How to create partition for Window NT

[gammaray]

I would like to install Windows NT on my system but I'm not sure how. I heard that windows NT can't run on Fat32 partition so do I create partition for NT using fdisk? What option must I choose?

[Bleeding Edge]

I was going to post only the link but this is so simplified and easy to understand, I ahd to do a rip-n-tear.

Dual Booting Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 98

Written by: Ben Whitney

Recently I decided to setup my machine for a dual boot configuration of both Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98. Despite what some people may think this process is relatively easy, provided you have the correct tools. This process will work for either Windows 95 or Windows 98.

Here is what you will need:

Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Workstation/Server
The 3 Windows NT Installation Floppy Disks
1 bootable Win 95/98 floppy disk with a CD-ROM device driver

Getting Started

You should start by backing up all data that you wish to save. Be careful not to forget anything, I really can’t stress this enough. There is nothing worse than sitting in front of your computer and not being able to perform a task because you forgot to back something up.

Analyze Your Options

Examine your current hardware configuration. Things that should come into mind are, how much space do you have available, and how many hard disk drives do you have in the system etc., etc. As a general rule of thumb if you have more than one hard disk and enough space on each drive, you should install both operating systems on separate drives. If you only have a single hard drive you will need to partition it and must now consider how much space you want available to each operating system. Alternatively if you already have two partitions made on your drive, you can store anything you wish to back up on the second partition, provided you do not want to change the partition size.

Using FDISK, FORMAT and OFORMAT

If you plan on installing both operating systems on separate hard drives you can skip this section. FDISK is a handy little tool for creating FAT16 and FAT32 partitions. It is free and you already have the program available to you if you have Windows 95 or 98 installed. The FDISK program is located in C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\FDISK.COM.

In order to get setup you will need to use FDISK to create a Primary Partition and an Extended Partition. For my system I have a 10.1 GB drive and I decided to create two equal partitions of 4832 MB’s each. If you are using a drive larger than 2 GB you will have to enable large drive support (FAT32) when you first open FDISK. FDISK may report your drive as being smaller than it is, for example my 10.1 GB drive listed as a drive 9664 MB in size, do not worry as this is normal, the space will be allocated properly when formatted. Keep in mind that Windows NT will be installed on the first partition and Windows 98 on the extended partition, so allocate the space you feel necessary for both operating systems. For now you do not need to concern yourself with what file system is used as NT can create it’s own during setup.

Now that you have created the partitions you will have to restart your machine format the drive for the changes to take effect. Normally you would probably use the FORMAT.com program (located in your C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ directory) to format the drives. However this is fairly time consuming, and there is a much faster tool available to you. Use the OFORMAT.com program on your Windows NT CD to format the drive. OFORMAT is located in the <ROOT>\SUPPORT\OPK\SAMPLES\ folder of your Windows NT CD and will format your drive in a matter of seconds. Using oformat is just the same as using the format command. Formatting your first partition would look something like this:

E:\SUPPORT\OPK\SAMPLES\> OFORMAT C: <HIT ENTER>
Use the same process for the extended partition. Now we are ready to start the install process.

Installing Windows NT

The install process is relatively easy. Insert the disc labeled Windows NT Setup Disk 1 into your floppy drive and reboot your machine. Follow the instructions on the screen and detect any necessary device drivers you will need to complete the setup process such as SCSI drivers and/or IDE drivers. Shortly after the detect stage you will reach a screen asking what drive you wish to install NT.

You should see something similar to this:

Select a drive to install Windows NT:

-- WINDOWS 95 PARTITION 4832 MB
-- WINDOWS 95 PARTITION 4832 MB

At this point you will want to Delete the first partition and create a new one. You will be given a screen asking you to specify the size of the new partition you want to make. The boot partition can be no larger than 2000MB (2GB). I fortunately have the luxury of space and decided to create a 2 GB Partition. After specifying the drive size you will then be returned to the previous screen. It should now appear as follows:

Select a drive to install Windows NT:

C: (new) Unformatted Partition 2000 MB
-- Free Space Unformatted 2832 MB
-- WINDOWS PARTITION 4832 MB

Highlight the first partition and <HIT ENTER> to install Windows NT on the selected partition. You will then be asked what file system you want to use to format the partition. Choose the FAT file format and NOT NTFS. Choosing NTFS will not allow you to dual boot with another operating system. You will now see a progress bar appear and counting off as your drive is formatted. Shortly after this is finished NT will begin copying the files necessary to your hard drive. After this is finished you will be prompted to remove all disks from their drives and restart your machine.

A few short beeps after, the OS Loader will pop up and Windows NT will begin to load. Follow the onscreen instructions and configure your machine as necessary. Do not forget to create an Emergency Repair Disk, as this is vital later on. Once you have loaded NT, go into the Disk Administrator and format the remaining Unformatted Free Space to NTFS. You will notice that there is a section of drive space that is labeled as “Unknown”. Leave this space untouched as this is the FAT32 partition and you need this to install Windows 98. Once you are satisfied with your setup you can move on to the next operating system Windows 98.

