Two Operating Systems In Same Computer

[PLAZ]

I have XP Home installed in my computer and for very important reasons I want to add Windows 98 also. If this is possible can someone tell me the procedure for doing it? I sure would appreciate any help you can give me.

[ghost2003]

First you would need 2 partitions. If you dont already you will either need to format your computer and use Fdisk or use partition magic(or similar program) Im not sure what you should do after, never did it myself but you probly just need to install it on the new partition and when you boot up it will give you a option of what OS to use.

[mikezel]

If you would like to dual-boot your PC without getting a whole new HD or wiping your existing one, i strongly suggest picking up Partition Magic. It even has a dual-boot wizard that will simplify the process for you. (although i have never used it myself).
Ultimately, when you boot up your PC, you will have the option to boot into XP or 98
mike

[tireman]

Hpro had a good thread on how to do this with ease.

Installing win98 to an existing xp installation (http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?threadid=24831)

But, it involves using two drives or a partitioned drive, as said above, you could use partition magic to do this.

hth
tireman

[Panama Red]

Whenever you create a dual boot system, MS recommends you install the oldest os first, in this case 98. Installing 98 after XP is on the system and running can be done, but it's a challenge. I did it by disconnecting the XP hard drive, installing another hard drive as Master in it's place and installing 98se on that drive. Then I changed the 98 drive to the slave position on the 80 wire cable, reinstalled the XP hard drive in the Master postion (both are set to Cable Select jumper positions) and I can select which hard drive to boot from. XP is the default OS. That's not the preferred way and the drive letting can be confusing for the uninitiated. Anyway you do it you are going to need to set up separate partitons. Try doing a search here at PC Mech for "dual boot" and you'll see plenty of threads on the how to. Good luck.

[PLAZ]

I currently have two hard drives installed with data saved on both drives and I know nothing about Bios. I am not that technically versed. One is a C drive and the other is a D drive. What would be the simplest method for adding Windows 98 along with my already installed XP Home without losing any data. Is there any software out there that can solve this problem?

[Panama Red]

Are you only wanting to retrieve data from a system that was running 98? If so, XP can do that without a dual boot. Just set the jumpers on both drives to Cable Select (CS) and install the 98 drive in the mid position of the 80 wire IDE cable. Once you boot up, XP should see the other drive and you can transfer the data from the 98 drive to the XP drive. What you can NOT do is see the NTFS formatted partitons of XP with 98. 98 will only 'see' Fat32 formats. HTH

To better answer your question, there is no software to do what you want. And knowing how to change bios isn't necessary. It's knowing how to format/partition a hard drive and the proper technique of creating a dual boot system. Here's what MS has to say about it.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306559