Problem You want to install Windows XP, but you also want to keep your current installation of Windows intact. Solution You can install more than one OS on your machine. When you first turn on the computer, or every time you restart, you can then select which operating system you want to use. This is called "multibooting." To multiboot Windows XP with Windows 95, 98, ME, or MS-DOS: Make sure your hard disk is formatted with either FAT or FAT32. Install the operating systems that will co-boot with Windows XP, in the following order as applicable: MS-DOS, Windows 95 or 98, Windows ME. Follow the normal installation procedure for the operating system. Install Windows XP, selecting a different volume for the XP installation when you are prompted to select the target disk for installation.
To multiboot Windows NT 4.0 with Windows XP: Make sure your hard disk is formatted with FAT, FAT32, or NTFS. Install Windows NT 4.0, using the normal installation procedure for the operating system. Upgrade the NT installation to at least Service Pack 5, in order to install the support for the latest NTFS version used in Windows XP. Install Windows XP, selecting a different volume for the XP installation when you are prompted to select the target disk for installation.
Finally, once your installations are completed, to specify the default operating system that your computer will boot with, do the following from within Windows XP: Go to Start, and open the Control Panel. Double-click System, and then on the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click the Settings button. Under System Startup, select the operating system you'd like to boot with by default, and then click OK.
Discussion Be sure to perform complete backups of your system before you create a multiboot installation. While the multiboot installation itself is relatively safe, there is a chance you won't be able to get back to your existing operating system if you do it. Also, keep the following in mind: You can't use both Windows 95 and 98 on the same computer. In order to obtain support for Microsoft, each copy of a Windows OS must be installed at least on separate volumes, if not on separate disks. You can make a multibooting scenario work when you install two or more copies of Windows on the same disk volume, but the company won't support it if you have problem. The only exception to this is if you are installing multiple copies of Windows XP only. You can't install Windows XP on compressed drives that were compressed using tools or programs other than the Windows-integrated NTFS compression utility. Use a different computer name for each operating system on the same computer that is joined to a Windows domain. For workgroups, this is not required. If you want to install an application for each OS to use, you must perform the installation on each OS. The applications cannot share installation data from the other operating systems on your hard drives.
See Also Recipe 2.10 for troubleshooting multiboot problems, and MS KB 306559, "How to Create a Multiple-Boot System in Windows XP" |
