the correct path, or you may inadvertantly end up with something you wanted on D drive being installed on C drive.


Twist
 
It should be no problem. Running W2Kpro and XPpro on the same drive, different partition. Have been running on previous occasions W98se and NT4.0SP6 without problems. As said: install the most recent last. The NT range (nt, 2k and xp) are quite tolerant and flexible to arrange this.
 
OK
You have xp, load it 2x , as long as they are on the same drive and different partition you can do that and still get your updates at MS without a problem because they can't run at the same time. If your using 98 for older programs that are not suported well in xp then yes fdisk 98 first then xp , I think you should be able to just load 98 but format a partition to the size you want with enough left over for xp. I would go xp/xp if you could deal without 98. You can also change drive letters later. Remember 98 is going to work in a fat file sys and xp can work in either though better in ntfs. If you go fat-98/ntfs-xp they wont be able to see each other.
ps. xp/xp ;)
 
My suggestion is: Use only WinXP and if you have problems with software, find a more modern one doing the same, or use the compability option when installing.....until you find a substitute.

Hans,
www.hagen.nu
 
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