Jump to content

Clone easily Windows 98 and XP in the same computer.


Recommended Posts

As I said IMHO the important thing is making the tutorial useful for anyone who needs it.

To make it easier for newbies I decided to put all together in the first post.

If moderators believe it should be placed anywhere else, please post it here.

Thanks to you all. :hello:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

As I said IMHO the important thing is making the tutorial useful for anyone who needs it.

First post has been updated to include interesting new ideas.

HTH

Edited by cannie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

A couple of notes related to "added" D paragraph :) :

After rebuilding the damaged partition it is convenient to regenerate the hard drive hidden bootparts. No risk at all and extremely easy: you only need to reboot using the DOS floppy and run one after the other the following commands in the command line:

FDISK/MBR

Please note that FDISK /MBR only replaces the MBR CODE (with the "default" Win9x one).

It does NOTHING if the Virus or whatever has corrupted the MBR DATA.

It is always a good idea to have (possibly on the same "emergency floppy" a backup of the complete MBR.

If you don't have it, your only way out (possibly) is the use of TESTDISK:

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

to re-build the MBR DATA

It is unclear/undocumented if there is any advantage (or drawback) on a dual boot system to have the Win9x MBR CODE or the 2K/XP/2003 one. :blink:

SYS A: C:

BOOTPART WINXP BOOT:C:

BOOTPART WIN98 C:\BOOTSECT.W98 "Windows 98"

Later on, when the system is already operating normally, the created Msdos.sys must be replaced by the one at the Windows 98 boot floppy and the boot.ini must be edited because Windows 98 appears twice to eliminate the second one.

Not really. :whistling:

If you already have an entry for BOOTSECT.W98 in your BOOT.INI you can simply run:

BOOTPART WIN98 C:\BOOTSECT.W98

a new bootsector will be created, but NO entry will be added to BOOT.INI.

Of course you need to use the SAME "BOOTSECT.W98" name for the "old" and the "new" bootsector. ;)

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being almost impossible to collect in the first post each and every excellent idea, I have modified also the "Remarks" so that any reader knows that more detailed explanations can be found in your documented posts all along this thread.

Thank you very much to you all again! :thumbup

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, jaclaz!

According to your suggestions about the last paragraph of the first post, I have removed the fdisk/mbr mention. In fact , it is only needed when the mbr is damaged, and that is not normal.

I've nevertheless preserved the last instruction to prevent a failure in the case that any of the BOOTSECT.W98, boot.ini or msdos.sys files may not exist or be corrupted (it has already happened to me), being easy to restore the copy in case of need.

I finally created a batch file including all orders to make things easier, leaving a pause between them to give the user the possibility of supervising the process and be aware i.e. of any error in the redaction of the batch file.

Thanks a lot for everything! :hello:

Edited by cannie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

After several essays and using the same instruments the XP cloning procedure has been considerably simplified, as you may see in the modified first post of this thread.

HTH.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, now that you have reached (actually you think ;) you reached ) your goal through a "simple" method, it's time for you to start with a simpler one.

I am assuming you have a C:\ drive with (at least) these files:

NTLDR

NTDETECT.COM

BOOT.INI

IO.SYS

MSDOS.SYS

COMMAND.COM

AUTOEXEC.BAT

CONFIG.SYS

Add to it following files:

grldr

grub.exe

menu.lst

from this download:

http://nufans.net/grub4dos/

http://nufans.net/grub4dos/grub4dos-0.4.4-2009-03-25.zip

Edit BOOT.INI adding to it this line:

C:\grldr="grub4dos"

Boot from the system as if you were booting in XP, choose among BOOT.INI choices the entry "grub4dos", choose among menu.lst choices entry "find and load IO.SYS of Windows 9x/Me".

You should boot to Win9x/Me normally.

Exit Windows GUI to "pure" DOS.

Run C:\grub.exe.

Choose among menu.lst choices entry "find and load NTLDR of Windows NT/2K/XP".

You should be back to BOOT.INI choices.

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, now that you have reached (actually you think ;) you reached ) your goal through a "simple" method, it's time for you to start with a simpler one.

The Microsoft doubleboot solution reflects my own experience and works perfect, AFAIK, being valid to choose only among Microsoft products.

After trying grub I find it to be an excellent option, allowing you a lot of possibilities. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After trying grub I find it to be an excellent option, allowing you a lot of possibilities. :rolleyes:

To be picky, it's grub4dos, not "legacy" grub. ;)

jaclaz

That's what I really meant. :realmad: I never used the legacy version: I've just followed your instructions, and only simplified the name.

Thank you! :thumbup

Edited by cannie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
3 .- INSTALLING THE CLONED UNIT

- Boot XP and create a text file by copying the following lines:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices]

- Rename the text file as "Unmount.reg". Now you have built a registry script to modify it. This registry script is just the key for cloning: you can't do it without unmounting first all the mounted devices. We double click on it twice, and XP becomes ready to be cloned into any other primary partition.

Is it possible to clone XP the same way if you use a SATA HD and NTFS?

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Is it possible to clone XP the same way if you use a SATA HD and NTFS?

Sorry, this thread is into the Windows 98 section and that post is about using Windows 98 to clone and repair itself and also to clone and repair XP.

Your question should be made into the XP section, I'm afraid.

Edited by cannie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@echo off

echo Restoring Master Boot Record...

pause

FDISK /MBR

After some experiences, it seems convenient to include this command in the first post tutorial batch file, because the batch file doesn't work if the MBR has not been created previously, so it is convenient to check the MBR in any case before running the bootpart.exe commands, in special to avoid surprises to newbies.

HTH.

Edited by cannie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...