dos/98 dual boot

[Ryan_B]

can someone point me to a good reference to help set-up a dual boot system using dos 6.22 and 98 on same HDD??

[Steve R Jones]

Extended Operating System Loader (XOSL) is the world's only full-featured free boot manager with a real, easy-to-use and full-blown graphical user interface. Click the screen shots link to see what XOSL is like, and decide for yourself!
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[Jim9999]

That's a pretty exotic solution, but not necessary. Install DOS, then install Windows, then let Windows' Boot menu do the rest.

[Comtech]

Windows 9x do not HAVE boot menus. You're thinking of NT/2K/XP.

[ayuen]

Hi,

You can use boot menus in win9x. You just need to edit the MSDOS.SYS file and set Bootgui = 0. You need to set the attributes of this file by typing attrib msdos.sys -r -h -s -a. After you edit, retype the command and substitute + for the -. Now you can use boot menus similar to the ones you use in MSDOS 6.22 by editing the config.sys and autoexec.bat files. Don't forget to add win.com to the autoexec.bat line that you wish to load Windows.

ayuen

[Szech]

Any time I need to use DOS, I keep smacking F8 while the computer is booting up. The boot selection comes up, and I pick DOS.

BTW, I have Win98 installed

[Variable]

You do not need to set up a dual boot!
Open MSDOS.SYS set BootGUI=0 (should be 1).
Open Config.sys, add a menu and make one of the options run win.exe!

[Jim9999]

Geez, it's not this complicated.

Yes, 9x will dual boot and it does have a boot menu. F8 or Ctrl will bring it up during boot.

No, you don't have to set bootgui=0. Setting that will boot to a C:\ prompt. If you wanted to, you could set bootmenu=1 to force the boot menu to appear, but that's not necessary either. Hit F8 during boot.

Yes, you do have to set it up if MS-DOS was not there before installing 9x. The option to boot to previous OS will be there only if MS-DOS was installed before installing 9x. Otherwise, it's a bit more complicated after the fact.

[Jim9999]

An addition... regarding Variable's suggestion, that will work, but there are drawbacks.

First, it does not address the original request... "...set-up a dual boot system using dos 6.22 and 98 on same HDD??". The request is not to boot to a C:\ prompt, but to dual boot back to an older OS.

Second, it is assumed you do not want a Config.sys or Autoexec.bat under Windows 9x loaded with real mode drivers, but you probably do for your MS-DOS 6.22 environment for the CD, mouse, sound, net, etc. Dual booting allows a Config.sys and Autoexec.bat for the DOS boot without using those same files for the Windows boot.

[KMBALO]

You can have the option to boot from cd rom (with the DOS OS on it only)
by selecting in bios
"first boot device- cdrom"
2nd boot- IDE-0
Burn DOS onto a cd.
When you want to boot straight to windows just don't have a cd in the drive.
There are several ways to do it
What ever you prefer. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif



[This message has been edited by KMBALO (edited 03-24-2001).]

[Ryan_B]

Sorry to have caused the confusion here.
I should have been more specific and mentioned why I want to be able to boot to 2 OS's.

I am building this machine from spare parts as a favor to a friend who wants to study for A+--but has no computer.
It is an old 486d/x. Only boot options are a/c and c/a.

Upon futher thinking-----should I install 2 HDD's??? they are only 260mb drives.
He will be practicing dos commands---move, copy, xcopy, del, etc. in dos.

Could I set '98 drive as master and boot to it----or "F8" to a command prompt and switch to D:/---(slave) from there to use DOS.

Anyone think of why this wouldn't work??