Installing Win 98SE on Win XP system

Sorry to be posting something that's been asked many times, but the search terms are too general for me to find my answer from the Search function.

Right now I have 2 HDs with WIN XP Pro on the primary drive which is C:, and Linux Mandrake 10.1 on the secondary drive, D:. I am using the Linux bootloader (I'm fairly sure its GRUB, not Lilo though I've only booted to Linux twice since I installed it). I've currently set the booloader to boot to Win XP as default.

For Win 98SE, I used Partition Magic to create a logical drive F: on my primary HD.

The Win XP MSN KB has very little on this topic. I only found one item that says I should enter MS-DOS to install Win 98 SE under these circumstances, and another which provides the info which I've copied to the end of this post.

Despite what the article says, if I put the Win 98 SE CD into my CD drive and reboot, and then on installation options choose to install Win 98SE on F:, will it alter my partition table so I automatically start in Win 98 and be unable to change the configuration so that the Linux bootloader takes control of the boot process? BTW, since I suspect somebody will ask about the following, let me say that I am using the Linux bootloader because I couldn't get Linux to boot when using the BootMagic utility that comes with Partition Magic.

Thanks in advance for your help.





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MSN KB Article ID : 217210

If you want to multiple boot operating systems, install the operating systems in the following order: 1. MS-DOS
2. Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me
3. Windows NT
4. Windows 2000
5. Windows XP
Install each operating system according to the standard installation procedure. You can start the following operating systems from the boot loader (Osloader) screen: • Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me
• Windows NT
• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
NOTE: You should install each operating system on a separate logical drive. If you install multiple operating systems on single drive, you may experience problems when you attempt to run those operating systems.

If you install multiple operating systems on a single drive, Microsoft Internet Explorer may quit and you may receive an error message that is similar to the following error message:
iexplore caused an Invalid Page Fault in module kernel32.dll
You can configure your computer to start Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, and either Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me. However, you cannot configure a computer to multiple boot any combination of Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me because Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me use the same boot file. Therefore, multiple booting Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me at the same time is not supported.

You should install Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me before you install Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP to prevent the Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me Setup program from replacing the Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT boot sector with its own boot sector. Because a Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me boot sector identifies the partition as a FAT16 or FAT32 partition, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP can no longer access NTFS volumes. To install Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me first, use the installation procedures that are provided with Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me.

If you want to multiple boot Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, and Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me with MS-DOS, install MS-DOS first.

 

There's your answer, I think, from M$.

"If you want to multiple boot operating systems, install the operating systems in the following order:
1. MS-DOS
2. Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me
3. Windows NT
4. Windows 2000
5. Windows XP"

I think you have to install W98se, first, as "C", then install XP on another partition. Better to install it on another hard drive, IMHO Bazza

 

As per bigbazza's reply, 98SE MUST be installed on the first partition of the first HDD.

Cheers

 

Oldest Microsoft OS must be loaded first, as it alters the bootsector of the physical device. If you load WIN98SE on logical drive F: on device 0; WIN98 will alter the bootsector of physical device 0. Making the NTFS partion unreadable, therefore you won't be able to boot into WIN XP.

However you can fix the MBR and BOOTSECTOR from the XP RECOVERY CONSOLE giving NTLDR control of the boot process. Meaning that you would have to use something like BootPart to alter the Boot.ini so you can boot into your linux partition. You would also have to manually edit the Boot.ini to add WIN98 to the boot options.