2 OS on 1 PC

Is it possible to have 2 Operating Systems that I can boot from on my PC?
I have some install discs of other windows OS and was just wondering.:cool

 

I guess I'M looking for a "dual-boot" Can someone help me to do that?

 

depends on what os you wanting. Ubuntu does it automatically but other os's you have to create a new partition on your hard drive and install the new os on that partition when you restart the computer it will dual boot.

go to control panel
then click on administrative tools
then click on computer management
then click on storage
then click disk management


once that loads up you choose your hard drive then you need to shrink your current partition to save some space for your other os then name it with anything you like and then just install the new os as normal and choose the partition you just created.

Hope this helps

Andy


P.S. The steps above are for windows 7 os but they are similar with other os's

 

So if I "shrink" my main hard drive, then that will create the second partition that I can boot from?

 

You can also use virtual players software that allows you to install and run different OS's within Windows with no need of partitioning.
I have ubuntu installed in VMware Player on my Win 7 system.

 

It might be easier if you tell us the OS you currently have installed and the second OS you want to install. Also a screenshot of the disk management window would be useful so we could see how your HD is currently laid out.

Start>Run>type in DISKMGMT.MSC and hit <enter>

 

yes but you got to click on the section of the hard drive and then click create partition for your 2nd OS installation.

 

http://db.tt/Fq3NLSh3

I have a Windows 7 laptop. I would like to use an older version of windows OS, such as Windows 98.

EDIT: That "CD-ROM 1" is not hardware. That's my mounting software.

 

I think you may run into a couple of problems.

1) Some notebook recovery partitions won't work if you resize/add a new partition. If you have already burned your recovery DVD's this shouldn't be a major problem. You would just use your DVD's if you ever needed to recover your notebook. But you should be aware that the F10 or hold "zero" key while powering on to get to recovery may not work anymore if you add a partition.

2) Win98 has to be the C: drive (I'm 99% sure about this). So it either has to be the first partition on the HD or it might work in the second partition if the first partition is hidden. I know the general rule was to install multiple Windows installations in order of their age. So, oldest first going on to newest. So if you were starting from scratch you would install Win98 and then Win7 which would be no problem because Win7 would just assign itself a drive letter other than C:. But trying to add Win98 might be troublesome because Win7 is already the C: drive.

See what others have to say. I haven't done a Win98 install in a long time but I remember even with Win98 and XP it was tricky unless you let XP take a drive letter other than C:.

I'd hesitate to do this on a laptop unless you had a backup of your files or preferably an image of the whole HD. I think you could eventually get it to work but it might take some trial and error to get both OS booting and seeing each other. Win7 and XP would be a lot easier since XP can go on any drive letter--that would just be a matter of shrinking the Win7 partition and creating a new partition for XP and installing it as sexyand81 said.

***
I'm not familiar with the software that ibmest mentioned but if you only need Win98 for a particular program that might be an option.

 

I do have a full backup of my system. And as you know from my other threads, I am going to replace the whole HD at some point.

 

Off topic

@ sach2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMware_Player
I used it for folding/Stanford's FAH distributed computing science/research application

Back on topic

 

I don't think I can advise you since it has been so long since I used win98.

This article addresses the situation and seems to cover all the bases as far as the quirks involved. Give it a read and see what questions you have and I'll see if I can be of any help. Maybe, someone who has used win98 recently or is more knowledgable with EasyBCD can also help.

 

What does shrinking the main partition do? Sexyandy and that article seems to say that's the first step.

 

You need a new partition (space that is assigned a drive letter and is bootable) to install win98.

If you look at your drive layout you see you have three partitions taking up the full available space on the HD. So no where to install Win98. If you were to shrink the 453gb partition to 425gb that would leave you with 28gb of unallocated space. You could then create a new 28gb partition in that space and format it to the FAT32 file system for the install of Win98.

This pic shows a 900gb drive with unallocated space.

http://www.hundredonehands.com/static/userimages/2011-10-07/14be744e-d624-4243-8b76-984e5e3476b5.jpg

Note in the article that it says win98 has to be installed below 127gb point on the HD. So you would be shrinking your Win7 partition so that the free space is between the 1.46gb partition and the new smaller 425gb partition rather than at the end of the HD like in this pic. (Disk Management won't do this, you would have to use a thirdparty partition program like Partition Wizard Home.)

 

Step says "In Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB: enter enough for Win98/Me or
enough to ensure the Win98/Me partition starts before the 127 GB limit for that OS"


is 28GB a good number?

 

In your case you can't use Disk Management to shrink the 453gb partition because it only allows you to put the unallocated space at the end of the HD. That would be at the 427gb mark which is too far for Win98 to be installed. You'd have to use a third-party program like Partition Wizard to get the unallocated space where you need it immediately after the 1.46gb partition. Hold off on shrinking for now.

What do you want to do with Win98? That might give a better idea of how much space you want to give it.

Here is a post I had been working on that might be another option:

 

I mainly want Win98 for compatibility with some programs. Which brings up another issue, since my system is 64bit, some programs have problems because of it. So I wonder how that would affect things.

