Possible to setup dual boot with HP XP recovery CDs? 1

[ss8]

Would like some help on how to dual boot both W98SE and WinXP Home, with two HDs containing respective OS.

Tried to follow all the basic rules but maybe the problem started with my HP Pavillion PC's WinXP recovery CDs. This set always partitions out a 4.6 GB diagnostic area and then installs the XP on the rest of the HD (on separate partition). After installing my W98SE on the 1st HD, the XP install (in the form of "recovery") seemed to erase the 1st HD (where W98 was) and the process would not really come to an end on the 2nd HD --- as some stuff were copied to the 1st 2GB HD. That's why I had to temporarily disconnect the 1st HD, while installing the XP. But when everything is finished and the 2 HDs are cable-selected (XP's as Primary) with the W98 line added in the Boot.ini file, the W98 is not bootable --- indicating sth like "missing HAL.DLL", etc.

I have tried a couple of means from the web but no fix seemed to work. Really wondering if there is a simple, but critical mistake made for my situation...

 

[ss8]

Thanks both of you for keeping me up in this discovery path, although I still believe that the "recovery CD" method made the "after" situation more complex than not. In reality many more people today still have the concern over how to keep fully installed/configured XP while adding a Win98/ME, simply because of its existing supports of past games or peripherals --- in other words, backward support efforts with XPs have not been so popular that more new products were to be sold than keeping the old. I just came across a thread from another website forum where a confused user brought up a similar problem followed by several responses trying to help but finally coming to a conclusion that "had to reinstall the XP"... I will keep myself busy the weekend and see what I could achieve further.

 

[ss8]

Hi, Wolluf, linney and those who helped, I was back here late but indeed came back with some positive news, although time did not allow me to achieve more on the "recovery CD" method, due to some reasons.

I should say I have long owed Wullrf a credit for suggesting to me his modified, but working way of installing W98/ME after WinXP is installed. It's really simply in steps if understanding why this needs to be done. The focus of the vaiation is around the critical file "Bootsect.dos". Over the time people weighed too much on importance of "boot.ini" and order of installation. However, once the secret of bootsect.dos is truly revealed, things become a lot easier. I think I should start a new thread some time later on this with details, leaving the current as a special case for "recovery CD.

So far, I have verified the follwing ways to break the limit on the "order" thing:

1. Creating bootsect.dos, copying ntldr/ntdetect and fixing boot (refer to Wolluf's note)
2. "Third-party XP" new install way --- carlton1/284874:
the new XP install can detect any order installed OS's to include in the final boot list and then only keep your intended XP (I guess W2k should be able to do the same)
3. Modified carlton1 method: make first a configuration on a temp HD the same as your final XP partition(s)(ready to use standalone), and install the new XP only with the W98/ME attached. Then "substitute" the real one in.
Only with this method did I make my pre-installed XP (using recovery CDs) work.
4. "Cheating" the XP recovery way: this is something really new I found after focusing my attention to "bootsect.dos" on the internet. There are actually lots of info out there. This one lets us link to separately installed XP and W98 and then try to cancel your re-install of XP right before the program actually writes to the HD for changes. Then boot.ini is modified a bit different but it will work.

Among the above methods, Drive letters depend on particular HD preparations. I understand the point from many other threads that Wolluf made to keep advising people on using a third-party boot software to decrease the risk from "putting all eggs in one basket". Still, dual-booting W98/XP attracts a lot... Thanks again.