Dual boot - what the hell am i doing?!

ClusterF@#$ · 05-31-2002, 02:01 PM

What's up fuckers... this is my first post here, and I have a question. Hey Sean, Nice message board, Deek! Smile

I'm trying to set up a dual boot system on my new laptop... Windows XP and Win 98. I need Win 98 only for work... Our VPN software and other assorted shit only works with win 98, otherwise I would gladly do away with that crappy OS.

My first question occured to me when I didn't know what the hell I was doing when I was reinstalling Windows XP on the second partition... is it FAT or NTFS file system? I chose NTFS because it came up as default. Is there a problem with this? Should I reinstall it w/ FAT?

Second question... it didn't occur to me that all the software they gave me only contained XP drivers, so none of my fucking hardware works when I boot up '98 (network card, modem, etc). How do I get '98 drivers?!!! Is there a chance that they won't work with win '98? When it comes to this stuff.. I'm a moron.

Help please!!! Thanks. Your little italian buddy, Cluster.

Arthur Dent · 05-31-2002, 02:18 PM

I don't know too much about this either, but I know that win 98 does not recognise NTFS formatted drives. If you installed WIN 98 first and formatted the drive to FAT32, then you should install XP for FAT32.

As for 98 drivers, if they are not on the install CD or any CD that came with the laptop, try the manufacturers' websites for each piece of hardware.

ClusterF@#$ · 05-31-2002, 02:25 PM

Yeah.... '98 is FAT 32 (I feel so ghetto when I use the term Fat... phat, yo!) anyway... that was the only option. I'm more concerned about the XP partition... so far so good as NTFS... but I have a feeling I should reinstall as FAT. Thanks.... The NIC is a 3com.. I went to their website and didn't have any luck finding a '98 driver... granted I didn't know what I was looking for exactly. Tried what looked like a model # in the search function with no luck. Also, plug and play in '98 didn't recognize either the modem or the NIC, which is why I asked if hardware could possibly be XP compatible only... hmmm... Guess I'll have to fuck around this weekend some more.

Sephiroth · 05-31-2002, 02:28 PM

As far as I know, Windows XP doesnt support FAT32. NTFS was touted as a big selling point on the platform. Your best bet is to dual-boot with a system that does support FAT32 (Win95b, Win98SE, WinME). Also, Im sure you can run pretty much any program in XP via the compatibilty modes (right-click on the .EXE file of the application, and select Win98 in your case).

barch97 · 05-31-2002, 02:33 PM

Quote:I chose NTFS because it came up as default. Is there a problem with this? Should I reinstall it w/ FAT?

No, XP will work fine either way. NTFS is supposedly a more stable format and requires less defragmenting. I haven't noticed any huge difference between NTFS and FAT32.

The reason that I prefer to install XP on an NTFS partition particularly on a dual boot system is that Win98 win not recognize the NTFS partition. Thus making it nearly impossible for you to mistakenly over write or delete or move or otherwise fuck up any of the XP system files while working in 98.

The reverse, however, is not true. You will be able to fuck with system file (all files for that matter) on the 98 partition while working in XP.

What's a little weird at first and takes some getting used to is that the 98 os doesn't recognize the NTFS partition at all. So, if you have 98 installed on your C: part and XP installed on your D: part and E: and F: parts for files when you boot to 98 you will see C: D: E: where D: is actually the E: part and E: is actually the F: part. Where when you boot to XP you will see all 4 parts (C: D: E: & F Smile

.

Quote:How do I get '98 drivers?

This will vary depending on what devices you need drivers for. Most manufacturers will have drivers for 98 available to download from their websites. And, this is usually the best way to make sure you get the most current available driver. If you cannot locate a particular device manufacturer's website or they don't have drivers available to download there are several driver stock pile sites. I'm sure you can find them as easily as I can so, I'm not gonna go search for them and post the links. If you're too lazy to do that yourself, why should I do it for free?

Good Luck. Come on back if you run into any trouble. I just setup a dual boot XP/Me system a couple weeks ago.

ClusterF@#$ · 05-31-2002, 02:40 PM

Seph... you 'da smarty man with the master plan!!! Thanks. I will try the compatability modes.... I don't know much about XP, this is my first encounter with it so I am still feeling my way around. Thanks for the tip... if that works, I'd rather just do away with partitioning altogether.. especially since I have not a clue as to what I'm doing.

ps... barch just saw your reply. You're bonefied professor smarty pockets too. Thanks for the tips.

Edited By ClusterF@#$ on May 31 2002 at 10:45

barch97 · 05-31-2002, 02:50 PM

Quote:I'd rather just do away with partitioning altogether.. especially since I have not a clue as to what I'm doing.

Don't give up too easily. Partitioning is good. Partitioning is your friend. Partitioning makes HUGE drives much more managable. You'll thank me when you only need to defrag a 5 gig partition instead of an 80 gig drive.

And, DO NOT EVER install more than one OS on a single partition. That would be far worse than crossing the streams.

Hummercash · 05-31-2002, 04:01 PM

This site is for dual booting win2k and win9x, so just use winXP in place of win2k when you do it...
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/dualboot1.html">http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/dualboot1.html</a>

Also, if you do this make sure that the XP partition is formatted as NTFS and the 98 partition is FAT32. If the XP partition is formatted as FAT32, Win98 can become unstable as it can and eventually wiil try to read/write from/to the XP user.dat and sytem.dat files (registery).

AdolescentMasturbator · 06-01-2002, 03:02 PM

Have you considering running emulation software like VMware to get the job done?

ClusterF@#$ · 06-03-2002, 06:05 PM

Thanks for all your tips.... I decided to cut my losses and can the idea. I think my hardware is just too new to find any '98 drivers to support them.

The partitioning/ dual boot was the easy part.... getting '98 to work with the hardware proved to be too much of a pain in the ass, and the list of improperly functioning hardware in 'device manager' was too long to fix manually by searching all over the internet. In a bunch of cases, even the company's manufacturers didn't even have '98 drivers, such as for the monitor display adapter..... I could get only 16 color VGA. UGH!!!!! That is enough to make me forget about it altogether. Even if I can get everything else to work, I do not want to look at fucking VGA. This is the 21st century, goddamnit!!!!!

Good news is that my company is deploying a new VPN client that should work on XP. If I can get my hands on that, then I'm all set.

Once again.. thanks for all of your help.

Kid Afrika · 06-03-2002, 06:46 PM

hey cluster, would this be a laptop, by chance?

ClusterF@#$ · 06-03-2002, 07:37 PM

yeah... hey man... long time. Yes, it is a laptop.