 

Have you tried installing your old programs on Win7 and then right-clicking the shortcut or .exe and selecting Troubleshoot Compatibility? Then selecting Win98 or whichever option is most suited and going with the always use this option. That might be easier.

Win98 and Win7 can be installed together but it is a bit of work because of the limitations of Win98 and large HDs plus the need for Fat32 filesystem for Win98 to work. Also Win98 can't read NTFS file system which means it can't see anything on your Win7 partition.

 

Yes, compatibility mode has never worked at all for me.

What about an external hard drive? I assume that would not work with just a USB connection, which is all I have besides this sata/USB+ thing.

http://db.tt/Ga5ZxScq

 

You might try this first -

Once I disabled UAC on my Win7/64bit machine most of my stuff worked again:

Disable User Account Control (UAC) the Easy Way on Win 7 or Vista

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-user-account-control-uac-the-easy-way-on-windows-vista/

 

Disabling UAC is supposed to help with compatibility? That has never helped me no matter what computer I would try it on.

Help to boot a version of Win98 or don't post at all please.....

 

I was just playing around with this win98 installation. I found that Partition Wizard could shrink the Win7 partition and create the FAT32 partition with little problem.

Installing Win98 was a bit more problematic. I was using a old p4 machine and the Win98 disc still didn't find most drivers. No video, no internet, no audio etc. I could probably find drivers for this machine because it is old but I'm thinking you may have some real problems finding drivers for a new laptop.

If you still want to install win98, i can probably get you that far. I would recommend creating the Win7 repair disc before beginning as you might need it to fix boot files, although I didn't have that problem.

 

If I started with a brand new HD, would I run into any problems there?

 

Installing Win98 the basic OS should work. But there are limitations, I didn't even think of until I tried it on that old Dell. First, the article referenced that Win98 can't deal with all the memory that new machines have. So you have to limit the memory available to Win98 to 512mb just to get it installed (software fix not actually remove any memory).

But the real problem for you is that there won't be any drivers for most of your devices. If that laptop is only a year or so old that just won't have written drivers for your internet, audio etc. I don't see how you get around that.

If you don't care about internet and audio and such on the Win98 drive, you could probably get it up enough to run a program but it depends on which programs you are trying to run if that is useful.

 

I have an older desktop that used to have XP on it before the HD died. I have an extra HD that I can use with my win98 install disc. Would that solve any problems? Also I heard something like you could not run websites like facebook in win98, is that true?:confused

 

That would definitely be a better choice. Drivers still may be hard to come by but getting XP drivers to work with Win98 will be much easier. I'm not very good at finding drivers but some of the guys that post in that forum could help you out.

If you have the extra HD for that machine you could try creating a FAT32 partition (smaller than 32 gb) on it and see how Win98 does with installing itself. If you can get the basic OS installed then it will just be a matter of finding drivers for as many devices as possible.

 

What about the things I had heard about most modern websites not working with windows98?

 

It seems that win98 only supports up to IE 6.0 so there could be some problems with IE.

FF 2.2 works with Win98 and apparently most versions of Opera. I'm not sure how particular websites might appear. Here is a link with a few comments from win98 users.

 

http://db.tt/iPwEsFRC
I installed win98 on my "old" pc with the new HD. But now I get this error, even when I start in safe-mode.

 

Did win98 install all the way--getting to the desktop at least once?

 

It installed all the way, but has never made it to the desktop. I just got that error.

There was an option to "start step-by-step" or something. So it popped up all these things that I would say yes or no to. But I did not understand it at all and the screen still went black and did not start......

 

How much physical ram did you have installed in the pc when you tried to install 98SE?

 

I don't know......

It seems to have installed fine, but it just wont load to the desktop. I just get that error.:confused

 

http://db.tt/BGubwxeA

 

What about Wondows 95 on my desktop or on my laptop with the dual-boot? Or would Windows 95 be even worse?

 

I'm hoping risk_reversal comes back to help because it has been so long since I have used 98.

My interpretation of that error, although it sounds like you don't have enough memory, is really about having too much memory and confusing Win98.

Did you do this step when installing 98? If you did then I may be wrong about the error.

If you didn't do that step, I'm really not sure how to edit in DOS. I used a linux CD/USB to edit the file and then installation when along the rest of the way. I never say that error. I just got a Win98 splash screen and then my computer rebooted going back to the Win98 splash screen then rebooted etc.

 

I'm pretty sure that's what the error is. So ya, if someone knows how edit in DOS and would tell me that would help!

 

Booting XP, and Vista/7, and even with the new W8 developer's preview Windows does have a boot manager that can boot multiple OS software innately.

However, I think the serious problem will be memory allocation issues (there is the addressing limitation of 512MB RAM), and driver issues with most of the other hardware.

I think your best bet would be to "emulate" your pre-XP version of Windows, inside of your current platform.

:major

You could try dual booting with XP, and using compatibility mode for Win 98...

 

You mean just not use anything pre XP at all? That's kind of the whole point of this........rolleyes

 

Sorry, I got the impression the issue was you wanted to run old software.

