SOLVED Triple Boot 3.1, 98 & Neptune

Hello,

I have an old laptop, Dell Latitude Cpi A 400 XT, PII @ 400 MHz.

I've been having lots of trouble getting DOS 7.1 and Windows 3.1, 98 and this weird copy of "Neptune" to tri-boot.

I have 4 partitions (one is hidden due to lots of read errors) and I've installed DOS then Windows 3.1 then 98 then Neptune all on separate partitions, but 98 still puts all it's boot info into the DOS's autoexec.bat and config.sys on the C: drive (which is for DOS and 3.1 only).

This DOS 7.1 I have, seems to be some sort of modded DOS version, as it can make itself dual boot with XP installed and make 98 launch by typing in "win".

If I edit the boot.ini to set 98 like this: E:\Windows "Windows 98", it won't launch, it has to be C:\ "windows 98" for 98 to work, even though Windows 3.1 is installed to the C: drive (in C:\Windows)

How can I get all these OS's to reside on different partitions and have a triple boot system?

Sounds like a perfect use for virtual machines.

https://www.virtualbox.org/

pcgamer4life said:

Sounds like a perfect use for virtual machines.

https://www.virtualbox.org/

Click to expand...

Yes, that would be ideal (college provides me with a 1 yr license for VMware)

But that wouldn't be as fun a struggling to get it to run on an old laptop now would it.

I'm going to try to install 98 Neptune then DOS... We'll see what happens.

Virtual machines cannot replace the real thing, let's definitely figure this one out!

Editing Boot.ini files can be a headache, how about trying this: [Scroll Down & Click on 'Register' and use any Name & Email to Download this freeware]:

http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/#comparison


Do not set Bootloader timout to 0, set it to at least 2 seconds, otherwise you won't be able to change OS at bootup by repeatedly pressing keyboard arrows to pause at the bootup OS screen selection so you can make a choice if needed at bootup.


Simply CHECKING default Operating System - saves default OS. There is no need to click on Save Settings to change default OS.

I also use these options: Tools > Options >
CHECK: Expert mode
CHECK: Remember the BCD Backup directory upon exit
UNCHECK: Everything else

Display Options TAB:
Default TAB at start up: Edit Boot Menu
CHECK: Everything else

c627627 said:

Virtual machines cannot replace the real thing, let's definitely figure this one out!

Editing Boot.ini files can be a headache, how about trying this: [Scroll Down & Click on 'Register' and use any Name & Email to Download this freeware]:

http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/#comparison


Do not set Bootloader timout to 0, set it to at least 2 seconds, otherwise you won't be able to change OS at bootup by repeatedly pressing keyboard arrows to pause at the bootup OS screen selection so you can make a choice if needed at bootup.


Simply CHECKING default Operating System - saves default OS. There is no need to click on Save Settings to change default OS.

I also use these options: Tools > Options >
CHECK: Expert mode
CHECK: Remember the BCD Backup directory upon exit
UNCHECK: Everything else

Display Options TAB:
Default TAB at start up: Edit Boot Menu
CHECK: Everything else

Click to expand...

Yes! thanks for the support on this c627627, while virtual machine are sweet I'd miss out on the fun of getting it working!

Boot.ini... it appears that there is more to this than just that file, I need to copy the bootsec.dos file and let Windows 98 replace it while killing the Neptune installation...Weird I know.

See here.

I just found that url, if it works, I'll let you know as it seems to do what I was aiming for in the first place.

Should have googled more for an answer.

As for editing boot.ini, I would rather do it manually, I feel that I would learn more if I mess it up, then go back and fix it. lol

So even following the Microsoft guide, I was only able to get Neptune and DOS to boot. No Windows 98. If I selected the boot option for Windows 98, DOS would boot.

What now? Hide the other partitions and install 98, then modify the boot.ini manually?
Other than that, I'm out of idea's...

If EasyBCD successfully creates corresponding boot.ini files that work, it will be so much easier to simply compare them in Notepad to figure out why they work .

Why Neptune and not Windows 2000? What value does Neptune have, other than historical value? How stable can it possibly be if it never made it out of initial development, it wasn't even Beta.

c627627 said:

If EasyBCD successfully creates corresponding boot.ini files that work, it will be so much easier to simply compare them in Notepad to figure out why they work .

