Setting up a dual boot of ME and XP

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Ant

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I have XP pro installed at the moment, is there any way i can set it up so ppl can chose whether to boot up with ME or XP without doing partitions (i.e i dont want to have to reinstall all my programs again!)
Can i just do an install of ME via XP or is that not kosher.

Ta
 
i dont know if this works in NTFS, but you can set up one of the ini files so it gives you a menu with all of the operating systems. I dont *think* it requires partitioning.

The other option is to install some kind of linux (i think mandrake can run on FAT) they generally give you some kind of boot menu.
 
Ta, but i decided to format the hd and make two partitions, wasn't as nasty as people make it out to be...
 
ok the file darkness is refering to is the boot.ini looks like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
Click to expand...
 now if you had 2 OS's on there it would look lke this:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP Home" /fastdetect
Click to expand...

ok see the number in parenthisis after partition? thats basicly the location i.d. of that os so if yo wanted to hav XP be automaticly selected(not boot right in to though. just at the selection screen it would be highlighted instead of the upper os)  you woud change
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINNT
Click to expand...
to
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)WINDOWS
Click to expand...

now if you wanted say not wait 30 seconds to have it boot in to it you would change
timeout=30 to timeout=<time>
Click to expand...
i've never put it at 0 cause i'm not sure if that would cause problems o not..... hope that helps a bit

edit: for got the add the file name :razz:
  :P   :P
[edited] 275 2002-03-16 19:43
 
correction mate
it works like thus for win9x/me
-------------
[boot loader]
timeout=2
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /noguiboot
C:="Microsoft Windows"
 
If you already have Windows XP installed, I don't think you can install a copy of 9x/Me without screwing up the boot stuff for XP.  You CAN do this if you use a third-party tool, like System Commander.

You can partition your hard drive without reformatting - use Partition Magic.

Your best bet though would be to install Windows 9x/ME (98 strongly recommended) first and then XP.  Since you already have XP installed, the only way to do this would be reformat :-p

Btw, here' s my boot.ini... I have a Win98+WinXP+Win2K+Linux multiboot.
 
Code: [Select]
Code: 
[boot loader]timeout=3default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)WINDOWS[operating systems]C:="(C:) Microsoft Windows 98 - Second Edition - 4.10.2222 A    " multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)WINDOWS="(D:) Microsoft Windows XP Professional - Build 2600         " /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)WINNT="(E:) Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional - Build 2195       "C:linux.bin="(  ) Red Hat Linux 7.2 - 'Enigma'                           "
 
You can partition your hard drive without reformatting - use Partition Magic.
Click to expand...

arrgh nads, i reformated and used fdisk, oh well, ya live and learn etcetera etcetera.
 
Yes, my Red Hat is on another partition.

My partitions are like this...

DISC 1 (8 gig)
Primary - 3.8 gig Win98 (C: - FAT 32)
Logical
  Extended - 3.8 gig Win2000 (E: - FAT 32)
  Extended - 400 meg Linux swap partition

DISC 2 (60 gig)
Primary - 56 gig WinXP (D: - FAT 32)
Logical
  Extended - 4 gig Red Hat Linux (EXT3)

Too add Linux to the Windows 2000 / Windows XP boot loader, this is what you do.  Install it, and boot into Linux (with a boot disc or the install CD if you didn't install the boot manager, which I didn't - - you just need to get to a command prompt).  Insert a blank, formatted (MS-DOS format) floppy disk, and put in these commands:

 - dd if=/dev/hda5 of=/linux.bin bs=512 count=1
  (Where /dev/hda5 is the drive you installed Linux on... mine is actually /dev/hdb5)
 - mount /dev/fd0 /mnt
 - cp /linux.bin /mnt
 - umount /mnt

Then copy the linux.bin from the floppy to your hard drive and point to it in the boot.ini (see mine above).  Whoo!

[Edit] Messed up one of those commands.  Whoops.
[edited] 44 2002-03-18 01:13
 
is it difficult to have an NTFS/Linux disc?
[edited] 249 2002-03-18 00:38
 
skillster: for 98 and ME maybe, but what i posted is what my boot.ini file has in it currently
 
Yeah but...  I don't think Virtual PC supports hardware 3D accelleration?  Not a big deal though, if you have a fast computer and you're just gonna use it for the Chocobo Races, I guess.  Oh yeah, and to run Virtual PC effectively you need lots of RAM too.
 
ok let me get it straight,
as FF7 folder can be on a VIRTUAL network driver (linked to the ff7 folder on the host comp) u can use VirtualPC to GET past the races, then just save and go back to ur normal PC.
with regards to ram, i may have 512DDR, BUT
i used to virtualPC with win2k and 190mbram on a celeron 366 :)
so in winxp u need min 64mb to run the win95os (win98 recommended/win98lite (90mbram)) plus just another 32mbram to keep winxp (the HOST os) happy,
read the specs at@
http://www.connectix.com
availability can be enquired from my email address :P
 
I had 256 meg of RAM and ran a "Virtual PC" set to have 128.  I installed Red Hat Linux on it.  It was VERY slow.

But... now I have 704 megs of RAM and everything seems to work better.  I'm gonna set up a Win95 virtual machine for FF7.

Seeing as that you need at least 128 megs to run WinXP well, I think you're gonna need at least 196 to get good performance.  And I dunno how fast the software rendering will be.
 
of course u shouldave set the ram to 90ish. anyway, the virtual machine is always slower then a real one :)
 
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