Others may feel free to add, subtract, and correct errors. There shouldn't be many- I've done this a couple hundred times... :bounce:
1. Start with an unformatted hard drive (or two drives).
2. Boot the computer using the Win98SE boot disk. If you don't have said disk, you can download it as an installable image at:
http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm3. Type "
FDISK". This will open the hard drive partition utility.
4. Follow the directions for partitioning the first portion of the drive for Win98SE- your primary Fat32 partition can be up to 32gb. It can be any size up to that, but I've always found about 10gb to be more than enough for 98SE. No need to partition the remainder of the hard drive for XP at this point, as XP has its own partition utility that comes up during its install. It will be configured at that time.
5. After partitoning the drive you will need to reboot the computer. Reboot again using the Win98SE boot floppy. Make sure you select the option so you can access your cd drive after the bootup.
6. Type "
FORMAT C: /U" sans quotation marks. (The /U switch designates an unconditional format of the partition.)
7. Insert your Win98SE cd and switch to the cd drive. Since the boot disk creates a virtual drive for the DOS-based tools it loads at startup, designating it as drive "D", the cd drive will typically be drive "E". The command to directly load the setup routine without going through the hassle of switching drives is "
E:/SETUP"
8. Install Windows SE, choosing the default directory for installation, which is "
C:/WINDOWS".
9. Once Win98SE is installed and is working to your satisfaction, insert the XP cd while in Win98. It should autostart an installation menu. Caution: the default XP installation is an UPGRADE. Be sure to choose
NEW INSTALLATION instead.
The next screen (after the serial number screen) will give you a few advanced options. Be sure to select "
I WANT TO CHOOSE THE INSTALL DRIVE LETTER AND PARTITION DURING SETUP".
It will then copy files to drive C and then reboot.
10. When it reboots,
DO NOT CHOOSE TO BOOT FROM THE CD. Let it boot from the hard drive instead. It will go directly into the XP installation routine. First it will load a series of drivers, then it will go into the routine where you select where to install it. If loading to the same hard drive,
choose the unpartitioned space. It will partition it and then ask you if you want to format it Fat32 or NTFS. Your choice.
11. Follow the install directions. When it's fully installed, upon reboot you will discover a boot menu that gives you the choice between Microsoft Windows (Win98SE) or XP. XP will be the default choice, and it will give you a 30 second countdown to make your choice (this can be adjusted).
12. Congratulations. You now have a dual boot system. (NOTE: All command line commands are to be typed WITHOUT the quotations!!!