PC Hacks 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools

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Hack 86 Configure a Multiboot System

Windows NT and later provide multiboot capabilities supporting DOS and Windows.

Windows NT, 2000, and XP natively support multiboot capabilities, on one or more disk drives. This capability allows you to retain DOS or an older version of Windows, install Windows NT, 2000, or XP, and be able to select between DOS/old Windows and the later operating system of your choice. Assuming you want to retain "good old DOS" or an older version of Windows, there is a requirement that the system (typically the first) partition of your hard drive already be formatted as FAT-16 or FAT-32 and have a working version of DOS (6.22 or 7.0 from Windows 95/98/Me) already installed, and optionally that Windows 95/98/Me is functional on that partition before installing NT, 2000, or XP.

Windows's multiboot process works by placing a special boot loader program called NTLDR in the boot sector of the hard drive's active/bootable partition. NTLDR reads and acts upon boot disk, partition, and operating system information found in a hidden configuration file named BOOT.INI. After reading BOOT.INI, NTLDR loads and executes the appropriate boot code for the operating system you have chosen.

To begin the NT/2000/XP installation, boot from a diskette (or CD-ROM) that includes CD-ROM support and start from a DOS prompt. Assuming your CD-ROM drive is drive D:, issue the following command:

D:\i386\winnt

You may also boot from the NT/2000/XP installation CD, which starts installation automatically. Either way starts the setup process in non-Windows mode and provides all of the options necessary to configure for a multi-boot installation. During the installation process, Windows NT/2000/XP prompts you to select the drive and directory you want to install the new OS on, as shown in Figure 9-7.

Figure 9-7. Select which space to use for Windows installation

NT, 2000, and XP will install on the same partition as your older operating system, but you may not want to do this if you don't want to risk doing something in DOS that may trash your Windows installation. If you elect to use the same partition, the directory that NT/2000/XP installs on should be different than the one containing DOS or Windows 9x, so your selection will probably be to \WINNT (NT, 2000) or to \WINDOWS (XP and later) as the target directory.

As you consider the installation possibilities, keep in mind the following tips from Microsoft for combined NT and XP installations:

• Because of differences in NTFS versions, using NTFS for Windows XP and Windows NT is not recommended unless you install all of the service packs for NT. If NTFS is used, file corruption or the inability to read or write files from the other operating system can result.

• Windows NT 4.0 should be updated with the latest released Service Pack before installing Windows XP.

In general, when NT/2000 and Windows XP are involved in the same system, follow these guidelines:

• Install NT/2000 and XP on separate partitions.

• Install applications separately on separate partitions for each operating system if necessary.

If the multiboot PC is to be used on a LAN, the network name for the computer must be different for each operating system because authentication and security credentials are tied to the name of the machine as well as some internal details specific to each install. Otherwise, your other machines get confused about the identity and credentials of the multiboot PC.

Only 2000 and XP support Dynamic disks—that is, RAID, removable, or other media that is likely to go offline or change from run-time to run-time. Check your disks and partitions in Control PanelAdministrative ToolsComputer ManagementDisk Management. Change any Dynamic disks to Basic disks if you want all operating systems compatible with the common filesystem to be able to access them.

If you elect to install the new operating system on the drive and partition with an existing operating system, you don't want to let the installation process format the partition as FAT or NTFS (Figure 9-8) or you will lose the original operating system and possibly any data contained on the drive. You are, of course, free to delete an expendable partition and then create and format a new partition for the new operating system. The screen prompts and warnings are obvious with a couple of "are you sure" chances so you can back out and rethink the process.

Figure 9-8. Windows 2000 setup asks whether to format the selected partition

The installation process will create a BOOT.INI file [Hack#94] in the root directory of the system/boot partition of the first active disk drive. BOOT.INI contains the information read by the NTLDR boot-up application and presents it at startup in the form of a text menu from which you select the operating system you want to run.

When the installation of the new operating system completes and you restart the system, you will be presented with a new boot menu (Figure 9-9) that allows you to select your previous operating system or the new one. The process works the same when adding a third operating system to unused disk space on the existing drive or a separate new drive.

Figure 9-9. Multi-boot menu for Windows and Windows XP

Follow the same basic steps to add partitions, additional disk drives and partitions, and more operating systems. They will all be dependent upon the NTLDR program and boot information on the first Hard drive's partition.

Multibooting with Windows requires that DOS and Windows 9x-Me be present first, adding NT/2000/XP later because DOS and 9x-Me do not natively support multi-boot. Adding DOS or 9x-Me to an existing NT/2000/XP installation requires the use of a third-party multiboot utility, or taking advantage of the OS-within-OS virtual machine capabilities of VMware.

9.3.1 The Hardware Solution

The absolute simplest (no partitions or menu choices) and safest (no filesystem compatibility issues) way to use different operating systems is to change out the hard drive in the PC. Admittedly the thought of opening the case of your PC and wrestling with all the cables and screws to change the OS from DOS to Windows XP to Linux does not sound very appealing, even to hard-core techies. The solution to this dilemma is to use a product called a swappable drive carrier. Swappable carriers allow you to easily and safely remove and change hard drives without opening your PC's case. They also provide a good method to secure your drive(s) somewhere away from your PC, such as in a fireproof safe.

This device, shown in Figure 9-10, comes in two pieces—a removable carrier to hold and connect to a 3.5" hard drive, and a host bay that installs in the system and gets connected to power and IDE or SCSI cable (depending on the version you buy).

Figure 9-10. IDE drive carrier and connection bay

The carrier and bay provide mating connections for power and data. To use this method, you must have an open 5.25" half-height drive slot to hold the connection bay. Remove your hard drive from the PC, configure the jumpers on your hard drive so it is the Master, connect the hard drive to the power and data cables, insert the drive into the carrier, and secure it with screws. Install the connection bay in a 5.25" drive slot and connect the data and power cables. Slide the drive carrier into the connection bay and boot up.

Obtain additional drive carriers from your dealer, install hard drives in them, and configure each for your operating system(s) of choice. If you need to share data across operating systems, install a second hard drive as the "Slave" in the system and copy your data from each of the operating system drives onto this second "data" drive. Make sure the "data" drive is using a filesystem that is supported by all of the operating systems you'll be using. If you want to secure your data away from your PC, use a second drive carrier/connector bay to allow you to remove the "data" drive to a secure location as well.

Be sure to obtain the correct style of drive bay for your hard drives. There is a style available for older, slower, non-DMA/ATA-66 IDE drives and one for newer, faster UDMA/ATA-100/ATA-133. Buying the older style will reduce the performance of your faster hard drives. Buying the newer style is recommended for all drive types. In all cases, using an 80-wire IDE cable is recommended to maintain optimal data transfer performance of any drive type.

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