Installing Windows 98 on a Computer with Windows XP installed

I'm trying to install windows 98 on a computer that already has xp installed. the reason is that the hd is to small and processor is not big enough (333). How can I get the computer to boot up into msdos mode so that i can install. I don't have the capabilities of cdrom bootup.

You'll need a Windows 98 boot disk. You can find one at www.bootdisk.com

oifirechaser said:

I'm trying to install windows 98 on a computer that already has xp installed. the reason is that the hd is to small and processor is not big enough (333). How can I get the computer to boot up into msdos mode so that i can install. I don't have the capabilities of cdrom bootup.

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For any PC with Windows XP pre-installed prior to installing Windows 98 or ME would NOT work for "Multi-boots". For Multi-Boot to function properly you have to install the "OLDEST" Windows OS first, and than the least older next and so on. For your case Windows XP is much newer than Windows 98 and consequently it will NOT work unless you wanted to complelelt destroy your Windows XP installed. Secondly, Windows 98 will not support newer Disk-Format such as NTFS, which does support in XP. So you've to plan you file system very carefully such as using FAT32 instead, even you've Windows 98 installed FIRST, that both Windows 98 and XP can then see your common files.

As for booting to Windows 98, you may not even need the corresponding Windows 98 Bootdisk IF your BIOS can be pre-configured to boot from your CD Drive, and you have your Windows 98 in "Bootable CD" format!

OCdragon said:

For any PC with Windows XP pre-installed prior to installing Windows 98 or ME would NOT work for "Multi-boots". For Multi-Boot to function properly you have to install the "OLDEST" Windows OS first, and than the least older next and so on. For your case Windows XP is much newer than Windows 98 and consequently it will NOT work unless you wanted to complelelt destroy your Windows XP installed.

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How do I install Windows® 98/Me after I've installed XP?
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_repair_9x.htm

The 98 bootdisk will work fine to get you into DOS mode, but why don't you have the capacity to enable a cdrom bootup? No option in BIOS?

A bit more info about the hardware in your system would be helpful. Is this a big box store-built system with a really crappy BIOS by any chance? How old is this system? Do you have install CD's for both OS's ?

And OCdragon is right: if you want both OS's to really talk to each other properly, it'll all have to be FAT32. There'd be a pretty good chance the drive is formatted NTFS if it's only XP.

Just boot up to Win98 CD then delete the NON-Dos partition then create a new one and format it FAT32