dual boot vista and win98? driver issues? need floppy drive?

[yoda313]

Ok got a copule of questions. I am running vista 32 on a amd 64 dual core pc. Here is my goal:

1. Add windows 98 on to a 10-50gb partition on my second harddriver (already a 500gb ntfs formatted drive with data on it I want to keep).

2. HAve working nvidia drivers for my nvidia 8400 graphics card.

3. play win98 lucasarts games in their native environment with the benefit of the current generation of hardware.

Is this possible?

Do I need a usb floppy drive to get this to work? I don't have a preinstalled floppy drive. Can I use a boot image on a cd for this?

I have my pc hooked up to my hdtv via a dvi-hdmi adapter. WOuld I need to haul up my spare monitor to make this work while its formating and no drivers are present?

What about cd drivers and sound support? I do have a usb soundblaster live adapter that I believe works with win98. THat would be ideal. I don't know if my pc's onboard 5.1 has available 98 drivers - it was for a vista os initially.

Suggestions and warnings are welcome. Thanks.

I have briefly read some articles saying you need to install the old os first and then install vista for a functional dual boot. Is that true? If so I would need to purchase a standalone copy of vista as my pc is an oem prenistall job and would make this excersise needlessly expensive.

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ps. I have tried virtualbox but there are two issues I have with it. one - it won't automatically allow for cd/dvd drive passthrough and it doesn't support 3d grpahics.

Are there any virtual machines that support 3d accelerated graphics for the 9x platform? And what about the last nvidia forceware drivers for 98 - they seem to only support the nvidia 6x series. Can these be made to work in 98 with a nvida 8x sereis card?

Thanks.

[Midzuki]

Can I use a boot image on a cd for this?

Yes.

I have briefly read some articles saying you need to install the old os first and then install vista for a functional dual boot. Is that true?

That's what usually works.

If so I would need to purchase a standalone copy of vista as my pc is an oem prenistall job and would make this excersise needlessly expensive.

So you mean you have NOT received a Vista-setup DVD???

[yoda313]

Thanks mdizuki.

What I have is my selfmade restore discs. What it came with was the restore partition drive (you know 5 or 6gbs or something). I have the backup restore discs.

But aren't those only the "restore to factory defaults" deal?

I may want to abandon this idea if that is what is necessary.

Are you suggesting that I would need to reformat one or both drives, then install win98 and then use my restore dvds to go back to the way it was?

Isnt' there any way I can just point my setup utilities and say - partition extra drive, format it and install win 98 for dual boot mode?

I'd like this to be as nondestructinve as possible. Is that feasible?

[Midzuki]

yoda313, thanks for preparing my spirit for the day when
"we all" will be forced to swallow Windows Vista and worse things...

http://www.multibooters.co.uk/

http://www.multibooters.co.uk/managers.html

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22boot+manager%22&btnG=Google+Search

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=%22boot+manager%22+%22multi+boot%22&btnG=Search

Hope this helps. Have fun!

[yoda313]

Thanks for the links

I don't dislike Vista it just has backwards compatibility issues. But this is nothing new. Windows 2000 wa great but since it was NT it sucked for gaming. XP s very goo but also has limited backward ability.

That is the nature of the beast.

I'll take some time later to read through the links.

[Krispy Kritter]

Whenever I've read of multiple boot options, you are required to completely install each OS from scratch. Typically starting with the oldest OS first, as was noted above. And if memory serves me correctly, 98 needs to be installed on the C drive. At a minimum, it will place startup files on the C drive. I also don't recall if it will run on a NTFS drive. I never tried, I always used FAT32 drives until my 2nd/3rd install of XP.

[yoda313]

THanks Krispy Kritter. That kind of kills it for me then if I really should be putting it on my c drive and reinstalling both os's. I only have a 80gb os drive for Vista (actually 60 something with some taken up for the recovery drive partition).

I may just end up not trying this.

[Richard_G]

Win 98 can't be installed on an NTFS drive, it can't read them! NTFS can only be read by NT, 2000 and later. If installed on a separate FAT32 formatted drive, any NTFS formatted drives won't be seen by Win 98.

[Midzuki]

Richard_G wrote:

Win 98 can't be installed on an NTFS drive, it can't read them!
NTFS can only be read by NT, 2000 and later.
If installed on a separate FAT32 formatted drive,
any NTFS formatted drives won't be seen by Win 98.

If yoda313 intends to use Win98 for playing video games only,
then the limitations of the outdated OS will not be a problem. Anyway,
I keep believing video games are "best experienced" with a dedicated
console or (even better!) with an arcade cabinet.

[greymalkin]

Have you considered installing win98 on a virtual machine within vista?

I think you could do this, you would just have to format the virtual drive to fat32. This would keep you from having to boot in/out of a different OS.

I believe Virtual PC 2007 is free from microsoft.

[lingyi]

You might try asking your questions over at msfn.org. They have a Win98 (as well as all the other MS OS's) forum there.

One of the main obstacles may be that your MB doesn't even support Win98. There's a thread at msfn about this.
Other potential problems (other than drivers) would be getting Win98 working properly with your CPU (98FE is said to have problems working with CPUs over ~2.0 ghz, though 98SE is supposed to have overcome this) and memory problems, 98 has problems with >512megs of RAM.

My suggestion would be to forget about trying get 98 running on your new system and just get an old system (PIII, P4 or Athlon XP) and run it on that. You already have an old monitor, so make it into a old school gaming machine!
As I recall, those Lucasarts games weren't highly graphic intensive and any older generation videocard would be more than enough to play them in all their glory.

Addendum: Another thought. Assuming you're able to get around the hardware compatibilty problems. How about installing Win98 on an external USB HD. Just install 98 on an external and set your bios to boot from the USB drive first (Assuming your bios can do that, most new systems can. Then turn off the external drive when you want to boot directly to Vista). A lot cleaner, no dual boot problems and everything on the external is safely away from your main OS.

[yoda313]

Have you considered installing win98 on a virtual machine within vista?

I think you could do this, you would just have to format the virtual drive to fat32. This would keep you from having to boot in/out of a different OS.

I believe Virtual PC 2007 is free from microsoft.

THanks but none really support 3d drivers for video games. Good for applications but not gaming at the moment (at least not the more robust games).
Addendum: Another thought. Assuming you're able to get around the hardware compatibilty problems. How about installing Win98 on an external USB HD. Just install 98 on an external and set your bios to boot from the USB drive first (Assuming your bios can do that, most new systems can. Then turn off the external drive when you want to boot directly to Vista). A lot cleaner, no dual boot problems and everything on the external is safely away from your main OS.
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Really???? I have a 160gb usb western digital harddrive. How would I go about doing that? Would it be as easy as formating it to fat32 and then installing the os??? That sounds good if it would work...