Dual boot question

I want to dual boot my sig comp with Win95 and WinXP. How many partitions do I need ? And how much space in everyone ?

Two partitions, one for each OS. Be sure to install Win95 FIRST.

A far as sizes go, that is a good one. Really depends on how many programs you're going to be installing on each OS. XP will need at about 1.25GB at the very least if installing using FAT32. This is without any programs or extra drivers installed although that should be plenty to hold the OS and drivers alone.

Win95 only takes up about 500-600MB with all drivers.

Depending on which you plan on using the most and what you plan on installing on each, you can pretty much make your decision from there.

With a 9.3GB hard drive I would divide it about 75/25 with most going to XP.

I thought about making 3 partitions : 1 for 95, 1 for XP, and one for programs, which would be FAT32 (or at least FAT), so that both OSes took their proggies for that partition. And for Win95, it's the 21-diskette version, so does it require all that disk space ? I just want a compatible and stable OS !

3 partitions should work fine.

I would still give Win95 close to a gig for swapfile space as well unless you plan on sharing a swapfile between the two on the third partition. Could probably get by with 500MB in that case.

Why would you want to install 95.. when you can install 98?

Yodums said:

Why would you want to install 95.. when you can install 98?

Click to expand...

I just need some small OS (small in size !) that is compatible with most programs and games that aren't compatible with WinXP.

Jon : how can I share a swapspace file ? and what does this file do ? (sorry for the newbie questions ! )

The easiest way to do it (if XP is anything like 2000, which I think it is):

1) Install XP w/ the FAT32 File System
2) Install 95
3) XP should handle all of the multiboot options

And there you have it!

What's the difference between Windows XP in FAT32 and WinXP in NTFS ?

To share a pagefile between the two you will need to follow the following directions:

First off, the pagefile for both OSes must be identical in both minimum and maximim values. For instance, you will need to change the default value in each OS by going to System Properties/Performance tab/Virtual Memory Change button and put in a value for each one then set it and reboot. If you want to place the pagefile on a different partition then you will want to do this within XP. Just make sure you set the current pagefile to 0 for both minimum and maximum values and then enter the pagefile you want on the other partition.

I would recommend using the pagefile for XP and since the pagefile for both OSes is a different name, you will need to do a little system file editing.

In Win95 go to Start/Run and type in SYSTEM.INI and hit enter, this will bring up the SYSTEM.INI file for editing. Scroll down until you get to the [386Enh] heading. Find the following values:

PagingDrive=C:\ ***Change the C to whichever drive your XP pagefile is on. It should be E if on the third partition.***

PagingFile=C:\WIN386.SWP ***Once again, change the C to whatever drive your XP pagefile is on. Also, you will need to change the WIN386.SWP filename to PAGEFILE.SYS. Should look something like PagingFile=E:\PAGEFILE.SYS***

MinPagingFileSize=XXXX ***XXXX is the size in bytes that you chose in XP for your minimum pagefile size. If you chose 100MB it will be 102400 (100 X 1024 bytes).

Save the file and reboot. Should be using a shared pagefile for both systems now!

Feel free to ask if you have anymore questions about it.

EDIT:

This partition will HAVE to be FAT32 in order to do this. The difference in FAT32 and NTFS are a bit too great to go into but basically NTFS is a much more secure file system that allows for file level permissions while FAT32 allows for only folder level permissions. NTFS has slightly more overhead than FAT32 but generally takes up less space overall since it uses 4K blocks instead of the 8K that FAT32 uses.

my xp set up my dual boot for me im not picky but its all good

I tried this Dual Boot with Win95 (actually didn't get to dual boot !), but every single time I restarted, or tried to boot into windows, I had a "Windows Protection Error. You must restart your computer" crap (that's why I wasn't here for the last 2 days ). So I went back to my Compaq Restore CDs . And I just noticed that my Windows 98 SE CD, isn't a "normal" upgrade disk, it's a "Windows 98 First Edition" Upgrade disk, and therefore, I can't use it as a standalone, if I don't have 98 FE installed. Now I freed up some of the crap Compaq put on the comp, and I'll install Windows XP tomorrow.

If you are a REAL MINIMIST like me,

I recommed using Win98 with only 400mb of size on drive c:\

Put WinXP with aleast 1.25G to 1.5G of space on drive D:\

put all your Programs + as well as sharing a SWAP FILE on Drive E:\
_____________________

Most people claimed they can't get Win98 to under 500mb. That is only because they have all the **** on it, like SCREEN SAVER, HELP files (why would you need this? save 20mb and delete them), screen saveer (please),

Check the Website of www.win98lite.org

The best size I have managed for Win95 is 80mb,
Win98 around 125mb, and Win98se around 150mb, WinME around 200mb.

It makes sense to have a really small Win9X install size, since all your Word Processoring or Office Apps will be in the WinXP anyways. Why would you want your Win9x to be any bigger?

www.win98lite.org doesn't work
however, ther is www.98lite.net which seems to be it