It took me a day just to get Windows back up with all the drivers. I don't think I'll be trying until I feel suicidal again, which means in a few months...

So did you try it again this weekend?

Two reasons:

1. Some DOS games don't run even in Win98. I experienced this with the Realms of Arkania series, for examples.

2. Some games have their DirectX information hard-coded. Almost without exception, they will run on DirectX 6, but not on any newer Direct X. This affects games like Might and Magic VII and Heroes of Might and Magic III. Since you cannot switch between two versions of DirectX on the same OS, I need two OS, each with a different version of DirectX. Since the only legal copy of a Windows I have is 98SE, I need two 98SE versions on my hard drive.

Just out of intrest, why would you want such a setup?

Well, considering that the original (30GB) partition had Windows 98 installed, it came with a FAT32 partition to begin with. All I wanted to do is to make this partition 2GB smaller, and move that chunk up front, change it to simple FAT and install MS-DOS 6.22 there.

Cypherswipe: Actually, you can use NTFSDOS, which is the same as DOS 6.1 but allows the computer to "see" NTFS drives

Let me rephrase my question: with which OS of the two he wants to install do you think he would have the choice of FAT or NTFS? None, correct. The only choice he has is between FAT16 and FAT32.

Do you mean 'where should it be' or where am I getting it from?

1) It shouldn't be. Both partitions should be FAT32. DOS can't "see" NTFS drives/partitions, and I'm pretty sure that win98 can't either.
2) Netdanzr specifically said that the small partition would be FAT, but said nothing of the other one. Since he said that that partition would be FAT, instead of the whole HD being FAT, that indicates that he plans to make the other one NTFS.

Where should the 'NTFS' come from with this configuration?

You specifically state that the 2gig partition will be FAT, but say nothing of the 28gig one. Are you trying to make the second one FAT or NTFS? Keep in mind that DOS (and I'm pretty sure win98 as well) only recognize the FAT system.

Ah yes, I remember something like being forced to reboot all the time some years back You only have to do all that once though: when it worked!

Edited by Mr Creosote at 21:40 on October, 12th 2002

That's what I gathered. I guess I'll stick with DOS/Win98 then . However, Windows is not everything. You then have to install all the drivers (a major paid; it always asks you to restart the PC), and all software (incl. all the games). I did a complete back-up of saved files and my documents, but installing the rest will take forever...

It should be quick - installing DOS only takes a few minutes, Windows 30 Minutes (?). After the third installation (Windows on 28 GB), you know if it works If it doesn't, my guess is that Windows doesn't work with Windows... The problem is that Windows always writes itself in the MBR, so the second Windows could spoil the first one.

Edited by Mr Creosote at 21:29 on October, 12th 2002

You are correct in the aspect that whenever I tried to partition my HDD, the result was a wiped-out HDD. I'll have a really "fun" weekend, trying to reinstall everything again...

Ok, back to the problem.

So am I right that the Windows on the second partition is the old one which existed before you started the whole process? If it is, you violated one basic rule of a multi-OS system: to install the oldest (or dumbest) OS first! By installing MS-DOS, you overwrote the MBR and completely wiped the entries of the old Windows installation. It could (I'm not sure of course) work if you'd completely wiped all data from the hd, partition it, install DOS, install Windows on the smaller partition and then Windows to the second (big) partition.

Shit... I mean DirectX...

Do you mean 'DirectX'? I never saw any programs which required 'DivX'

Actually, not exactly. If that was the case, I'd approach it as you said. However, I need to have two versions of Win98, due to that DivX problem...

As I understood it, you just want to install DOS on the first 2 GB and Windows on the rest, right? To do something similar (just with one more partition and OS), I just did the following:
-boot from a floppy
-partition the hard drive (I used FDisk which I just put on the floppy)
-reboot computer with DOS installation disk in drive
-DOS installation starts automatically, it recognizes only the one partition as it should
-after finishing the DOS installation, I rebooted with the Windows CD in the drive (BIOS set to boot from CD)
-bootmenu comes up, I choose to install Windows on the second partition
-it did this, overwriting the startup files on C:

To run DOS, I'm using the Windows boot menu, DOS only 'sees' itself, Windows can access both partitions. No idea what your problem is....

Okay, here goes my greatest frustration of the last year or so:

I have a 30GB hard drive, which I want to partition. I want to do the following:
* a 2GB partition (FAT) with pure MS-DOS/Win98SE
* a 28GB partition with Win98SE

This is what's been happening to me last year, and what happened to me again this weekend, when I tried to do it:
* I install Partition Magic 6 onto my computer (Win98SE)
* I create the 2GB partition in the front (C drive), and I name the rest D.
* I partition the disk, and restart the computer.
* I manage to install MS-DOS 6.22 on the first partition.
* I run the Boot Magic disk, in order to reboot on the second partition, with Windows.
* Boot Magic claims there is only one bootable partition - the MS-DOS one.
* I run Partition Magic from floppies, and see that the D; drive now appears to be completely empty.
* I install Win98 on the first drive, and see that the second partition cecks out as empty.
* I end up deleting whatever is on the second partition and joining the two.
* I'm back at square one.

Is there any way I can create a dual-boot DOS/Win98 and Win98 system? Any tutorial? By now, I'm actually willing to pay for professional help: would you recommend someone in the New York/New Jersey area?

Many thanks!

P.S. In case you are wondering about this weird dual boot combination, the reason is that (a) there are programs that refuse to run on a Win98 machine (Shadows over Riva, for example), and (b) lots of software I want to run is hard-coded for DivX6, and refuses to run when I install newer DivX.