Doubleboot Windows 7 and WinXP or Win98

[cannie]

Before trying it myself and to avoid loosing my time, given the great level of experience of many members of this forum, I would like to know if it is possible to use fdisk / mbr and bootpart.exe to create the mbr/pbr when using Windows 7, and also if it the Microsoft doubleboot screen appears by itself as usual when you install Windows 7 after Windows XP or Windows 98.

Thanks!

[jaclaz]

If you ask a clear question, it would be easier to understand what you are asking and possibly give you an answer.

Try breaking your sentence in short, simple sentences like:

I want to install ......

I want to use .....

I want to create ....

etc., etc.

FDISK.EXE is a DOS tool.

bootpart.exe is BOTH DOS and Windows NT/2K/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7 one.

And the answer, at the moment is YES, but NO (provided I actually did understand your question ):

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9820

jaclaz

[e-t-c]

Hi,

Just a Tipp ...

There's a new MBR/PBR-Create/Backup/Restore-Windows-Tool named BOOTICE - its works also on 7

Here is a forum thread with presentation (some in german) - there are features & links ...

http://www.essential-freebies.de/board/vie...ic.php?p=109274

cheers

PS: And Yes, same as in Vista there is a own Bootmanager in W7.

PPS: This Vista Boot Floppy Tip works also with Window 7 http://www.msfn.org/board/vista-boot-disk-t95092.html

[jaclaz]

Hi,

Just a Tipp ...

There's a new MBR/PBR-Create/Backup/Restore-Windows-Tool named BOOTICE - its works also on 7

Here is a forum thread with presentation (some in german) - there are features & links ...

http://www.essential-freebies.de/board/vie...ic.php?p=109274

Just for the record the app is originated from China, and has an English "homepage":

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9460

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8986

jaclaz

[dencorso]

If you want it on FAT-32, I'd say:

(i) start with a single HDD on the machine. Partition and install Win 7 with the default installer, on NTFS.

(ii) add a second HDD, create on it a FAT-32 partition of the same size of the NTFS installation and clone it to the FAT-32 partition, on a file-by-file basis.

(iii) remove the HDD containing the NTFS installation and (if IDE) make the FAT-32 installation the master HDD.

(iv) use the "bootsect /nt60 C:" to restore it's bootability (see: KB933168).

This is roughly what Dietmar did to create Vista on FAT-32. It should work for Win 7 too.

You can manipulate all other partitions and the MBR by the old methods. You just need the special nt60 PBR on the Win 7 installation partition.

[jaclaz]

Well, if you like to play the game with semi-random hints, then here is another one:

http://www.sysint.no/nedlasting/mbrfix.htm

And yet another one:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=9897&hl=

jaclaz

Edited December 5, 2009 by jaclaz

[cannie]

Even when my question was not very specific, as jaclaz says, I have found the answer to one half of my intended question, that is: I must use "bootsect /nt60 C:" to build the boot sector of a cloned copy of Windows 7 installed in a different primary partition and, of course, the old methods to build the boot sector of cloned primary partitions of Windows 98 or Windows XP

The other half of my question, more correctly posed, would be: Is it possible to have Windows 7 and Windows XP or Windows 98 in different primary partitions of the same HD, and to use the Microsoft doubleboot screen to switch to the older OS? And if it is not possible, is there any other way for doing it?

I hope I've explained it more clearly now.

Thank you, jaclaz, e-t-c and dencorso for your hints! I think your answers are very, very useful not only for me but also for many users who have felt the security and freedom that doublebooting means.

Cheers.

[jaclaz]

The other half of my question, more correctly posed, would be: Is it possible to have Windows 7 and Windows XP or Windows 98 in different primary partitions of the same HD, and to use the Microsoft doubleboot screen to switch to the older OS? And if it is not possible, is there any other way for doing it?

That is the actual half of your question I initially replied to.

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9820

In a nutshell, and presuming that by "Microsoft doubleboot screen" you are actually meaning BOOTMGR and it's BCD:

• BOOTMGR can only load WINLOAD.EXE and NTLDR+BOOT.INI (or grldr+menu.lst) NOT a bootsector AFAIK. (please read "bootsector" as "Windows 98")
  
• NTLDR+BOOT.INI can load a Windows NT pre-Vista OS AND a bootsector.
  
• grldr+menu.lst can:
  
  • load a bootsector
    
  • directly chainload IO.SYS or NTLDR or BOOTMGR bypassing the bootsector PBR code
    

So you can go:

MBR->PBR->BOOTMGR->BCD->Windows Vista or 7

MBR->PBR->BOOTMGR->BCD->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->NT OS pre-Vista

MBR->PBR->BOOTMGR->BCD->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->bootsector->Windows 98's IO.SYS

or:

grldr.mbr->grldr->menu.lst->BOOTMGR->BCD->Windows Vista or 7

grldr.mbr->grldr->menu.lst->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->NT OS pre-Vista

grldr.mbr->grldr->menu.lst->IO.SYS

Or ANY "intermediate", like, just as an example:

MBR->PBR->grldr->menu.lst->BOOTMGR->BCD->Windows Vista or 7

MBR->PBR->grldr->menu.lst->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->NT OS pre-Vista

MBR->PBR->grldr->menu.lst->IO.SYS

MBR->PBR->grldr->menu.lst->BOOTMGR->BCD->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->NT OS pre-Vista

MBR->PBR->grldr->menu.lst->BOOTMGR->BCD->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->->bootsector->Windows 98's IO.SYS

There is a visual demonstration of multibooting here:

http://www.multibooters.co.uk/multiboot.html

jaclaz

[cannie]

Crystal clear!

Thank you very much, jaclaz.