Windows 98

[jarvis]

How do you guys feel about me running Windows XP Pro and Windows 98 on the same machine. I want to do this so I can run games like the original Quake (always holds a place in my heart) and Final Fantasy VII....

 

[Spike]

Not a problem - as long as you install win 98 first.

 

[jarvis]

I already have windows XP running, but I'm going to get 98 for free... why would it matter to have 98 installed first.? I don't want to format.

 

[SNGX1275]

You can put 98 on after XP but its going to be a pain to do so. I think 98 has to go on the first partition, so you'd have to move your XP, install 98 to the first one that XP was on. Then your computer won't boot into XP, so you'll have to probably do a repair install on that.
Things are slightly easier if you have 2 hard drives and put 98 on to the second, but then you are still going to have problems booting into XP.

If you manage to do it, make a guide and post it here. This type of question comes up fairly often and almost everyone says it can't be done. But I think it can, its just going to be more effort. Phantasm66 at one point (maybe even on the old jawbreaker board) had a rough guide I think.

 

[jarvis]

Ok so its going to be a problem regardless, especially if I'm running only one HD. I wasn't planning on getting a new HD because I wanted to upgrade my mobo/cpu first, and then get a good HD for $90-$100 dollars but that is beside the point.

So lets say I format my existing HD. I need to make 2 partitions (I used to do this anyways but I was told that the first partition will always run faster than the second so on my last format..which was days ago =/ I kept it one partition.) I need to install 98 on the first one and XP pro on the second one.
Im thinking that I will make the second partition that will hold XP maybe only 5 gigs or so seeing as how I will only leave XP pro and various utilities on that partition. Do you guys see a problem here? Should I just wait and buy a new HD before I decide to dive head first into this situation? I mean the only reason I'm going to install Win 98 is because I can get it for free from my college's software alliance and I want to play Quake/FFVII.

EDIT: I just realized that installing XP with only 5 gigs of hard drive space would be ridiculous seeing as how 95 percent of my programs will be run off of XP. If I install Win 98 FIRST, but on the SECOND, SMALLER partition would that be a problem?

 

[BillGates]

I am installing winxp on a computer with 98, and 2000 on it right now. I hope everything works ok.

It's for a professor that just has to have XP.

I installed it on the same partition with 2000 and left the filed system intact (FAT32) and just installed it in a new folder called windows2 (had to do this with a server with windows 2003 server enterprise so I wouldn't have to get ride of all my files or reformat. Works perfectly. Everything is still there the first install of server still doesn't work but the other one does. You only have to create new admin password, and create shortcuts to your programs from Program Files.

 

[jarvis]

According to microsoft, the best way to do it is install the older OS first, on one partition and XP on the other...I'm going to be doing that within the next hour. I'll post back with an update.

 

[BillGates]

alright it was a total mess. It looked like windows 98 was on the first partition and 2000 was on the other partition.

so I tried to upgrade winodws 2000 to winxp pro and during installation I got the fatal error i386\??? could not be installed Setup cannot continue.

so when I tried to redo it I got a screen that had 2 winxp on it both of them where the setup. So I thought I was screwed right, wrong I had to get at least one os working.

So I went to microsoft webstie and looked up the error it said take the win98 boot disc (CD) and put it in. and followed the directions (I had a working copy of xp next to the computer).

So I finally got it to open by modifying some of the wording in the instructions got 98 to setup then rebooted. Then there where 4 options
Windows XP pro
Windows XP pro
C:?????
Finish Windows XP install/upgrade

the first two still don't work c: is windows 98 and all I want to do now is get the data from this computer to the working xp pro.

I tried to do the files and transfer thing with the serial cable but when I try to get the winxp to work in the other computer it does not show a cdrom drive at all. (Win98 Computer)

So if someone could help me get this work it would be grately apprecieated the professor asked me to upgrade and I thought it would be easy but it's not working.

Now for the win98 thing and xp try and backup all your critical information on another drive or discs.

then reformat the drive you want to get win98 on. Install it and then on the other partiton install winxp. It should work I got it to work today while I was trying to fix this crazy upgrade problem. Make sure that the file systems are the same FAT32 for Win98 FAT32 for WinXP.

and if it doesn't work then just keep XP and go buy a cheap 10 or 20 gb drive to play those wonderful classics on that just don't seem to work anymore.

 

[jarvis]

Heh, sounds like you had some fun. The HD im working with now is only 40 gigs and its IDE.. I'm getting a new mobo/cpu soon and Im just going to throw in a SATA 120-150 gig HD. I'll just keep this 40 gig one and install Win 98 on it instead of dealing with this. I can wait a little longer..

 

[BillGates]

Good idea it's a real pain to get everything working again. I hope when I get back to the professors drive the file and transfer wizard (transfering through a serial cable how fast is the serial cable connection)

When I finally got the stuff to see each computer and started it I had 23:49 left (23hours and 49min.)

so install the old OS on a seperate drive all by itself to be safe.

 

[gbhall]

Transferring data

I never bother with transferring data via a serial connection, it's really slow. I almost always take 1 HD out of one PC and plug it into the other temporarily in place of a CD/DVD drive. Then on boot, the bios will detect the second HD, and so will windows, giving it a higher drive letter. Then you just drag-and-drop, use DOS XCOPY or whatever.

You have to be careful if there is more than 1 partition on the 'master' pc you are using, as the enumeration of drive letters gets rather silly. You will do best to make sure the partitions have unique names before you start, as you can then see those names in explorer.

I suggest replacing a CD because they are usually master drive on the other IDE channel, so you dont also have to play with the tiny master/slave shorting pins. I've known some drives come without a bridging clip simply because master = no pins shorted! This makes it difficult to bridge pins to make the drive a slave....