Why Neptune and not Windows 2000? What value does Neptune have, other than historical value? How stable can it possibly be if it never made it out of initial development, it wasn't even Beta.

Click to expand...

'cause Neptune rocks!

It's also quite stable, I haven't had any issues, aside from the weird bug that won't let me run .exe's from a usb stick.

I'll grab EasyBCD edit and run it after I re-install 98. I'm going to hide the partitions then install -- wish me luck!

Like you, I keep old versions of Windows, but I only kept Windows 95 onwards since it pretty much runs DOS old stuff too. So I keep it for reasons of running software on them.

I am very interested to find out what Neptune has, since it must be a feature that you like, rather than running software for testing or other purposes since no software was released for Neptune because it never made it out of Alpha testing.

So the question is what does Neptune have to make you choose it over making Windows 2000 part of your multi-boot, in particular because Win2K is the most stable of the old OS, which is useful when other OS's go belly up, then you reboot into stable Win2K and nuke&reimage the other partitions from Win2K.

c627627 said:

Like you, I keep old versions of Windows, but I only kept Windows 95 onwards since it pretty much runs DOS old stuff too. So I keep it for reasons of running software on them.

I am very interested to find out what Neptune has, since it must be a feature that you like, rather than running software for testing or other purposes since no software was released for Neptune because it never made it out of Alpha testing.

So the question is what does Neptune have to make you choose it over making Windows 2000 part of your multi-boot, in particular because Win2K is the most stable of the old OS, which is useful when other OS's go belly up, then you reboot into stable Win2K and nuke&reimage the other partitions from Win2K.

Click to expand...

I like the fact that it's still Alpha software. It has all the features of XP as it was supposed to be XP.
My college classmate found Neptune and he also found "Whistler" (beta XP AFAIK) so he ran Whistler and I ran Neptune. I love the feel of Neptune because XP was my main OS for so long. That's why I run Neptune, 'cause it's cool (And has a neat looking logo )

Besides, my laptop was "designed" for 98 and NT 4.0. Neptune is "Windows 2000 Professional 5.1" according to the system info (and setup)--I figured it would run nice on my rather useless lappy.

EDIT: Oh and I don't have a Windows 2000 setup disk or ISO -- that too.
EDIT2: Sice Neptune is Windows 2000 based, I think the real issue here is Windows 98 not getting along with DOS and 3.1... There must be some way to get them to work as the boot.ini seems to have no impact. I read somewhere that DOS will overwrite the boot code or something, and the MS guide mentions renaming "bootsect.dos" so 98 doesn't overwrite the orginal... Maybe 98 is overwriting DOS then when I re-install DOS, it overwites 98's bootcode...

Oh, btw: the DOS partition is the "active" one. All partitions are "primary" not logical, is that correct?

My experience with multi booting is with Windows 95 and later. If everything is installed on its own partition then EasyBCD sets things up when you simply CHECK the default OS.

You then open boot.ini to see what changed and learn how to manually set boot.ini.


It is a good question if EasyBCD is compatible with DOS. I know it can do WIndows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7/8 and Linux.

As for the other thing, not having Windows 2000 I can understand. Term Alpha means it's not even stable enough to be a Beta, in other words, *extremely* buggy. Using Windows XP Beta instead of Windows XP final, if you have a choice, makes zero sense. I do WinXP SP2 on old machines, but not SP3 as I found WinXP SP3 to slow them down vs WinXP SP2.

I have a 380MHz laptop with a loaded Windows 98, and then I installed Windows 2000 on another partition without anything to speak of installed on it. That way I can boot into Win2K and use the old laptop for basic stuff and have it be real fast but if I need to run any software I reboot into Win 98 and do it there at the cost of it being slower because of all the software being installed on it.

So, it is a good idea to install Win2K as one of the OS on an old system's multi-boot - that way you can reboot into it and have it run fast.


What feature does Neptune have that Windows XP does not? What feature is supposed to be better in Neptune that is not found in 2000 or XP?


I make the first partition primary and active. All other OS's are on extended partitions. This helps preserve same drive letters across different OS's. EDIT: That should have been, all other non-OS partitions are on extended partitions.

Wasn't neptune the 2K alpha?

EDIT:

Silver_Pharaoh said:

I like the fact that it's still Alpha software. It has all the features of XP as it was supposed to be XP.
My college classmate found Neptune and he also found "Whistler" (beta XP AFAIK) so he ran Whistler and I ran Neptune. I love the feel of Neptune because XP was my main OS for so long. That's why I run Neptune, 'cause it's cool (And has a neat looking logo )

Click to expand...

