Multiple Operating System Setup

Let’s assume you have a 10GB hard drive, split into 2 equal partition sizes. Let’s also assume you have Windows 2000 installed as the only OS on your computer, and the other partition (primary) is formatted to the FAT32 file system. This tutorial will cover installing Windows 98SE as the second OS, but the following steps should work with just about any OS you choose.

Download XOSL.zip from their website. Unzip the files, and save them to a floppy disk (if you have no floppy drive, you can accomplish the same thing by burning the files to a CD. Just make sure you have your computer set to boot from the CD-ROM).
Restart your computer with any Windows 98 or ME startup disk. Once you are at the command prompt, insert the XOSL floppy you created in step 1.
Type a:/cd xosl. Once you are at the xosl directory, type “install”. This will take you to the setup screen for XOSL. Installation of the program is pretty straight forward. Just follow the directions on your screen. At the end of the install, reboot your computer.
Upon boot up, you will be presented with the XOSL boot manager screen. Choose SETUP, then click the ADD button. Select your existing OS, in this case it is described as HD0 (1st hard drive)/ primary (partition)/ Microsoft FAT32 (file system)/ 5000 (partition size in MB)/ Windows 2000 (or whatever you happened to have named your drive). Type in the “Boot Item Name”, I typed “Windows 2000″. Click APPLY, then CLOSE. Your OS now appears in the boot menu. Click BOOT to boot into your existing OS. Your installation of XOSL is now complete.

Adding A Second OS

Reboot your computer to the XOSL boot screen. Click SETUP, and select HIDING. Select your existing OS, check the HIDE box, then click APPLY, and CLOSE. Although the partition is now “hidden”, it can still be booted into. However, we want another OS! So reboot with either your second OS’s boot floppy, or CD.
Install the next OS as you normally do. For Windows , when you get to the step that asks you where you want it installed, select C: (or “active”). Remember, the other partition is hidden, so as far as Windows is concerned, there are no other Operating Systems on your computer.
After the installation of 98SE, XOSL needs to be reinstalled. That is because Windows 98SE setup has overwritten the other Master Boot Record (using the “restore” option will not work for this OS installation). Reboot your computer with the 98SE startup disk. Repeat step 3 of the XOSL install instructions. Reboot. XOSL is reinstalled and at this point you can repeat step 4 of the XOSL install instructions. Don’t forget to select your newly installed OS, as well as your old one. Make sure to “unhide” them as well. You can now boot into either OS.

The XOSL website is informative, and you can learn a lot about partitions, master boot records, etc. I suggest you take the time to read it. They even have links to a free partition manager.

The downside of XOSL, is that you pretty much need Partition Magic if you want to add OSes at a later time. So you have to factor in the cost of that program if you are going to use XOSL. And it’s instructions aren’t nearly as easy to understand as SC7. System Commander 7 has many powerful disk tools already included. Eliminating the cost of a separate partition manager and partition resizer.

Enjoy your multi-booting experience. After a couple of weeks multi-booting, you will wonder how you ever got along without it.

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Botdra Lar’les
Hey, thanks for this great little guide.
I’m looking into running Vista and XP on a single computer, would that be possible? Also, what amount of space would it take up having two different OS’s? And lastly, will both OS’s use the same hardrive so I can save one type of file on XP and then access it later on Vista?

E. Williamson
I learned this on my A+ course for which I’m studying at the moment.
I used Partition magic to partition 50G of my 165G hard drive, then booted from an XP install disk and installed it on the new partition. I then rebooted with my Vista recovery disk in my DVD Rom and run the Repair function to repair boot up. I removed Vista disk and let my machine boot up Vista, then I downloaded and installed Easy BCD which allowed me to add my new operating system to the boot order.
Now when I turn on my machine I get the choice to boot up in Vista or XP. Am now trying to sort out a couple of devices that as yet are not working on XP, but hey its all part of learning!

Rick
I have the same problem with XP not working properly on a machine built for Vista. I have figured out that the sound card won’t install on XP and the video card doesnt work properly. The window leaves a trail behind it when moved and the pages wont scroll down smoothly. I don’t want to download and install the driver because i am scared that doing that will ruin the audio for Vista which all of my files are on, all of my music, and i use alot more than i would with XP. Also some other things like the controller BUS wont install correctly. I was also missing tons of dll files. But the thing is, is that I’m not running XP and Vista on the same HD. I’m running them on seperate HD’s. What do you think i should do? Thanks.

Petre
I want to install two OS’s, XP2 and Solaris, what is the way?
Best Regards,
Petre
MP
I’d like to install both Windows Vista OS (Microsoft), and OS-X (Apple) on my laptop. I already have Windows Vista. I know you need to “partition” the hard drive. No idea how that’s done. Ive seen people mention installing Windows 98, and XP in one computer…. or XP with Vista….. or Vista with 98, or 95 etc. etc, but I don’t need any of that.
How do I get Windows Vista and OS-X installed on one laptop? It would be helpfull because some programmes run only on OS-X, and not in any Windows, such as “Logic Studio 9″ in particular. Id rather just partition my hard drive and all that, than spend something like £1000 on a new laptop again.
Thanks

Moshean 11
dude thats so easy.I have XP and Fedora 8 on one HDD. just DOWNLOAD a software called partition magic and then partition your hard drive. install the second OS in another partition. After the restart you have OS CHOICES menu to choose from. Good LUCK

doug strande
hi I hav a apple lap top someone put a pc os on my computer now my computer does’nt work how can i fix it
Naim
hi ..thanx for the great tutorial.. could anyone help me with the information i would like to ask …that is … could i use Windows Vista 32bit edition and 64 bit edition in the same hard drive of my laptop without partitioning it?? what sort of problems would i face? i have a 32 bit vista installed in my laptop… could i install another 64 bit edition windows XP also?
Vinh
Hi. I recently bought a computer and installed windows XP Professional SP3 on it. Now i also want to install windows 7. i partitioned my 500GB WD Caviar Blue into two volumes each approx 250G. How would i go about installing windows 7 on the 2nd volume? do i just boot it up like i did with the XP? or do i need to do something extra? because i tried booting the windows 7 disk and errors keep on occurring. i also enable virtual machine on my BIOS.

Moshean 11
For cautions’ sake make another 3rd partition. Install the second OS in that partition. Restart the comp. Then you have OS choices menu to choose which os to boot from. then u r home and try. Enjoy

Dan Hobbs
I installed Windows Xp on my second partition after installing Windows 7 on Drive C (1st part)
I get the os boot menu with options for Win 7 or XP. Win 7 boots fine. XP will not boot says that a file is missing
/ntldr How do I get the system to see it?

samad kay
Would it be okay to install the Mac OS on my 2nd hard drive in my laptop? and also how many gb will the OS require?
andrey
Lol this is piece of cake for me.1 terra hard drive,no sweat.
jai
I recently forgot my password for my user logon, stupidly i installed vista again on my hard drive which is insanely low. Ive remembered my password for my first vista and want to delete the other vista, how do i go about that?
Brandon
hi, im running windows 7 now, and i want to put a second os on my computer. can i have both windows 7 and linux Ubuntu 9.04 on my computer?
tshown
its possible just have enough disk space and memory to run the 2 operating systems as well partition the harddisk.
Icatkh
I have win 7 on my laptop have my old HD as an exterrnal HD, I want to install win XP on it so I can restore my old data off my other external HD with back up. Back up was done in Perfect Image and can only be restored in original OS (XP pro) My old laptop motherboard crashed. HD was not able to reboot so it was reformatted. now if I load xp on old HD and restore it I will use it as a 2nd HD and OS. ???????