How safe is this Dual Boot method?

romanntiko · #1 03-15-2005, 08:57 PM

I am going to buy a new Dell soon but I want to dual boot it with a 98SE.

How safe is this method? I plan to install a second drive to the computer.

I found this link while searching the forums archieves.

http://www.petri.co.il/install_windo...windows_xp.htm

Second question, the Dell will most likely come with XP Home edition. Will popping in XP Pro upgrade this w/o any bugs?

Thanks Guys!

s7p9a2m4 · #2 03-15-2005, 09:51 PM

Give it a whirl and get back to us. You have no data to lose on a brand new machine. If you screw up you can always start over by installing 98 first and then xp to get your dual boot.

romanntiko · #3 03-15-2005, 10:11 PM

Well the thing is I don't want to do this just like that because later down the line "bugs" come out and then I'll end up reformatting everything!

What about my second question? What do you advise?

s7p9a2m4 · #4 03-15-2005, 11:43 PM

I have heard of the pro upgrade failing if it is older than the Operating System it is trying to upgrade.
If you go this route make sure you uninstall service packs in home and your pro upgrade should work.
If not, you can slipstream sp2 with xp pro making it the newer operating system. You can slipstream with something like Nlite quite easily.
Someone else may be able to shed some more light on this as well.

Gene K · #5 03-16-2005, 10:30 PM

There are some "ifs" to this. IF XP Home as installed contains Service Pack 2 AND the XP Prof CD does not [that is, is not as currently updated as is Home (i.e. the Prof CD does not contain SP2)], the upgrade attempt will be rejected as "newer version of Windows already installed". Way round methods: a. Un-install SP2 from Home, do the upgrade to XP Prof, then immediately re-install SP2 [hope you have the CD since this is a BIG download especially if you are on a dial-up connection]; b. Make a slipstreamed version of XP Prof, that is, merge in SP2 (which also contains SP1) with it and create a new CD to upgrade your system. Many sites have instructions as to how this can be done [just type something like "slipstreaming Windows XP" in Google or YaHoo].
Gene K