[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Windows multiboot (aaargh!)



This may seem an odd place to ask this, but I'll bet some of the folks on 
this list know more about the technicalities of booting Windoze than Windoze 
users do   ;)

I'd like to add a multi-boot DOS + Win95/98 hard drive to my Linuxbox.  

I currently have Deb 3.0 installed on /dev/hda, booting with GRUB,  and I 
have a 500MB DOS partition on /dev/hdc1 and /dev/hdd1   (with ext2 Linux 
partitions on the rest of hdc and hdd).   If I want to boot DOS  I just use a 
boot floppy.

I have a spare 3GB hard drive I'm thinking of installing on hdc, and I'd like 
to do something like this:

500MB  DOS   FAT16
500MB  DOS   FAT16  (optional)
600MB Win95  modified FAT16?
600MB Win98  FAT32?
800MB Linux   ext2

I'd like to be able to boot into DOS, Win95 and Win98.

I'm just wondering how practical that is.    Can W95 and W98 coexist on the 
same disk in diferent partitions and still both be bootable?    If not, any 
suggestion on which is the better one to install?    And, would I need to 
lose one of the DOS partitions so as not to exceed the allowable number?

There are plenty of multiboot HOWTOs, but they all seem to be WinNT + 
something.    I can't find a W95 + W98.    Before I start trying to figure 
out the details, I'd just like to know if I'm chasing an impossibility.    
Incidentally, I'd probably sit the disk in my old 75MHz 'spare' computer to 
do the installs so I don't risk  munging my Debian system.    When it's all 
set up, I'll pop it into my No 1 Linuxbox and set about tuning GRUB.   

And, no, I'm not going to let those Windoze partitions anywhere near the 
modem.  ;)    No email, no browser.   Any internet stuff goes through Debian. 
  
cr



Reply to: