I see alot of you on this bbs are dual booting now Just curious as to why exactly?
What is the advantage? I mean if you like one os over the over why not just use one?
I am thinking of getting XP and now that I have a 40 gigger with lots of free space for now is a dual boot a good option to try out the os?
Dont you have to configure all your drivers etc twice?
SO if you have for example Office installed on one partition and you dual boot do you have to install it on the second one if you want to access it? isnt that a waste of hdd space?
give me your thoughts...
WW
Why Do You Dual Boot ?
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WeekendWarrior
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Why Do You Dual Boot ?
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FlyingPenguin
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I dual boot Win9SE & Win2K.
The original reason was when I first installed Win2K over a year ago, I didn't trust it. However, I've never had a problem.
Why do I continue to maintain a 98 partition?
1) Backup - if my Win2K install gets trashed I can fire up Win98 and continue my work with little interuption (happened once already). Needless to say, you need to format all your partitions in FAT32 for this to work, but for a home user there's really no compelling reason to use NTFS.
2) Compatibility - there's still occasionally a program I'll trip over (much rarer now) or game that won't run properly under Win2K.
3) Reference - I do computer repair and sometime I just need to boot into Win98 to check something.
It's not that much of a waste of space. My Win98 partition is 2.5 Gb - a drop in the bucket on a system with a 60Gb RAID.
You can install all your apps in the same folders and share them. For instance there's only one copy of MS Office on this computer. I installed it in one OS and then install it into the same destination folder while in the other OS. Both OSes share the same files, but each OS has it's own copy of system DLL files and registry settings.
The original reason was when I first installed Win2K over a year ago, I didn't trust it. However, I've never had a problem.
Why do I continue to maintain a 98 partition?
1) Backup - if my Win2K install gets trashed I can fire up Win98 and continue my work with little interuption (happened once already). Needless to say, you need to format all your partitions in FAT32 for this to work, but for a home user there's really no compelling reason to use NTFS.
2) Compatibility - there's still occasionally a program I'll trip over (much rarer now) or game that won't run properly under Win2K.
3) Reference - I do computer repair and sometime I just need to boot into Win98 to check something.
It's not that much of a waste of space. My Win98 partition is 2.5 Gb - a drop in the bucket on a system with a 60Gb RAID.
You can install all your apps in the same folders and share them. For instance there's only one copy of MS Office on this computer. I installed it in one OS and then install it into the same destination folder while in the other OS. Both OSes share the same files, but each OS has it's own copy of system DLL files and registry settings.
Christians warn us about the anti-christ for 2,000 years, and when he shows up, they buy a bible from him.
Thought's from a former multibooter:
Many use a dualboot between Win9x and Win2000/XP for different reasons. Win9x has still the best gameperformance and the fastest drivers ... but Win2000(XP) drivers are slowly closing the performance gap. These people use the 2000/XP for the rest of their computerusage (office/internet etc.) because it's more stable.
Some dualboot to check how well a new OS (2000 or XP) works with their setup but still keep their old OS (98/ME) cause they know it works and they keep it in case the new OS is not ready yet.
Others might even use a dualboot with Linux to play around with an really different OS.
You have to install all your apps that you want to share between both OS twice, once under each OS ... but you don't have to install them into different partitions, just point them to the same partition. Create a partition called APPS or PROGRAMS and then point the installer to that partition instead of the default (which is C: in most cases). There can be small problems when you patch up programs that store their versions in the registry but this is only minor. At least intall the programs first from both OS before you patch them from one.
I'm currently running Win2000 only but I had 98/2000beta for a while and even a 98/NT4/Linux setup which worked just fine.
Many use a dualboot between Win9x and Win2000/XP for different reasons. Win9x has still the best gameperformance and the fastest drivers ... but Win2000(XP) drivers are slowly closing the performance gap. These people use the 2000/XP for the rest of their computerusage (office/internet etc.) because it's more stable.
Some dualboot to check how well a new OS (2000 or XP) works with their setup but still keep their old OS (98/ME) cause they know it works and they keep it in case the new OS is not ready yet.
Others might even use a dualboot with Linux to play around with an really different OS.
You have to install all your apps that you want to share between both OS twice, once under each OS ... but you don't have to install them into different partitions, just point them to the same partition. Create a partition called APPS or PROGRAMS and then point the installer to that partition instead of the default (which is C: in most cases). There can be small problems when you patch up programs that store their versions in the registry but this is only minor. At least intall the programs first from both OS before you patch them from one.
I'm currently running Win2000 only but I had 98/2000beta for a while and even a 98/NT4/Linux setup which worked just fine.
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EvilHorace
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Yep, I've also found that gaming seems better, more stable in Win98 (at least on this PC in the past, havent played too many games lately). Yes, drivers and shortcuts, programs need dual install too which can be a pain setting it up but although I too once considered ousting Win98SE, after my recent problems I'm glad that I hadn't as I was able to save all my files and the machine was still usable despite problems with one OS or the other.
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WeekendWarrior
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Thanks guys.
SO for example if i have office installed now on c:\program files and after I dual boot with Xp on the D: drive, I would reintall Office after booting into XP but still tell it to install into c:\program files ?
If so what about programs that need updates or patches to work in XP?
same install method but add the patch while in the XP environment?'
I think I get it.
thanks again
WW
SO for example if i have office installed now on c:\program files and after I dual boot with Xp on the D: drive, I would reintall Office after booting into XP but still tell it to install into c:\program files ?
If so what about programs that need updates or patches to work in XP?
same install method but add the patch while in the XP environment?'
I think I get it.
thanks again
WW
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WW
WW
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NascarFool
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FlyingPenguin
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There aren't many programs that need a specific XP patch, and if they do that patch will also work in 98 in all likelyhood.
The general rule of thumb to keep from breaking anything is ALWAYS do it twice - once in XP or Win2K and once in 98.
Eventually you'll probably use win2K/XP most of the time and forget about 98 so if you ever have to use 98 in an emergency you may find you have to do some patching. Generally it's not a problem.
Few games even need to be re-installed. Most Quake engine games, for instance, can be installed in one OS then just copy the shortcuts over to the other OS. For HL and Q3 you'll need to re-enter the CD key in the other OS since this is stored in the registry, but you'll be prompted for it.
The general rule of thumb to keep from breaking anything is ALWAYS do it twice - once in XP or Win2K and once in 98.
Eventually you'll probably use win2K/XP most of the time and forget about 98 so if you ever have to use 98 in an emergency you may find you have to do some patching. Generally it's not a problem.
Few games even need to be re-installed. Most Quake engine games, for instance, can be installed in one OS then just copy the shortcuts over to the other OS. For HL and Q3 you'll need to re-enter the CD key in the other OS since this is stored in the registry, but you'll be prompted for it.
Christians warn us about the anti-christ for 2,000 years, and when he shows up, they buy a bible from him.