yes that is possible

i don't know how handy you are but you should know the folowing:

the first primary dos partition is C the second is D

if you've went to all you primary partions the first extended will be the next in line :
so if partion 1 LINUX
partition 2 PRIMARY DOS
partion 3 extended
then part 2 wil be C and the first partion in 3 will be D

So to get your partion X to become C there are two things:
1. it should be a primary partion
2. it should have the lowest primary partion number as possible

Another way is to install in bootmanager like lilo grub who can remap the drives (this is sometimes used to install 2 win98 partions)

Well good luck

You'll need to remap the partitions. Windows XP doesn't mind being on something other than C: but Windows 9x will freak out on you and do, well, what you're describing.

Snover wrote:

You'll need to remap the partitions. Windows XP doesn't mind being on something other than C: but Windows 9x will freak out on you and do, well, what you're describing.

Yeah that's why i told what he should keep in mind when he is going to remap the whole stuff.
it's really hard.

just exchange the number for eacht partition in such a way that the one which describes your win98 install becomes the first primary one.

Snover wrote:

You'll need to remap the partitions. Windows XP doesn't mind being on something other than C: but Windows 9x will freak out on you and do, well, what you're describing.

9x is fine on ANY partition (drive letter). The DOS portion (IO.SYS,MSDOS.SYS,COMMAND.COM) however MUST reside on the primary partition and it MUST be FAT16/FAT32.

I guess I didnt know what I was doing, I now have to repair windows XP.

You would think the giant "Microsoft" would have found an easier way to run multiple OSs by now.

They probaly have too much money to give a damn.

Originally posted by Duffman I finally managed to partition my harddrive so I could install windows 98.
But when I try to install it, it want to remove my NT-based operating system.

What? No, no, no...something's not right here. All it should do is give a warning that Win98 doesn't support (can't read) NTFS partitions, but it shouldn't block you from installing or "try to remove" your NTFS partitions.

How do I install windows 98 on a primary DOS partition that isnt C:?

DON'T. Give it the C: drive, that's where it was meant to be... 2000/XP don't really care about their drive letter.

Is there a way to change the drive letter C to another letter, and then make my DOS partition C:?

You mean change your XP partition's drive letter? No. It will say as C:\ as long as you're running XP, it will give the next freely available drive letter to your Win98 partition. It's not going to "hurt" your Win98 partition, it's just that the Win98 partition will C:\ when you are running it, but something else when you're running XP (which is why its wise to label it something like Win98 for easy identification).

Originally posted by Snover You'll need to remap the partitions. Windows XP doesn't mind being on something other than C:

True, unfortunately it won't let you change the drive letter of your boot partition (for XP) as long as it's running. And since it must be running for you to change the drive letter... unless someone knows of a trick in the Non-GUI admin mode?

...but Windows 9x will freak out on you and do, well, what you're describing.

Correct. Win9x wants C:\, give it C:\

Originally posted by DosFreak 9x is fine on ANY partition (drive letter).

BAD idea. This is only works if you remember a large number of caveats. Everything in Windows 9x follows a certain template. You split it up between two partitions an you are just begging for trouble.

Windows programs will attempt to install to both partitions (C:\Windows and D:\Windows), same way with programs in general (C:\Program Files and D:\Program Files). Some programs simply presume C:\ and will break if you try to place them elsewhere.

Almost no benefits and plenty of potential headaches. Let Win98 install its files where they normally go (and keep them there). The only exception to this would the Windows directory itself. I recommend that one of the two OS's (*pssst* Win98) be installed to a directory named "W" (or some other 8-character-or-less filename) instead of "Windows.

You will still get an occasional glitch for Windows install on Win98, but they can be fixed by moving whatever files you find in the "Windows" directory to your "W" directory (then deleting the installer-created Windows directory).

Why? It reduces the risk that a program on your XP side will attempt place it's file in your Win98 directory. Yes, I know, 2000/XP installers won't do that, but installers for older Windows tools that you want to run from within XP will sometimes do it.

Originally posted by Duffman I now have to repair windows XP.

You shouldn't do that. Install Win98 on the first partition. Then when it's working properly, you use the re-install trick to set up the dual boot.

You would think the giant "Microsoft" would have found an easier way to run multiple OSs by now.

Actually, there's a very easy way of doing it. You have to install Win98 first, make sure you have some empty space on the drive (an unused or unwanted partition), you then install XP as a "new install" (NOT upgrade).

XP sets the dual-boot and it's menu for you. It's trying to install Win98 after XP that's a massive pain.

I have a FAT16 partition that is displayed as D: on WinXP, and not at all on Win98!!

Why is this?

Originally posted by Duffman I have a FAT16 partition that is displayed as D: on WinXP, and not at all on Win98!! Why is this?

Hard to tell without being able to actually "look" at your PC, but I've noticed something about BootItNG (presuming your are using from this thread :
showthread.php?threadid=1609&perpage=20&highl … NG&pagenumber=2 )

It doesn't have any straight-forward way of checking which partition is "active". I went back to my test rig and found that even after I used the "slide" option, it still booted into WinXP properly even though I formatted all the space before it as a blank FAT32 partition. Anyway, the point is that it insisted that the XP partition was still C: and that the previous partition was D: , even when I booted from floppy (the XP partition was FAT32).

Used FDISK and found that the XP partition was still "active", not the new Win98-ready partition. Used FDISK to "activate" the new partition and it was ready for an OS install as C:\

BTW, I have found that some Win98 CD's can self-boot and install from that self-boot. The downside is that it will (as previously stated) attempt to delete NT operating systems. The solution is to use a BootDisk with CD-ROM drivers and then start the install. At most, it will warn you that Win98 can't read NTFS partitions.

As for the FAT16 drive, it's hard to say without more info. IIRC, unformatted partitions won't display on Win98, then again they usually don't in XP either... If the size is really small this may be one of those "accidental" partitions I frequently get with Partition Magic. For some reason I've yet to understand, I frequently get these 8-Meg partitions created after doing a lot of partition adjustments. I just stick some files in there for backup, then hide them.

Oh, BTW, when you use the "new install" track to get back your access to XP, the easiest way is to start the XP-CD from the Win98 desktop. It copies a minimal number of files before rebooting (so it's faster tha the CD-boot) and that's all you need...

One annoying thing I found about it though, it gives you a "reboot in 15 seconds, press the ESC key to reboot manually" message. DON'T hit the ESC key, it doesn't cause the reboot...it CANCELS the install... QA!? Where are you?

I just discovered, an old real-DOS game I tryed to run on XP (nerves of steel - similar to wolf3d) doesn't even work on Windows 98 real DOS!

It uses some inferior memory extender called X-32. (The game was made for DOS 5+)

It should work! Windows98 is closest to DOS apart from Win95 and actual DOS

BTW, I tried DOSbox, did not work

Originally posted by Duffman I just discovered, an old real-DOS game I tryed to run on XP (nerves of steel - similar to wolf3d) doesn't even work on Windows 98 real DOS!

Sloppy game, sloppy programming. shouldn't be too surprised. I'll try to find mine... It's been referred to as "One of the worst FPS games ever made" so it's not the highest on the priority list.

It uses some inferior memory extender called X-32. (The game was made for DOS 5+) It should work!

Because? There could be a lot of things might prevent it from working...HIMEM being loaded, too fast a processor, etc...

BTW, I tried DOSbox, did not work

Since the game uses protected mode, it was a lost cause...

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

"One of the worst FPS games ever made"

I agree, in my opinion Catacombs 3D was better then this game
I just like to look at old DOS games again as a hobby