Oh. I knew it was 2k based thanks for the refresher.

End EDIT

I just threw out my CD binders of old software. I knew I would regret it. Piratebay here I come. Hope I saved the keys somewhere on my 10TB of storage

c627627 said:

I make the first partition primary and active. All other OS's are on extended partitions. This helps preserve same drive letters across different OS's.

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Can you install these old OSes to extended partitions? IIRC you cant even do that with XP, even in dual boot.

c627627 said:

My experience with multi booting is with Windows 95 and later. If everything is installed on its own partition then EasyBCD sets things up when you simply CHECK the default OS.

You then open boot.ini to see what changed and learn how to manually set boot.ini.


It is a good question if EasyBCD is compatible with DOS. I know it can do WIndows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7/8 and Linux.

Click to expand...

Testing EasyBCD now

c627627 said:

I make the first partition primary and active. All other OS's are on extended partitions. This helps preserve same drive letters across different OS's.

Click to expand...

So I need to recreate the partitions? Only have 1 partition active and primary then make the rest "logical"?

Oh and Neptune has no new features over XP, other than the new login system. (I haven't found any other features yet)

Neuromancer said:

I just threw out my CD binders of old software. I knew I would regret it. Piratebay here I come. Hope I saved the keys somewhere on my 10TB of storage

Click to expand...

That sucks. Luckly, the internet has everything for you! It is my backup solution--If I delete it, internet has a copy for me

EDIT: What about a boot manager? I was hoping to get Neptune to do this, but perhaps a 3rd part boot manager is the answer here?

Oh, easyBCD needs .net 2.0 sp2, which won't install on Neptune (obviously.)

Am I the only person left that thinks that Windows 2000 was pretty much the greatest operating system ever?

Blazing speed of a stripped down 98 install, with the stability of the NT kernel, and none of the extra crap from XP.

All packed into a tiny install size and infinitely tweakable.

I ran windows 2000 with Litestep shell for years and years. Great times. Poop on neptune.

\dev\goat said:

Am I the only person left that thinks that Windows 2000 was pretty much the greatest operating system ever?

Blazing speed of a stripped down 98 install, with the stability of the NT kernel, and none of the extra crap from XP.

All packed into a tiny install size and infinitely tweakable.

I ran windows 2000 with Litestep shell for years and years. Great times. Poop on neptune.

Click to expand...

Uhh... Neptune is Windows 2000? It just has some extra features, Neptune was Alpha still so it was probably missing some "extra crap" because they released it so early.

On a side note, I've never ran 2000, I thought XP was the most stable old OS?

Regarding my extended partitions comment, that should have read "...all other non-OS partitions are on extended partitions."



I agree with you that if possible, Windows 2000 should be a part of any multi-boot with older OS. You can have an instance of Win2K on an old machine and still have that machine be actually useable if nothing else was installed on that instance of Win2K whereas it would not be if you installed additional software on that same old machine. So having an additional near empty Win2K boot is always advisable.


As for Neptune, other than the logo, which can be custom installed, I understand the original poster is saying that it does not have anything that final versions do not have so since these old OS are buggy, I would stay away from any Alphas or Betas, unless you have no installation media for Win2K Final.


Original Poster, please post if EasyBCD can handle DOS, I know it can handle Win95 or later + Linux.

Silver_Pharaoh said:

On a side note, I've never ran 2000, I thought XP was the most stable old OS?

Click to expand...

We are talking about very old machines which benefit from Windows 2000 being "lighter" than Windows XP.

Silver_Pharaoh said:

Neptune is Windows 2000?

Click to expand...

They should have called it "Service Pack 5"

c627627 said:

Original Poster, please post if EasyBCD can handle DOS, I know it can handle Win95 or later + Linux.

Click to expand...

I need to install XP now to run easyBCD. I was thinking of installing XP using EasyBCD then re-installing Neptune, but Neptune might destroy any changed that EasyBCD made...

Maybe we need to go back to basics, ignore Neptune and 3.1, and focus on why DOS and 98 won't get along...

If we can get DOS and 98 to dual boot, installing Neptune should not affect their boot code, because NT based OS's can install the boot loader menu.--Right?