If you want to split your drives like that then these are the steps I would reccommend: 1) Using FDISK, partition off your C drive. If you think you might want to include NT in there, then partition it as FAT 16, otherwise Win98 and Win2k will work just fine with FAT32 2) Partition off the rest of the first disk for Win98 as FAT32 (Extended partition and then one big logical drive partition. 3) Install Win98 however you wish. 4) Begin the Win2K Install from CD (Set your BIOS to boot from CD-ROM before HDs) 5) Select the Second physical hard drive and create one big partition and format it for NTFS. If you want to make the drive accessable from both Win98 and Win2K, then format for FAT32. 6) Finish the install of Win2k. There you go. This has worked for me four times (WinME, Win2kP, Win2kS, and Win2kAS), so I know it's solid. Hope this helps, Derrick ========================================================================================= You only need to shrink your present C: drive enough to create a second PRIMARY partition. Remember, the current active primary partition is always assigned the letter C: by MS-DOS/Windows. Then set it active and set up WinMe there. PM has a boot manager which will allow you to choose OS on bootup. The existing system can be kept hidden, or you can unhide it and it will be assigned the next available letter while you are using WinMe. -- Lee Chapelle MS-MVP Desktop Systems http://members.home.com/dts-l/ Microsoft Desktop Support http://support.microsoft.com/support/mvp/ Bootit NG Discussion Group http://members.home.com/dts-l/bootitng/ng.htm The Partition Magician http://www.webdev.net/orca/ ========================================================================================= "Walter Fisher" wrote in message news:uNVAfi8PAHA.225@cppssbbsa02.microsoft.com... > I have been using MS Frontpage with the MS PWS (Personal Web Server) for > years on win98. For some reason WinMe and the PWS are not compatible on my > machine: Winme crashes if I try to install PWS. > > Can I use a dual boot on my hard drive? Could I use Partition Magic to set > up a bootable partition (D:)with win98, Frontpage and the PWS, and another > bootable partition (C:) with Winme, Word and all my other computer stuff? If > this is possible, could I transfer documents from MS Word in partition C: to > partition D: ?? > > -- > Walter Fisher > dum vivimus, vivamus (Horace) > The Happy Iconoclast: www.rationality.net > There is only one fail safe way of doing this that I know of. I use Partition Magic to create a second primary partition. I then hide any partition which contains an operating system. I make the new blank partition active, reboot and load the new system to it. I am sure others will tell you it is safe to do it differently but some people who have told me the same thing have later said they wished they had followed my advice. -- Regards Ron Badour, MS MVP W95/98 Systems Making good newsgroup posts: http://members.xoom.com/rwbadour/assets/images/Gpost.zip Tips: http://members.xoom.com/rwbadour/ Knowledge Base Info: http://support.microsoft.com/support/search/c.asp ========================================================================================= "S" wrote in message news:MPG.13c1cdbb3fb762fb98978a@news.cable.ntl.com... > > Hi Guys, > > I want to install Windows ME on a new partition and have it dual boot > with 98 until I've tried it out for a week or so. However, the installer > has no clean install option. > > I know I can install to a new dir, e.g. E:\Windows and use something like > System Commander to dual boot, but what I want to know is whether the > installer will touch anything on my C: drive and possibly make my 98 > unbootable. I noticed it has already added a bunch of stuff to the > registry on C: when running the installer. > > Does anyone have any idea whether it's safe to install to a clean > partition, without the installer touching my existing OS? > > Thanks in advance.... > > -S I'm squarely with Ron Badour. Using Partition Magic works, and it = works best. I was a beta tester in the Millennium program, and I used = two primary partitions, so that with each Millennium beta so that I = could do a clean install on a partition of my hard disk that I could = subseqauently erase safely. Using PM5 works cleanly and safely. By = hiding one primary bootable partition, and making the other active, = neither partition is aware of the existence of the other, and hence = cannot modify it. However, you have to install *each and every = application* twice, and any changes to Registry settings in, for = example, Millennium, are not recognized in Windows 98 until you make = them a second time there. By the way, this is not "dual-booting" per se. That would be, for = example, installing Windows 2000 and Millennium on the same active = partition, where you would choose which OS to boot when you turned on = the computer. You cannot do that with Millennium and Win 98 SE, as they are = evolutionary versions of the same 32-bit operating system, and use the = same files. As you must also know, you must install Windows operating systems in = a primary partition, on the first hard disk (i.e. SCSI Device zero or = the master hard disk on IDE systems), and within the first 8 GB of that = hard disk. There are some third-party workarounds, but none are = recognized or supported by Microsoft. You can use them, but you are on = your own. Partition Magic comes with a utility called Boot Magic that is = supposed to offer much the same functionality, but in my experience, it = has some attitude, and on some systems, just doesn't work. My own was = one of them. It caused some severe problems that took a bright guy in = Microsoft tech support to help me with. The tech support at Powerquest = were stumped. I suggest a large measure of caution with Boot Magic. = However, when it does work, it works very well. --=20 Bob Delaney Microsoft MVP ========================================================================================= If you want to dual boot this scenario, you are going to have to hide your partitions. If the installer sees an OS already there no matter what drive/partition it's on, it's going to suck the settings out of it and import it to the new OS. As for messing up the original OS, not sure but it should at least overwrite the MBR, for safety's sake, hide the partition with 98. -- Gerald W. Vermillion PC Consultant