Dual Boot win98 & XP Pro?

[sirius]

Hmmn, this is gonna sound dodgy lol, but at work Im trapped on windows98, the PC is becoming unstable and I want to reinstall windows.

What Im thinking of doing, on the sly, is moving all the data off the machine onto the server over the network, reformatting the hard disk and creating three or four partitions on the hard disk which is about 40gb. 10GB for Windows98se, 10GB for XP, 10GB for Programs and the remainder for files.

Then, Id like to have a dual boot and slap my home use XP Pro or Home on there so I can do 'modern' stuff and install programs that no longer supports windows98, aswell as run old programs we use that dont work on later than 98se windows.

Is there any way to be crafty about it so that only I know its there? Is there a way to easily delete the XP installation should things not workout, without ruining the rest of the setup? Perhaps if an inspector comes round to check software or something, Id need to get rid of it whilst he looks at other computers elsewhere!.

Im effectively the IT manager in my office anyway, theres already software that shouldnt be on there which the company knows about, so theres no danger of being rumbled or whatever 'in house'.......its just external peeps Im worried about - like some sort of audit inspectors etc should we be 'fortunate' enough to have a visit!.

Obviously, Id like to default to the Windows98se windows as fast as possible so that anyone booting the machine hardly gets a glimpse at the start up data that it spews out. Like a 3 second delay to press any key, or a renaming to WindowsA or WindowsB if thats possible.
Also, seeing as we are all networked, are there any issues with IP adresses? Would the machine have the same IP between different windows, and if so, how do I easily regain the machine on the network?. Both versions would have to work on the network, its pretty essential. Is it as easy as figuring out what its set at now and reinputting that when Ive done?

Any tips or concerns welcome. I need to remember how to format, partition, reinstall, assign Ip's etc and Ive never set up a dual boot on my own before.


Is it a good idea or a bad one? lol.


Cheers

Sirius.

 

[johns_ar]

Easy enough to do mate, just get partition magic or something like that and use the install another operating system tool on it - or alternatively do it with fdisk thats on the win98 boot floppy and partition it that way and then when u put the xp pro/home disc in point it to install on the partition u want it on

its ages since i done it but im sure that on boot up itll ask u which windows u want to load and if ur win98 is the default one itll load that up if u dont select anything (dont quote me on this but i know it does it in xp)

then u can modify the boot.ini file to display whatever u want to call the 2 o/s's

as far as em working on the network u shouldnt have a problem, if DCHP is enabled on both OS itll just pick up and IP address from the domain controller

 

[sirius]

Is this the correct order?:


1) remove all data I wanna keep over the network...

2) Install BootMagic or use FDISK on a Win98 Floppy

3) (Im not sure how it happens, but there must be an obvious option to create partitions during Fdisk(?) so I do that bit)

4) Switch off the computer after formatting

5) Get a win98se Cd and reboot with it in the CDR, input the code off the side of my tower

6) When thats finished......ermmm....hell I dunno.


I have no idea what DCHP or a domain controller is mate :S . We run an IBM with Windows2000 server edition on over a rj45 type cable around five pc's. There are passwords set on the IBM and I think everyone has a number such as 192.168.0.05 or whatever, but Im a bit of a noob when it comes to this stuff.

I may not get time tomorrow anyway, but its in dire need of being sorted out cos I get programs hanging, random blue screen of deaths, and sometimes the monitor 'clicks' out of nowhere and I get MASSIVE dialog boxes like you get in safe mode and it wont let me change the screen set up slider bar to a higher resolution :S . All in all, its pretty fubar'd and doing my swede in.


Cheers bud

Sirius.

 

[sirius]

Guys, after about two hours searching (lol) Ive found this:



http://www.windowsforum.org/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t11007.html



sounds okay right? part2 is missing though


Thanks

Sirius.

edit, found the other parts.

 

[ilovepiano]

random blue screen of deaths

pmsl At least you get that. Normally when mine crashes it just restarts itself. It'll not be long before I'm reaching for the boot disc and typing FORMAT C: lol

 

[johns_ar]

the win server will be ur DCHP server (assigns the ip's) so your sorted there

that fdisk thing has menus that u cant really go wrong with....you got it pretty much sorted there mate

as long as ur bios is set to boot from the cd (go into set up & find boot sequence or whatever, im sure u know that though) if its an old machine ur sorted, win98 will install then u can just do the same again with the xp pro cd but choose a diff partition or use partition magic or whatever if u want a wizard to do it