In that case, you have to edit DOS, and that means accessing the Windows installation at startup. You will need to create a DOS environment, and edit the code risk_reversal specified.

You will have to "flash" a bootable USB drive, or burn an .iso disc to boot from the CD-ROM drive. You will then have to access the Windows installation, and edit the system file from an earlier version of DOS, most likely. DOS 7 may not work on this one, but I'm not sure.

Easier said than done, but no one said coding was a "bed of roses"...

:cool

OH, and if your planning on running IE5, most of the free world has dropped support for it's coding. You very well may not be surfing the net. Many sites have dropped IE6 as well. Got a 56K modem?

 

Or, you could "emulate":


https://www.virtualbox.org/


However, you may need to dig up an older version to host Win98. Not sure.

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Guest_OSes

 

Atlantic,

I just tried the command prompt from the win98 CD and it doesn't have any editing commands. If you have a blank CD around just get Puppy Linux (and forget DOS which will be just one more headache). Download the Lucid version lupu.5.28.004.iso (160mb) and burn it to CD using Imgburn's "Write Image File to Disc" option. Boot from the CD.

Your HD will have an icon in the lower left of the desktop labeled sda1. Go to the Windows folder and right-click the system.ini file and select Edit or "Open with editor" and add the two lines to the system.ini file. I think it will be the easiest way to edit the file.

 

Thank you guys So much for helping me out with this!(a special thanks to you Sach2) But I think I will put a version XP on that system.(after all, that is what was originally on it):cool

I think I might have something that works better for what I want though.
There is an old desktop sitting in my garage that I think even used to have Win98 on it. I will try to do something with that. Hope there is still all the hardware there......

I will post here again if I come up with anything........

 

I am contemplating doing a dual-boot of WinXP since that looks to be the easiest and probably the only one that will work.

What is the minimum amount of space you have to use for a WinXP partition?

 

Having looked at win98 first hand, I think you are wise to go with XP. You will at least have a fighting chance of finding drivers.

I'd say 10gb would be the minimum partition size. Winxp should be about 4gb for system files, fully installed/updated. System Restore and Recycle Bin each will take 10% (by default) but that can be lowered or turned off. So that would be 4gb + 500mb for system restore + 250mb for recycle bin = 4.75gb. That leaves 3gb for your programs and 2gb for breathing room. If you plan on installing programs that take more than 3gb then a 15-20gb partition would be better.

 

How long does it take to create the partition? and how do I use my boot cd with that partition?

 

It doesn't take long (about ten minutes or less for the way you need to do it). You can use Disk Management in Win7.
Type Disk Management in the Start/Search box.
You will get a window with a graph.
Right click the large 450gb partition and select Shrink volume.
A little window will open and tell you how much space is available.
In the "Enter amount of space to shrink" you would input 10000 for 10gb or 15000 for 15gb or 20000 for 20gb. (Thinking about it, I would use 15000mb for the minimum size rather than just 10000mb if you think you can spare it.)

That should get you the space. Then when you use XP install disc it should offer to install to "unallocated space" by default. If it doesn't then you would use the arrow keys to highlight the unallocated space as the preferred installation spot.

*I know I keep throwing up obstacles but if it were me, after you use Disk Management to create the unallocated space by shrinking the large partition/volume then I would use another partition software to move the third partition over into that space and then shrink the third partition leaving the unallocated space at the end of the drive. The reason for that is your recovery partition is the third partition and is supposed to remain the third partition for access. So if you don't move it then you may not retain access to the "restore to factory defaults" function of the laptop. If you have burnt your recovery DVDs this is not a problem. You can do the Disk Management part first and decide whether you want to bother with this step or not.

 

I do have my install disc, also at some point I plan to replace this hard drive with its warranty(as we talked about before)

 

Also I have an old desktop here, that I believe used to have win98 on it. Many things were ripped out of it to try to use for other computers, but I don't think anything was used, so I should have everything.

Right now it just beeps about 10 times when it starts, and no VGA signal of any kind. I put in a clean hard-drive and its DVD player. But I don't know if I have everything, or even if what I have in is hooked up correctly.(I'm a noob I know):-D

I ripped this apart years ago, but it should work.............

 

If you are going to install on the laptop then you can go ahead and shrink the partition as in my last post. Get that out of the way so we have some space for XP.

That same site I gave before has a guide for adding XP to a Win7 computer. Give it a read through and see if you have any questions.

They cover all the little problems. They recommend downloading .NET 2.0 and EasyBCD installers which you will want to have available on flash drive or CD for use in the new XP to get Win7 booting properly again. If you have an extra blank CD then I would also burn a Windows Repair disc which would give you another option for getting Win7 booting in case you have problems with Easy BCD. That would be by typing repair in the Start/Search box and clicking "Create a Repair Disc". This isn't necessary if you have a retail Win7 installation disc but if yours is a PC manufacturer's recovery disc which is different then the repair disc is a a good thing to have available. It is equivalent to the "Optional: Download NeoSmart's free Windows 7 System Recovery Disk if your Win7 DVD is missing! " download they recommend.