WinXP/Win98 Dual Boot start screen ???'s

R

RoyGBiv

New Member
I recently put a new HDD in my computer and did a complete new install of my system. I have partition C which has Win98SE on it. Then I have partition D for data, and then I have partition E which has WinXP on it. (I have two additional data partitions, which I won't go into details about.) I had this identical system previously. The only difference is that now the partitions are larger with the new HDD.

The problem is that most of the time when I start the computer the screen which is to appear after it boots that allows you to choose which OS you want to load doesn't appear. It actually works even though you can't see it. I have XP set so that after 10 seconds it will automatically start XP as that is what we mostly use. So with a blank screen, if I press enter, it will immediately load XP. At the blank screen I can also press the down arrow once and then enter to start Win98. So even though I can't see anything, the screen still is working normally. Everything seemed to be working normally when I first installed both OS’s. It seemed to start after XP did its automatic updates thing, including downloading and installing ServicePak 3. Is this related?

Does anyone know how I can make sure this screen appears all the time? It’s not such a big deal for me as I know how to do it, and almost always I boot to XP and just let things start normally. For my wife it’s a pain. She often works in DOS, and we have Win98 set to boot to DOS. If she doesn’t see anything prompting her to choose an OS, she doesn’t do anything, and the computer automatically loads WinXP. Then she gets annoyed and has to shut down and restart the computer.

TIA


SMK
 
1. Why not use the windows xp 'cmd'? it is simply a console.
Or use a virtual machine (microsoft virtual pc can help you) and install MS-DOS on it. You'll find it on many websites to download as floppy images.
2. Try this:
Right click on my computer icon - properties - Advanced tab - "Settings" under Startup and Recovery - Edit. Type in there under "timeout" the no of seconds you want it to be displayed, and then add windows 98 below everything. It may still be there if you didn't reinstalled windows after putting the new hdd(s). You need to know exactly the (hard) disk number, partition number and folder with the windows installation.
 
Thanks for the ideas.

When I redid the HDDs, I installed Win98 first, and then installed WinXP after. The settings in the "bootload" file are correct, but for some reason the screen giving the option of which OS to boot to doesn't always show up.

I will consider doing something else with DOS, but my experience has been that the two DOS programs my wife uses don't work well in a DOS shell no matter how I edit the settings in either Win98 or WinXP, which is why we've had Win98 (and Win95 before it!) set to boot only to DOS first.

Thanks again.

SMK
 
Then the virtual machine should be your choice. Install MS-DOS on it and use it. To transfer files between the real and the virtual machine can mean some pain because you have to burn them to a cd image (not real cd, but an image) and then use the image as a cd in the virtual machine. For ms-dos you'll need the cd drivers to install. It doesn't take long to install, longer to find those :D but i did this long ago. Also installed windows 1, 2 and 3 on those machines.
 
I just looked at Virtual PC at MS's web site. I think it might be a good option, and I will try it out. One good thing is that I don't need to transfer files back and forth from the virtual machine, so that will make things a little easier.

Thanks for the help.

SMK
 
I just read more into system requirements for Virtual PC at the download page. It requires XP professional, and I am using XP home. Oh, well. Thanks again for the help.

SMK
 
I use xp home too and use virtual pc with no problems. Ignore the warning.
An easy way to transfer files between the real and the virtual machines is this:
1. Install any version of windows (98 if you want it to use less disk space).
2. Install from the Action menu the virtual machines additions on the machine. Then just drag and drop files from the real machine on the virtual machine and they will be transferred on the desktop or folder that you drag it on. You could create a second virtual machine to install ms-dos and just put the ms-dos virtual hard disk in the win98 machine, make the transfer and that's it.
 
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