Installing multiple OS on one computer

Hi, I am in need of assistance. I've never done this before so if you can tell me how to install multiple OS that would be appreciated.

I am currently running Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit. I want to install Windows 98 on my laptop to run older applications. I've heard about these "dual boot" OS thing and Virtual PC, but I don't know how they work. Should I get another hard drive for each OS (got 1 empty bay)? Will it affect my hard drive? Windows 98 is outdated, how will it communicate with the modern hardware?

 

There are 2 things you can do:
1) virtual machine - run 98 in Vista with slight* performance (*slight since it's an old OS)

2) partition your hard drive and install 98.

Personally, I would go with the virtual machine method since it's far less work for very little to no performance increase.
Try running MS's Virtual PC 2007 as the VM since it's free. (google around for tutorials).

It won't affect your hard drive aside from the fact that you'll have to set some space aside for 98 to be installed on. The only problems that you could encounter are lack of drivers, other than that, you should be fine.

 

You wouldn't be able to get drivers for your notebook for Windows 98. You could use a virtual machine (e.g. Microsoft Virtual PC 2004) but you would only have 2D video because the VM program I listed emulates an S3 Trio64 for the graphics card. Otherwise it works fine.

-J.B.

EDIT: I've only used VPC 2004, I don't know how different 2007 is from 2004.

 

Ok thanks. I have the Windows 98 OS disc somewhere, just gotta find it.
Oh no. It's an HP recovery disc. I have Dell. Will it still work?

 

Probably not. You can always try though.

 

Here's a link that might be useful: http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=341

Vista has a bootloader which can boot older versions of windows and other operating systems at start-up. Here's the trick. First install the other operating systems you want on your computer. Then, install Windows Vista because the install disk will set up a bootloader with Windows Vista as the main OS and the other ones as secondary OS's. When I was running XP and Vista on the same machine, a bootloader would give a screen that looks like the following at start-up:


Choose whch operating system to load

Windows Vista
Older Versions of Windows

If you don't press any key in ** seconds, Windows Vista will load.


You might be able to get this bootloader to install if installing Windows 98 after Vista is installed by running a "Repair Windows" from the Windows Vista installation disk. This worked for me with Windows XP. If you don't need Windows 98 that bad, it might not be worth the trouble. Just a thought.

 

In terms of compatibility in running older applications, does it matter if you use bootloader or virtual pc?

 

No, that has no affect, it really comes down to if you want to have to reboot to get to Win98 or not.
What older apps are you running?

 

Some OS emulators can be quirky, so check out the limitations of the emulator you decide to use. For example, I couldn't get USB ports to work right for the 2004/2003 microsoft virtual pc software. The emulator software isn't so permanent, so trial and error can be easy.

 

Command and Conquer Red Alert 1. I tried to install it, but to no avail. I get "F:\SETUP.EXE is not a valid Win32 application" "Could not locate Setup.exe" and "Windows 6.0 is currently running. This version of Red Alert is a Windows 95 only product"

 

VMware all the way. It's MUCH better compared to Virtual PC.

Also I wouldn't even bother dual booting/partitioning for 98(unless you install it on a differ HD). VMware is good enough.

 

Is it freeware or shareware?

 

We'll VMware Workstation is 30days free to be able to make image (.vmk)files. And VMware Player is complete free. I think Server is free to and allow you to make images.

 

Would running Vista x64 under VMware on XP Pro be that different than running it as a dual boot (other than graphics card)?

 

The only differ would be the the allocated ram you allow for it, and Processor settings.