China DOS Union

My current system is XP. I want to install another 98 and make it a dual-boot system, but I don't know how to install 98 under XP. Please give me some guidance, experts! Also, can 98 and XP both be installed in the same partition?

First let me say that I'm not an expert!
Want to install 98 under XP?
Are you crazy?
You can only install from lower to higher! Format it first! Then install 98, then install XP.
If you do it the way you said, 98 simply can't be installed, it'll all get overwritten!!

They can be put in the same partition, but the usual way is to put them in two partitions.
Otherwise if one system has a problem later, it'll be very troublesome, so two partitions are safer!!

Yes, it can be done.

1. First, your partition must be in FAT32 format. If it is NTFS format, 98 cannot be installed.
2. Boot with an MS-DOS boot disk, then execute the command SYS C:
3. Then install windows98. If it is installed in the same partition as XP, be careful that the windows directory name must not overlap with XP's during installation.
4. After everything is installed, use the Windows XP installation CD to make a dual-system boot menu (you can also use other system management software to do this).
5. Done.

The reason people say to install 98 first and then 2000/XP is that 98 cannot recognize these systems, so it cannot handle the boot parts they need. Actually, after installing 98, the only thing that affects 2000/XP booting is the DBR content. As long as you can restore the DBR content, it'll be fine. The OP can try the software BOOTPART.

But if, after repairing 2000/XP booting, you still want to be able to boot 98, then you need to save the 98 DBR content. You can use the software SRCBOOT. The specific method is:
After installing 98, boot it, press F8, enter pure DOS, and run the following command:
SRCBOOT C: C:\BOOTSECT.DOS /S
Save 98's DBR as c:\bootsect.dos
Then run:
BOOTPART WINNT BOOT:C:
Restore 2000/XP booting
Then edit the boot.ini file under c:\, and under add this line:
c:\bootsect.dos="Windows 98"
Then change timeout= in to whatever time you need

Pay attention to the attributes of the boot.ini file

The following is quoted from LanE's post on 2003-12-10 22:07:39:
The reason people say to install 98 first and then 2000/XP is that 98 cannot recognize these systems, so it cannot handle the boot parts they need. Actually, after installing 98, the only thing that affects 2000/XP booting is the DBR content. As long as you can restore the DBR content, it'll be fine. The OP can try the software BOOTPART.

But if, after repairing 2000/XP booting, you still want to be able to boot 98, then you need to save the 98 DBR content. You can use the software SRCBOOT. The specific method is:
After installing 98, boot it, press F8, enter pure DOS, and run the following command:
SRCBOOT C: C:\BOOTSECT.DOS /S
Save 98's DBR as c:\bootsect.dos
Then run:
BOOTPART WINNT BOOT:C:
Restore 2000/XP booting
Then edit the boot.ini file under c:\, and under add this line:
c:\bootsect.dos="Windows 98"
Then change timeout= in to whatever time you need

Pay attention to the attributes of the boot.ini file

LanE.... it's MBR.....

It should be DBR, right? It's the boot part of the first FAT16/FAT32 partition. The MBR part in the WINDOWS series only performs the function of loading the DBR, and then the DBR loads the system files in C:. I think it should be DBR.

Right, it's DBR!

MBR (Main Boot Record) is the master boot record area. It is located at cylinder 0, head 0, sector 1 of the entire hard disk, and includes the hard disk bootstrap program and the partition table.
　
　　DBR (Dos Boot Record), on the other hand, is the operating system boot record area, usually located at cylinder 0, head 1, sector 1 of the hard disk. It is the first sector the operating system can directly access, and it also includes a boot program and a partition parameter record table called BPB (BIOS Parameter Block). Each logical partition has a DBR.

The command FDISK/MBR can rewrite the MBR information of the hard disk, and the system transfer command SYS C: can also rewrite the DOS boot record information DBR. (Actually, these two commands are only two of many possible methods.)