Basic Computing Using Windows/Appendices/Dual Booting
Dual Booting - 32 bit Windows operating systems without activation
| OS | file system | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 2000 | FAT | FAT32 | NTFS |
| Windows NT | FAT | NTFS | |
| Windows Me | FAT | FAT32 | |
| Windows 98 SE | FAT | FAT32 | |
| Windows 98 | FAT | FAT32 | |
| Windows 95 OSR2 | FAT | FAT32 | |
| Windows 95 OSR1 | FAT | ||
| Windows 95 | FAT | ||
| home operating system | business operating system |
|---|---|
| Windows Me | Windows 2000 or Windows NT |
| Windows 98 SE | Windows 2000 or Windows NT |
| Windows 98 | Windows 2000 or Windows NT |
| Windows 95 OSR2 | Windows 2000 or Windows NT |
| Windows 95 OSR1 | Windows 2000 or Windows NT |
| Windows 95 | Windows 2000 or Windows NT |
Dual boot configurations between home operating systems (Windows Me, Windows 98 SE, Windows 98, Windows 95 OSRx and Windows 95) are not supported. For example, Windows Me and Windows 9x can not be installed on the same partition, and you can not run any home operating system along any home operating system. These operating systems use typically the same IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM files. In addition, start-up configuration of Windows 2000 or Windows NT operating system and many home operating systems, for example, Windows Me and Windows 9x at once, are not supported.
You can install each from two operating systems, such as Windows 2000 or Windows NT and Windows Me or Windows 9x, on the same partition. More than two operating systems on the same partition are not supported.
It is recommended that you install as the first operating system, home system such as Windows Me or Windows 9x, and then install professional system such as Windows 2000 or Windows NT. This step ensures that the boot sector of Windows 2000 or Windows NT is not overwritten.
The boot partition on your computer that is configured for dual-boot must use the FAT16 file system, unless you want to install Windows Me, Windows 98 SE, Windows 98 or Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 2000 on the same partition. In this case, the boot partition can be FAT32. If you want to use any combination of system configurations other than Windows 2000 and Windows Me, Windows 98 SE, Windows 98 or Windows 95 OSR2 and the boot partition is either FAT32, or NTFS, you must back up your data, and then repartition and reformat your hard disk to FAT16 to properly and correctly prepare it before you set up your dual-boot configuration.
Creating Windows Me installation with DOS boot option
Install Windows Me.
Get by extract x:\tools\nettools\fac\ltools.dta *.* c:\x all needed files, where first x is CD-ROM drive and where second x is destination folder.
Replace all instances of COMMAND.COM by using replacement COMMAND.COM got from inside TOOLS\NETTOOLS\FAC\LTOOLS.DTA cabinet file placed on Windows Me OEM bootable CD.
Install Windows 2000.
Copy into C:\ following files:
WINBOOT.SYS renamed from IO.SYS got from inside TOOLS\NETTOOLS\FAC\LTOOLS.DTA cabinet file placed on Windows Me OEM bootable CD
MSDOS.W40 renamed from MSDOS.SYS got from inside TOOLS\NETTOOLS\FAC\LTOOLS.DTA cabinet file placed on Windows Me OEM bootable CD
COMMAND.W40 renamed from COMMAND.COM got from inside TOOLS\NETTOOLS\FAC\LTOOLS.DTA cabinet file placed on Windows Me OEM bootable CD
Create in C:\ following text files:
CONFIG.W40 filled with country specific settings
AUTOEXEC.W40 filled with country specific settings
Remove from BOOT.INI [operating systems] section following line:
C:\ = "Microsoft Windows"
Add to BOOT.INI [operating systems] section following lines:
C:\ = "Microsoft Windows Me" /win95dos
C:\ = "Microsoft DOS Me" /win95
