From TNPC issue #4.14...

Multi-Booting: Field Notes on Windows 2000, Windows NT, and Windows 98

by Lee Hudspeth
July 12, 2001

Over the past two months I have installed and uninstalled Windows 2000 in a Win98/Win2000 multi-boot mode at least a dozen times. I'm not a masochist, it was just something that had to be done for a consulting project my firm was working on. During the finger-tapping period of abject boredom that quickly sets in during this type of cycling, I began taking notes on the rough edges inherent in this operation and the procedures necessary to smooth them out. Here are my field notes on this tedious task.

How to install Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on a client PC.

I share a broadband connection so every time I set up a new version of the operating system I have to get ICS working. You can quickly get up to speed on ICS with the Microsoft Knowledge Base (MSKB) article "Description of the Microsoft Browser Connection Setup Wizard":
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/414/tr.cgi?lee1

For a Windows 98 client -- If you don't have the floppy that you were prompted to create when you installed ICS on the host PC (or if you never made one), that's okay. Just put these two files on a floppy: Icsclset.exe and Icsrm.txt (you can rename it to Readme.txt if you want). They both reside in the host's C:\Windows\System folder.

For a Windows 2000 client -- See "ICS for Win2000 - Client Setup" at:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/414/tr.cgi?lee2

When you finish the steps, just fire up your Web browser, answer the Internet Connection Wizard's few questions (pointing your connection to the LAN in all cases), and you'll be connected in seconds!

How to remove Windows 2000 from a dual-boot installation with Windows 95/98 and leave Windows 95/98 as the bootable operating system.

If you've ever tried to dump Windows 2000 from a dual-boot system these notes will come in very handy. The distilled steps are as follows:

1. Boot from a Win98 startup floppy (with verified CD-ROM support of course since you'll need to access the CD drive).

2. From the floppy's prompt, run the sys c: command and verify "System transferred".

3. Remove the floppy and reboot normally into Win98. Now it's possible to begin removing files as described in the related MSKB articles.

Helpful MSKB articles:

"How to Manually Remove Windows 2000 and Restore Windows 95/98"
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/414/tr.cgi?lee3

The above article doesn't list bootsect.dos (Hidden) in the list of files to manually remove from the boot drive's root folder, but I found it necessary to remove it from my dual-boot PC when eliminating Win2000 (scenario: Win98 on first primary partition, Win2000 on the second).

"Removing Windows NT from a Windows 95/98 Dual-Boot Installation":
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/414/tr.cgi?lee4

"WINNT /D Does Not Delete System Files":
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/414/tr.cgi?lee5

The above article includes the ATTRIB switches; helpful if you use MS-DOS commands to remove files.

Follow a good operating system upgrade checklist.

See "T.J. Lee and Lee Hudspeth's Absolute Beginner's Guide to PC Upgrades" pp. 409-417.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/414/tr.cgi?lee6

How to install Windows 98 on a PC with no operating system.

This next MSKB article can save you a lot of wheel spinning. "How to Install Windows 98 on a Computer with No Operating System":
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/414/tr.cgi?lee7

How to install Windows 2000 into a second partition on a PC that boots Windows 95/98 AND how to set up various multi-boot scenarios.

First see "T.J. Lee and Lee Hudspeth's Absolute Beginner's Guide to PC Upgrades" pp. 418+. PowerQuest's FAQ uses a slightly different series of PartitionMagic-centric steps. See PowerQuest's "Link Page for Common Multi-Boot Scenarios" at:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/414/tr.cgi?lee8

See the BootMagic User's Guide pp. 25+, the section entitled "Operating System-Specific Installation Issues" for some helpful tips on various multi-boot installation configurations.

How to create setup boot diskettes for Windows 2000.

See "How to Create Setup Boot Disks for Windows 2000" at:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/414/tr.cgi?lee9

Note the critical paragraph at the end of the article, "If you are booted into Windows 9x you will need to run the 32-bit version of this utility called makebt32.exe. If you are in DOS, or booted with a Windows 98 Startup Floppy that has access to the CDROM, you can use the 16-bit version called makeboot.exe."

In my tests, when booted into Win98, the makebt32 command does nothing (briefly flashes an MS-DOS screen), and only the makeboot.exe version seems to work. When I attempted to setup Windows 2000 via the setup boot diskettes I got this error message, "Inf file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing. Setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit." I have yet to figure out the problem here.

How to get a Windows 2000 PC to be accessible on a peer-to-peer network.

First make sure that the NetBEUI protocol is installed. Next, enable the Windows 2000 PC's Guest account, which is disabled by default. For the steps see "Network Clients Prompted for Password Connecting to Share on Windows 2000":
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/414/tr.cgi?lee10

Next, right-click the drive or device you want to share, choose Properties, Sharing, and add a new share name (other than the existing default share $, e.g., C$).

What's the difference between the terms "system partition" and "boot partition" in regards to the Windows NT and 2000 operating systems?

The way these terms are used by Microsoft is counterintuitive. Even Microsoft says so, "The names commonly used for the partitions containing Windows NT startup and operating system files, however unintuitive they may seem, are for the system and boot partitions, respectively."

See "Definition of System and Boot Partition" at:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/414/tr.cgi?lee11

The system partition is the partition containing files required to boot NT, for example, NTLDR, Boot.ini, etc. The boot partition contains NT/2000's operating system files (the \WINNT folder) and support files (\WINNT\SYSTEM32). The boot partition can be the same partition as the system partition, or it can be a different partition.

Always make fresh rescue diskettes!

There's no such thing as too many rescue diskettes. ALWAYS have fresh, tested sets of PartitionMagic rescue diskettes (PM v5.0 produces two diskettes) and BootMagic rescue diskettes (BM v2.0 produces one diskette). Make sure the diskettes were produced on the PC you're working on, not a different PC. During one of my recent repartitioning/multi-boot sessions, the BootMagic rescue diskette allowed me to get back to a known, good primary partition that for some reason had become temporarily un-bootable as far as FDISK was concerned. The alternative would have been a complete scorching of the entire hard drive. All saved by one little BootMagic rescue diskette. I'm glad I followed my own advice.

I'm interested in hearing about your multi-boot experiences.

You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
mailto:leehudspeth@TheNakedPC.com

Return to Top

TNPC Hot Tips:

• Email out of control? Spam filling your inbox? People trying to steal your identity? Same here - until I applied these tips. You can too in a new multimedia e-book. Tame Your Email.

• DO YOU MAKE THESE MONEY MISTAKES? Do you know that trying to pay off your high interest rate debts first and/or paying extra on more than one debt is the SLOWEST way to get out of debt? Don't make these same mistakes. Learn more at by clicking here...