Installing Windows 98

Now that you have successfully installed Windows NT, you can now shut down and restart your computer. Place your Windows 95/98 boot disk in your floppy drive and your Windows 98 CD into the CD-ROM drive. Once you have reached the DOS prompt screen, change to your CD-ROM drive and run the SETUP.EXE program to begin installing 98.

As with NT simply follow the instructions to install Windows 98. You will reach a screen asking where you want to install the operating system. Choose D:\WINDOWS, as it is a good idea to keep both operating systems separate.

Windows 98 will finish detecting the “Plug and Play” drives and will then reboot the machine. You will notice the Windows NT OS Loader no longer shows up on screen. This is because Windows 98 has written over the Boot Sector of the drive. This is not a problem as Windows NT is still intact. Simply set up Windows 98 to your liking and install everything you want to. The next section explains how to restore the boots sector.

Restoring the Windows NT Partition Boot Sector (Almost done now : )

This process is pretty easy. Start up the computer from the Windows NT Setup disk 1. Follow the instructions and insert disk 2 when prompted. When Windows NT setup asks what you want to do, select the option to Repair by pressing the R key. A new screen will be displayed with the following options:

[X] Inspect registry files
[X] Inspect startup environment
[X] Verify Windows NT system files
[X] Inspect boot sector
Continue (perform selected tasks)

Clear all selections except the last one labeled "Inspect boot sector". Select “Continue (perform selected tasks)” and press ENTER. You will now be prompted for Setup Disk 3. Shortly after Windows NT Setup will ask you for your Emergency Repair Disk. Insert the disk in your floppy drive and press enter. After setup has finished processing the information you will see something like this:

Setup has completed repairs.
If there is a floppy in drive A:, remove it.
Press Enter to restart your computer.

When you restart you will now see the OS loader pop up on your screen, this time there will be an Option for Microsoft Windows 98. That’s all there is to it. I really hope this information is helpful to everyone. Now that I am all finished with this article I can finally get back to benchmarking that Dual Celery system. As always feel free to send me any comments or questions you may have, I am always more than happy to help you guys out.

[Pantion]

If you don't want to get in all the trouble and headaches of FDISK just get Partition Magic 4.0 install it, modify and create the partitions as you wish (since NT can't read FAT32 unless you have Win2K). Let Partition Magic do its job. Create the NT disks and install it. With Partition Magic you can save yourself a lot of time and the need to reformat your computer.

I tell you this because I have Win98, NT and Linux in the same computer all working happy in their own partitions. And have the OS/2 Warp bootmanager. You could say I have a mixture from all OS's.

[Pantion]

If you don't want to get in all the trouble and headaches of FDISK just get Partition Magic 4.0 install it, modify and create the partitions as you wish (since NT can't read FAT32 unless you have Win2K). Let Partition Magic do its job. Create the NT disks and install it. With Partition Magic you can save yourself a lot of time and the need to reformat your computer.

I tell you this because I have Win98, NT and Linux in the same computer all working happy in their own partitions. And have the OS/2 Warp bootmanager. You could say I have a mixture from all OS's.

[Pantion]

If you don't want to get in all the trouble and headaches of FDISK just get Partition Magic 4.0 install it, modify and create the partitions as you wish (since NT can't read FAT32 unless you have Win2K). Let Partition Magic do its job. Create the NT disks and install it. With Partition Magic you can save yourself a lot of time and the need to reformat your computer.

I tell you this because I have Win98, NT and Linux in the same computer all working happy in their own partitions. And have the OS/2 Warp bootmanager. You could say I have a mixture from all OS's.

[Pantion]

If you don't want to get in all the trouble and headaches of FDISK just get Partition Magic 4.0 install it, modify and create the partitions as you wish (since NT can't read FAT32 unless you have Win2K). Let Partition Magic do its job. Create the NT disks and install it. With Partition Magic you can save yourself a lot of time and the need to reformat your computer.

I tell you this because I have Win98, NT and Linux in the same computer all working happy in their own partitions. And have the OS/2 Warp bootmanager. You could say I have a mixture from all OS's.

[Pantion]

If you don't want to get in all the trouble and headaches of FDISK just get Partition Magic 4.0 install it, modify and create the partitions as you wish (since NT can't read FAT32 unless you have Win2K). Let Partition Magic do its job. Create the NT disks and install it. With Partition Magic you can save yourself a lot of time and the need to reformat your computer.

I tell you this because I have Win98, NT and Linux in the same computer all working happy in their own partitions. And have the OS/2 Warp bootmanager. You could say I have a mixture from all OS's.