Linux & widows 98

[rajas3]

Dear Sir,
I have a machine loaded with mandrake linux 9.1. I want to install Windows 98 also in this machine.How can this be done.Can anyone help.
Regards& Tahnks
rajas3

[GaryRouth]

If you only have one drive:

Generally, it's easiest to plan your partitions ahead of time, install Win9x onto a FAT32 partition, and then during the Linux installation onto the Linux partitions that the Linux partition tool (DiskDrake in Mandrake) creates, a Linux bootloader (LiLo or Grub) will create a multiboot menu that you can choose which OS to load.

Partition Magic can make life much easier for you if you are trying to add Windows 98 after you already have installed Linux. It's possible that DiskDrake can get the job done too: you can check your Mandrake documentation for those details. In older Linux distros, installing Win9x AFTER Linux lets Windows overwrite the hard drive's MBR (Master Boot Record) = and this would erase the Linux bootloader (usually LiLo or Grub). I believe there are ways of fixing this manually, but I confess it's been a while since I've had to fix a Linux bootloader. The guys in the Alternative OS forum probably would know.
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If you have two hard drives, & Linux is on one:

You can install Windows onto the second drive, then add Windows to the Linux bootloader.
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If your Linux installation is fairly recent: and you have good backups: you have the option of just wiping your drives, and repartitioning/reinstalling things = this time with Win9x first, followed by Mandrake (and then restore your data). This would save you the cost of purchasing Partition Magic.

. . . Gary

[P.S. ... hmm - it has been a while. Now that I think about it, even with two hard drives, it's likely the Linux bootloader would have to be fixed/reinstalled - since the MBR will be on the active primary partition of the first hard drive in the system, even though the Win9x system files are installing onto the 2nd hard drive. So Win9x after-the-fact is just a lot of trouble - and will probably overwrite the MBR]