Boot loader (W2K)

[homeflash]

this is probably a simple question.

I have a pc with two partition, win98, and 2000
I installed win98 first then 2000,
(i didnt use boot magic for this pc)

now, every time it boots, it goes to the boot loader of 2000.

let's say if 2000 crashes or if I want to upgrade
either win2000 or win98, would it stay in win2000 boot loader?

What if I want to change win98 as the booting os, anyway I can change that??

I really want to put boot magic now, but since boot loader is taken by win2000, I guess I have no other way...

If anyone knows, please advise, thanks

[BertImmenschuh]

<a target="_blank" href=http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/administration/management/mltiboot.asp>http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/administration/management/mltiboot.asp</a>

Read the above article about dual/multi-booting.

Is Win98 on the C: drive?
Did you re-install/make repairs to Win2000?
Do you get the dual-boot menu that give you a choice?
Did you go into System Information and change the boot sequence or shorten the menu-display time to very short?

[homeflash]

Okay.. here is the thing..

Since I have win2000 installed, I automatically have a boot.ini file. I don't want that.. I don't know if it is possible now that to make win98 as my primary boot partition. Now the boot loader is win2000, so it boots up with win2000 with the boot.ini menu, Of course, I can juggle around, what can be booted, but that is not what I want, I just simply want to get rid of the boot loader. I mean, to have C:\windows as my primary boot partition.

Now if I go to c:\windows or win98, I will not see the partition of my win2000, but on the contrary, if I go to win2000, I can see the partition of win98 because the boot loader resides on win2k.

So, My question really is, can I just get rid of win2000? like maybe just the boot loader is from win98 instead of win2k???


Any one knows???

[Andy-S]

If you want to get rid of Windows 2000 completely then if you don't have a W98 bootdisk, download one from <a target="_blank" href=http://www.bootdisk.com>www.bootdisk.com</a>. Boot using the bootdisk and from the A: type sys C: (assuming that C: is your W98 partition).

I believe the reason you can't see the W2K partition from the W98 partition is due to the W2K partition being NTFS and is not due to the boot loader.

Cheers
Andy

[homeflash]

so are you saying if I have a boot disk now, I can just do a system transfer and next time I boot it up I wont see win2k anymore??

or Is win2k hidden still?

[reghakr]

Are we making this more complicated than it should be?

Right-click on My Computer, choose properties, click the advanced tab, then the Startup & Recovery button and change it to Windows 98 here.

reghakr

[POBrien]

You can't do it. If both OS's are installed and you want access to both you need the NT boot loader or 3rd party software.

If you want to dump 2000 and only run 98 use a 98 boot disk. At the A: prompt type

sys c:

this will return the master boot record back to 98

You can then use the fdisk command to remove the NTFS partition (2000) via it's Delete Non-Dos Partition option.

Patrick (http://www.winguides.com/forums/sendprivate.php?Cat=&User=POBrien&Board=&Number=&what=online&page=&view=&sb=&part=&vc=><font)</font color=green> /images/forums/icons/smile.gif
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.winguides.com/subscribe/?guide=registry>WinGuides</a>

[homeflash]

I am not making this complicted than it should be.
I don't think you understand the question or problem at all.

What you explain, right click..... is actually changing the boot.ini file so it boots from windows instead of win2k. However, it is still booting from win2k, not win98.

My question was really .... what if my win2k crashed and I will have to find a boot disk from win2k to boot it up which I want to totally dump 2000, and give that partition up and boot win98 instead of win2k.

Anyway, it's not a big a deal. I just want to know because I want to instead boot magic onto win98. If I do it now, it is still no good because the boot loader is already on win2k. Anyway, thanks for all the advises.

[homeflash]

thanks. I think I will take this idea and when I have problem with win2k boot loader, I will do a system transfer.

I realized booting from win2k takes longer.

Anyway, thanks

[Andy-S]

If you do as Pat and I suggested then the W2K boot loader will be removed. You will then have to go in manually and delete the W2K installation.

Cheers
Andy

[homeflash]

thanks, I think I should have the win2k remain, but just the loader remove, and installed 3rd party boot loader like boot magic onto win98. that way, I will still have 2 os

[reghakr]

So you want Win98 and Win2K and no boot.ini

All this over a boot.ini file.

I don't get your logic. Don't you think the 3rd party Boot Magic wiill allso add it's own files? Many more than a simple ini file.

reghakr

[homeflash]

Okay.. let me explain this so you can understand better...

It's not as simple as a boot.ini file, it's a boot loader.
If I install boot magic onto the win98 now, it will not be functioning because win98 resides in win2k.
that's why I have to get it out first?
why all the trouble?

I can add my OS onto different partition. I feel more comfortable that way. Besides, I found that the boot loader from win2k takes longer than bootmagic.

Anyway, this is just my choice. No need to argue what is best or not. I know I have made the mistake in the start. I should not have installed win2k boot loader over win98, but again. I could change it.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

[justinr]

Ok!!!

See if this makes any sense, if 2000 crashes or an upgrade is on the agenda in the future, then really the boot loader will still remain where it is. Yourll still be able to load into Win98 with no probs, but Win2000; unlikely.

If you want to change Win98 as the boot OS, then this comes down to simple editing the "boot.ini" file in your system partion.[Win98]-as stated from previous posts. You wouldn't need to edit anyway, only with the exception of deleting the line for Windows 2000. [Assumption]-Even if you use a good known boot.ini file, still so, you won't be able to boot back to Windows 2000.

finally your last comment..."I guess I have no other way..." indeed this is true. A manual reinstallation would be required.

[homeflash]

What your post is exactly what I wanted to do.
But now it is doing the other way because the boot loader is in win2k.

come to think of it, you can make multiple boot partition with the combination of outsider boot loader like boot magic and win2k boot loader. But then I found win2k boot loader tend to be slower while running win98.

Thanks for helping anyway