I decided to post these instruxns to set up a dual-boot system, even tho' bahumat22 doesn't need 'em. Reason?
A) I already spent a good deal of time writing it up to help him, even tho' he doesn't need it now, and it otherwise would go to waste, and
B) Others of you out there might be interested to know how to do this, so it's worth a shot. OK, here we go:
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(A few caveats: First, the way I instruct you is not the ONLY way to do it, but it's the way I know best, and it has worked for me without a kb of data loss in about 5 yrs, so it's pretty darn reliable. Secondly, there are other programs people might mention here that you could use for these tasks instead, but these have worked reliably for me. I'm bold in many ways, but when it comes to possible data loss, I'm a coward, and I'll take the safest way thru the problem. )
STEP 1: Go to
www.xosl.org. Download a freeware program called "XOSL v. 1.15" This will be your boot manager program.
STEP 2:, get y'self a copy of "Partition Magic" (preferably v3 or later), so you can create a new partition for Win 98 (without having to backup/re-install, or altogether trash your WinME partition/data/etc.)
You needn't have the latest version: I've been using this prog since v2, and it's offered a "partition copy" feature since v3--they're now up to v7. Get it online, or at a local flea market, computer show, bargain rack, etc.
Once you have the two programs mentioned, here's what you do:
STEP 3: Run SCANDISK and then DEFRAG on your HDD under WIn ME.
STEP 4: Unzip XOSL onto a bootable floppy disk (after carefully reading the documentation that comes with it--I suggest you print out the text file, so you can have it on hand). Then install it to your system from the floppy, choosing to put it on your "C" partition. When you reboot after, you'll have just the one partition that most drives have, and it'll be highlighted by default. Configure any options you want to, and then boot into Win ME
STEP 5: Install Partition Magic in WIn ME, then select it's option to create a boot disk set (if you have any problems with this step, let me know, giving me which version of PM you have, and I can walk you thru creation of a boot disk)
STEP 6: Reboot using the PM bootdisk set. When you get into PM, select the option to create a new partition. You'd probably be best selecting FAT 16 as the filesystem, if you only plan to use W98 for DOS games (Make it whatever size you think is right. If you have the room, I'd suggest around 750 MB size or more). Once you've created the new partition, mark the original (WinME) partition as being the "active partition".
STEP 7: Reboot to verify that you can get into WinME. Then reboot again, and get into XOSL to configure it. Set up the option to boot into the new partition you've just created (making IT the "active" partition and "hiding" the original ME partition). I won't get into the specifics of configuring XOSL, 'cuz it has excellent documentation that xplains stuff better than I can. Be sure you read it carefully and understand the concepts well.
STEP 8: Now you're ready to install Win98. Since you have the "full" W98, you might be able to boot to the CD (change your BIOS settings as needed & test this first). If so, great; if not, get a friend to make you a W98 bootable floppy disk (one that has CD-ROM support).
Using the W98 bootdisk (or from the CD, if you can do it that way) boot into the new partition you've just created.
Run the install for W98, doing a "sys c:" command first, if you have to. Voila'!...
STEP 9: Once W98 is all installed, reboot & get into XOSL again, to configure it. Set up boot profiles for each OS. This will involve marking the partition you want as the "active" partition and "hiding" the remaining partition. Clearly name each profile so there's no confusion on the boot menu when XOSL comes up. After this point, if all goes well, you now have y'self a working dual boot system!...
