Some member of this list e-mailed me recently for information on Multiboot Menus for Win98, Win2K, and WinXP. Here's an e-mail message that I posted posted to this list Monday, November 25, 2002. Further to the recent message traffic about the problems that some members of this list have had trying to load Fractint in a Dos Box on Win98, Win2K or WinXp, I've gone and done some research on the matter. Here are my results of some tweaking and "kludgeing" on my own systems. I have installed Multi-Boot Menus on my 2 Win98 Work Stations and a Multiboot DOS/Win2000/WinXP Menu system on my Win2000 Profesional Work Station and they all work fine. The basic idea is to install a simple Multiboot Menu System that can allow you to boot and reboot between MSDOS and Win2000/WinXp on the same hard drive FAT32 File System partition. This method requires that you have access to the various files found on a working Win95/98 system and on a working Win2000/Xp sytem. You may also need A Win95/98 and a Win2000/WinXp Installation CD-ROM. It is also understood that you have installed the Win2000/WinXp system on a FAT32 File system. It is possible to install a multiboot system that can span different File systems like FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS, on different partitions, but that job is even more complicated, and will only be dealt with in a later article if Fractint E-Group members ask me to. 1.) Floppy Boot Disk Method - Several Fractint E-Group members have already discussed this Floppy Boot Disk method of booting a Win2000/WinXp system with a DOS boot Floppy disk. Hopefully you installed Win2K or WinXp on a FAT32 file system. All my multiboot menus assume that you installed Windows 2000 or WinXp with a FAT32 files system. A simple Win98 Boot Floppy disk can be generated from the Win98 Format dialog box when you check the "Copy system files". That method works ok, but I found that I needed more resources so I created autoexec.bat and config.sys files, and I edited the msdos.sys file to suit my requirements. The boot disk method works fine, but I was always misplacing the boot disk, and I felt that having everything accessible from a boot menu on my hard drive was neater and quicker. 2.) Multiboot Hard Drive Menu - I had once used a MultiBoot Menu on my old MSDOS & Win3.xx system, so I figured that the same type of menu system on a Win98, Win2K, or WinXp system ought to be feasible. On Win 95/98 you have to edit the Msdos.sys file to allow for a multiboot menu and some other features that will speed up the loading of Windows as well. You also have to edit your autoexec.bat and config.sys files to create your different sytems configurations. You need to download the file olddos.exe from microsoft.com, or find the "tools\oldmsdos\" sub-directory on your Win95/98 CDROM. You should copy those files to the Windows\command\ subdirectory. I have found such features like smartdrv.exe really enhance fractint's performance. You will also need to locate himem.sys, and emm386.exe in either "c:\windows", "c:\windows\command" or the "tools\oldmsdos\" sub-directory in the Windows95/98 installation CD-ROM. Once you located these files then it's not a difficult task to edit your msdos.sys, config.sys, and autoexec.bat files to give you a multiboot system that will boot both Windows95/98 and Dos 7.01. I think I've already provided fairly complete instructions and examples how to do this in earlier e-mails to this E-Group, but if anybody wants, I can repost them again to this e-group. 3.) Once you've gotten a multiboot system to work on a Win95/98 system that let's you boot to either DOS or Win95/98, you're about half of the way to a multiboot system on a Win2000 or WinXp system. Make sure that you have a Win95/98 Set-up disk. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs Properties > Startup Disk > and click on the Create Disk radial button, to create a Win98/Dos 7.01 a Start-up disk. Create and Label this disk as you will need this disk later on. 4.) Now we are ready to start work on our Win2000 and/or WinXp system. We will also need to make a complete set of the Win2000 Startup Disks, and Emergency repair disk. To make the Win200 startup disks, go to the "\BOOTDISK\" subdirectory on our Win2000 Installation CDROM, and load makeboot32.exe. If you have followed the directions properly you should have 4 Win2000 Startup disks. Label them and put them aside. You will definitely need them later. To make a Win2000 "Emergency Repair Disk" go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup and click the "Emergency Repair Disk" radial button. Check the registry backup feature, and insert a floppy disk, and click "OK". Label and save the disk, you will need it later on in this process. WARNING: Do not try this "Tweak" until you have created the 4 Win2000/WinXp Startup Disks, and the Win2000/WinXp Emergency Repair disk. 5.) On your Windows 2000 system, create c:\dos, c:\windows and a c:\windows\command subdirectories even though you may not want to install a full blown windows95/98. Now copy or transfer all the files that you will need for launching DOS 7.01 files that you have located on your Win95/98 system in c:\windows, c:\windows\command\, "olddos.exe, and "oldmsdos". Copy your working Win95/98 multi-boot menu files, i.e, msdos.sys, autoexec.bat, and config.sys onto a floppy and label it. 6.) On your Windows 2000 either create or edit a file "boot.ini" thusly: [boot loader] timeout=15 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" ' /fastdetect C:\bootsect.dos="Msdos 7.01" /win95dos I've tried to make this Win200 boot menu really simple, but once you get his working you can tweak it and make it as fancy as you want. 7.) Now comes the really serious stuff. Do not proceed any further until you have really created your Win2000 startup disks AS WELL AS your Win2000 Emergency Repair Disk, otherwise you will really have a mess on your hands. 8.) Insert your Windows95/98 Startup Floppy Disk into the Win2000 System , and go to Start > Shutdown > make sure you have selected Restart before you click "OK". You will now boot from your Floppy a win95/98 DOS 7.01system.
From the DOS 7.01 command line, type in the DOS command "SYS c:". You will then be copying your vanilla dos system to the Win2000 system. Now enter the following from the DOS command line.
Debug<ENTER> L 100 2 0 1<ENTER> N C:\BOOTSECT.DOS<ENTER> R BX<ENTER> 0<ENTER> R CX<ENTER> 200<ENTER> W<ENTER> Q<ENTER> Congratulations! You have just created a special file called bootsect.dos. For the really courageous I have attached a file "bsread.txt" which allows you an automated method of creating this file. You will need to have the file "bsread.txt" copied onto the c: drive of your C; drive. For an automated creation of the "bootsect.dos" file, enter the following command. "c:\debug <bsread.txt<ENTER>" 9.) Remove the Win95/98 Startup floppy and enter "CTL, ALT, DELETE" simultaneously to reboot your system. The PC will now boot a vanilla DOS system. Now insert the floppy to which you had previously copied your edited "msdos.sys", "autoexec.bat", and "config.sys" files from your Win95/98 multi boot system in Step 5. Copy "msdos.sys", "autoexec.bat", and "config.sys" files to your C: drive. Remove the floppy. Reboot your system and you will now have your Ms-Dos Multiboot Menu installed on your system. For the system to be able to Multiboot between Win95/Win98/DOS and Win2000WinXp, we have to re-install your Win2000/WinXp boot sector onto your C: drive. 10.) Insert your Win2000 Startup disk and reboot your system with "CTL, ALT, DELETE" and then follow the directions. You will have to insert the other 3 Win2000 Startup Disks to enable the Win2000 Startup system. When you finally reach Windows 2000 Setup Menu, enter "R". At the next menu enter "R" again. At the next menu enter "F". When the Menu asks you for the Emergency Repair disk, ENTER, and then insert the Emergency repair disk, and follow the directions until the end. 11.) Remove the floppy disk, and reboot. If everything was done correctly, you will first see the Windows 2000/XP Multiboot menu giving you a choice between booting Windows 200 or DOS, then, if you select DOS, you will then see your DOS Multiboot menu. To switch back and forth between systems simply shutdown and reboot and then select the appropriate menu option(s). Hope you got it all to work for you! Just to make life easier for you all. I've attached my msdos.sys, autoexec.bat, config.sys, boot.ini, and bsread.txt, which you will need to edit and change to work on your system. Let me know if any of this has worked for you! All the best, Tony