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First post, by RichB93

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Hi all,

I'm having a few issues trying to get a Windows 98 and XP dual boot set up. For some reason, when installing Windows XP, it just says that NTLDR is missing after the initial setup stage, despite the fact that it is definitely there (I additionally tried the recovery console to repair the loader).

Partition Magic 7.0 was used to partition the 80GB hard drive into three partitions: Windows 98 on the first partition (20GB), Windows XP on the second partition (20GB), and the remaining 40GB to be used for data such as CD images.

Should I just wipe and have Windows XP as the first partition instead of Windows 98?

Reply 1 of 5, by weldum

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RichB93 wrote:
Hi all, […]
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Hi all,

I'm having a few issues trying to get a Windows 98 and XP dual boot set up. For some reason, when installing Windows XP, it just says that NTLDR is missing after the initial setup stage, despite the fact that it is definitely there (I additionally tried the recovery console to repair the loader).

Partition Magic 7.0 was used to partition the 80GB hard drive into three partitions: Windows 98 on the first partition (20GB), Windows XP on the second partition (20GB), and the remaining 40GB to be used for data such as CD images.

Should I just wipe and have Windows XP as the first partition instead of Windows 98?

depending on the specs of the machine, either XP, 98SE or both are a good option

the problem you are experiencing is very likely caused by a partition conflict
when you install 98se, the disk where you installed it is marked as Active, therefore booting from there. When you install XP, the OS looks for older windows versions, add the corresponding entry in the boot list, and overwrites the bootloader

however, it may be happening that the installer isn't detecting the Active partition, or failing to replace correctly the bootloader (NTLDR)
you can use /fixboot and or /fixmbr in the recovery console, from the XP setup CD, but don't know if you will be able to use 98SE again

DT: R7-5800X3D/R5-3600/R3-1200/P-G5400/FX-6100/i3-3225/P-8400/D-900/K6-2_550
LT: C-N2840/A64-TK57/N2600/N455/N270/C-ULV353/PM-1.7/P4-2.6/P133
TC: Esther-1000/Esther-400/Vortex86-366
Others: Drean C64c/Czerweny Spectrum 48k/Talent MSX DPC200/M512K/MP475

Reply 2 of 5, by RichB93

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I wouldn't usually bother, but as the new hard drive for this machine has tons of space, I figured why not. It should run well; I'm using SP2 too as that should be fine for this machine; no connecting to the internet.

I did do this a while ago successfully. I'm trying again by using the XP setup to partition the drive, create the same layout, but have XP on the C partition instead of the D drive. I'll then install 98 and repair the NT loader, then add Windows 98 to the boot.ini.

Reply 3 of 5, by Azarien

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Install Windows 98 on the first partition (in C:\WINDOWS).
Install XP on the second partition (in D:\WINDOWS).

C: should be the active partition and will be used for booting both, that is, both ntldr and io.sys will be on C.
D: can be NTFS if you don't need to access it from Win98.

This way it should work and you should have a boot menu set up automatically.
The downside is that XP sees itself on D, which may break some badly written apps that assume Windows is always on C.

Reply 4 of 5, by chinny22

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I'd also use fdisk, your 100% guaranteed Windows will understand the partitioning then

Create a 20GB primary partition, set as active as mentioned above
Create a extended partition, assign it the rest of your HDD
create 2 logical drives, 20GB and 40GB (or other way around see below)

Format c: and install Win98 here.

Personally I would create the 40GB drive as the first logical drive (D:\) and format it as Fat32
This will mean both Win98 and XP and access it

Install WinXP on the final partition (E:\)

I like the better then installing WinXP on D:\ as if the data drive is fat32 it will stop the drive letter changing from d:\ in Win98 and e:\ in XP.
Not that the changing drive letter changes anything. its just more tidy

Reply 5 of 5, by RichB93

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In the end I ended up just using the whole 80GB for Windows 98 - XP isn't really required given the age of the games that I want to play on this system. I may give this a try in the future though. I know I got it working fine years ago, but it was a real pain in the bum this time. Thanks for the replies though, very much appreciated 😀