DazV

Need Win9x, NT4 and XP all on same hard disk. I'm a little unsure of the install order, but I'm planning:

C: partition - Win9x (FAT32)
D: partition - NT4 (NTFS)
E: partition - WinXP (NTFS)

Intalled in that order. Can someone confirm this will work ok ?

-DV

Neil Smalley

Yup should be fine.
Partition the disks then install in that order. Bear in mind that windows 98 won't be able to see the NTFS partitions.

DazV

Thats ok Neil - non of the partitions need to see each other.

We have some older software which only runs on NT4, we've got stuff which only runs on Win9x and the day to day stuff will run on XP.

Thanks for the info.

-DV

scoob_dood

Have you tried VMWare ... you can have all those operating systems running simultaneuously, in windows on a Linux box.

Of course, that's not simple either

- Jon

badgerbell

could you please explain how to partition a hard drive and what is
FAT32 and NTFS
i have windows ME at the moment and a new XP disc that i would like to install but i cannot get upgrades for my printer and scanner so i thought i would just try XP on a partition so i can still use ME aswell

please keep it simple, and i mean simple for me

cheers

suba

checkout www.xosl.org

DazV

Partition:
Hard disks can be broken up into sections (partitions). Each partition is given a drive letter such as C:, D:, E:, etc... Each partition is independant of another - you could put WinME on C: and you could put WinXP on D: without the two interfering.

Filing System:
A filing system is a way for an Operating System like Windows ME or Windows XP to organise the space available in a partition. Windows ME likes to use a filing system called "FAT32", while XP likes a filing system called "NTFS". You must format a parition with your chosen filing system, before you're allowed to put an operating system on it.

Installing Windows
Prior to installing windows, as I've said - you must first:
a) Partition the hard disk
b) Format the partition with your chosen filing system

Each version of windows comes with software to do this. In fact the more modern versions of windows will walk you through the process.

Hope this helps.

-Darren

badgerbell

Thanks darren, thats clear ish even for me,

if i run the XP disc it will let me partition and then format NTFS, or do i do this first, and if so how ?

DazV

badgerbell

There's 2 flavours of WindowsXP:

"Upgrade" will simply install WinXP over the top of your existing WindowsME installation. You don't need to worry about partitioning or formatting. I've known a lot of people having problems using the 'upgrade" version.

The other flavour is the "full" (price) version of WinXP which is usually installed from scratch (without a previous version of Windows needed). Installing this is more work and entails:

1) Backing up any documents (word, excel, etc) and emails to a safe location (CDR, floppy, etc)
2) Put the WinXP disc in the drive
3) Reboot your PC

...if your BIOS settings are right, instead of loading WindowsME, the computer will try and boot the WindowsXP disc, which will in turn walk you through the installation (partition, format, install windowsXP)

-Darren

Dash232

What you need is HYPER OS daz

DazV

Why's that mate ? I'm happy installing the way I've described.

swaussie

but wont the install of XP nuke his ME when it does the partitioning? Then you would be left with xp but no ME. To dual boot from an already installed ME you need to use a program like partition magic to resize the fat32 partition. easier to buy a second hard drive and install XP onto that. Anyway whatever you do backup everything first.

DazV

swaussie, yeah thats the idea - get rid of WindowsME completely.

Thats why I mentioned backing his docs up, then nuke WinME and stick a clean install of WinXP on.

Alternativeky if he wants to run both WinME and XP, he could again backup everything, repartition, stick WinME on C: and XP on D:

-DV