Dual boot WinXP / '98SE

Had a look thro' the forums and cannot find advice on this.
On HDD C: I have Win98, with lots of apps that run fine.
Couple of days ago I installed (new installation) WinXP to HDD D. Got a dual boot system that works OK.
WinXP : Ran compatibility tests - no Lexmark 83 printer drivers and a few other oddments - none of my with Win98 apps showed up as incompatible.
About 90% of my Win98 apps do not load in WinXP. Even if I
create shortcuts to them and modify to compatibility/legacy mode.
Must I newly reinstall all my '98 apps whilst runnung WinXP ?
If so, do the installed apps have to be on HDD in Folders created by the WinXP install ?
Is nearly 1 giga a usual size for XP installed files !!
regards to all

 

Is nearly 1 giga a usual size for XP installed files?

I just did a fresh install of XP Pro and used about + or- 4 Gigs just for XP.

I don't know much about Win98 or dual booting, so I'll let more experienced people answer the rest of your questions.
Johanna

 

Thanks to Pete and Johanna.
I will start installing the 200 odd (!) 98 apps into the XP Os over the next few weeks. What a drag !
I must have completely misunderstood what "compatibilty"
means.
I assumed XP could run the 98 apps without a re-install.
What it seems now to mean is,
1. re-install the app within the XP environment
2. if it doesn't run, then try compatibility mode.
3. if it does not run, try and find/buy an XP version
4. Cannot find/buy - boot to '98SE and wait developers
I can only surmise at the moment that MS have made an OS
XP that totally ignores users before Win2000.
I suppose they had to do it sometime - the badly structured
registry of '95/'98/Me had to go.
Pity really, as I understand how things run in '98 and now I have to start over again.

regards

 

Hello merlin,

I dual boot 9X/XP. Pete is correct, the apps must be installed on each OS, even if its the same.

One other consideration. If XP's file system is set up as FAT32, the 9X OS can read XP's file. If XP's file format NTFS, 9X cannot. XP can read 9X files in any case.

In practice means, 9X can read XP's wordpad or word files or image files, etc, if XP's file format is FAT32.

Regards - Charles

 

Ok, I'll throw my wrench into this. I'm running a win98, xp dual boot system right now. I have all the apps for both systems installed to the same drive. The apps that are on both OS's are installed to the same folder (shared by both OS's) . Everything runs just fine. It's correct to say however, that the partition that contains the apps has to be formatted using fat in order for both OS's to be able to use it.

 

Hello Zander,

I have two HD's, and for purposes of safety, wanted the assurance that if one HD fails, the other OS would continue to operate.

Regards - Charles

 

Thanks all for the info ! The HDD with XP is still as it was - FATS32.
Have I got this right ?
To avoid me having to reinstall all the '98 apps I have into the XP
OS, I can ...
- setup a new logical partition ,eg E:, on my D: drive
- use PQ Maqic Mover to move all apps folders to E:
that would be eg all Office 2000 files and programs etc etc

The result would be that Win98 AND XP would see and be able
to run any app in partition E: (maybe a few compatibility issues)
regards

 

You have it partially right. XP will see the apps but some of them would have to be installed in XP in order for them to work. Others would work without installing them although you might want to make a shortcut to them in XP. An example of one that will run without being installed is Spybot Search and Destroy. Simply find it in windows explorer and create a shortcut to it somewhere in XP. Those that won't run in XP have to be installed and during the installation, choose to install it to the same folder that it's already installed in for 98. When i do this however, I usually make a copy of the folder somewhere before installing the program and then after the installation I delete the new folder and move the old one back in. I do this as a safety measure so as to not lose any user created files in the old folder. This shouldn't happen but you never know.

 

Thanks for the advice. I reinstalled XP OVER Win98SE this time
and it's taking shape slowly ....
- no way it likes my Flash Card reader
- reinstall needed of drivers for Aztec Modem, Lexmark printer
- reinstall Power Desk, AVG and replace some other apps
but not too many, with XP compatible versions
- don't know yet why I have 4 Folders in different locations that
are called My Documents or similar
- I am the Administrator and have User/Data info in Folders
since only I use the PC. how to get rid of the User folders but
retain all Admin functions ?
regards

 

how to get rid of the User folders

The short answer is Don't.

The long answer is that you can simply delete normal user accounts or account folders you no longer need and that don't have info you may want later but do not delete the system account folders - administrator, all users, guest, and maybe another.

The safest answer is Don't. They don't take up much room.

 

Thanks Newt - will heed your advice and leave the folders -
but see no problems in deleting the files in them which are not
accessed/updated and are quite large in total.
regards

 

I added a fast D harddrive for XP when I upgraded from 98 to SE. I reloaded the programs I needed for XP. I don't remember any XP incompatibility issues. When I was setting up it was nice to be able to download the XP drivers for the modem, etc. using 98. Also if you have a problem you can try both OS's to see if it's a hardware or software issue. However I don't think I've booted into 98 in the last 6 months. I also had an issue where a program corrupted the XP boot files. It was nice to be able to boot into 98 to do repairs. I loaded XP fat 32. I think next time I'll do XP only with NTFS.