Duel boot system - change of mobo and processor

[Keith]

My system is duel boot with Win 98 on C:\ partition and
WinXP Pro on F:\ partition.
I am about to upgrade my motherboard and processor and
have converted the F: partition back to Fat32 so that it
will be recognised by my Win 98 start up disk.
Updating Win98 without losing my programs/settings is not
a problem but I am unsure how to proceed to get WinXP Pro
working again.
My thinking is to do the Win98 reinstall and when
everything is OK follow the instructions that I have seen
submitted by Doug Knox to "perform a repair installation"
for XP but starting from the running Win98 installation.
It is absolutely essential I retain all my
settings/programs on my XP installation so a clean
install is out of the question.

Hope someone can advise me!

[Jim]

I take it when you say you "converted the F: partition back to Fat32:", it
*was* NTFS. Considering that retaining ALL your settings and programs on
WinXP Pro was "absolutely essential", you've already compromised that a bit,
since NTFS maintains security and other information NOT supported by FAT32.
IOW, something always gets lost in the translation from NTFS to FAT32. If
WinXP Pro was using NTFS, say, to protect My Documents across accounts, this
may be lost. Other proteced items, like \Program Files, system files, etc.,
may have lost their attributes too. That's not to say this is a
show-stopper, just to point out that things may not be EXACTLY as you expect
once reinstalled. Will the repair correct these problems?? Beats me.

Frankly, I'm not even sure that the conversion was necessary -- doesn't
booting to the WinXP Pro CD and choosing Repair "see" the NTFS partition? I
have the impression that you're thinking (incorrectly) you must start the
repair from within Win98, thus the WinXP Pro partition must be accessible to
it. Anyway, if you've already converted, the issue is moot.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q221/8/29.asp&NoWebContent=1&NoWebContent=1

According to the above document, if you do a FULL INSTALL (not a repair) on
a non-empty HD, Win98 will DESTROY all the current partitions! I assume you
installed Win98 *first*, then WinXP Pro. So you didn't have this issue at
the time of initial Win98 installation. But now you DO!

The only SAFE means to install Win98 is using a repair (i.e., in-place
upgrade), just like w/ WinXP Pro. If you want a *new* Win98 install and
wish to preserve your WinXP Pro partition (not to mention every other
partition you may have), you will need to take special steps. For example,
image copy the WinXP Pro partition (and other data partitions if you have
any) to another HD or CD-R (e.g., BootIt NG, Partition Magic, Norton Ghost).
Or, use a boot manager that can HIDE these partitions during installation of
Win98 (e.g., BootIt NG), which may be more practical, esp. if you have LOTS
of data.

HTH

Jim



"Keith" > wrote in message
...
> My system is duel boot with Win 98 on C:\ partition and
> WinXP Pro on F:\ partition.
> I am about to upgrade my motherboard and processor and
> have converted the F: partition back to Fat32 so that it
> will be recognised by my Win 98 start up disk.
> Updating Win98 without losing my programs/settings is not
> a problem but I am unsure how to proceed to get WinXP Pro
> working again.
> My thinking is to do the Win98 reinstall and when
> everything is OK follow the instructions that I have seen
> submitted by Doug Knox to "perform a repair installation"
> for XP but starting from the running Win98 installation.
> It is absolutely essential I retain all my
> settings/programs on my XP installation so a clean
> install is out of the question.
>
> Hope someone can advise me!

[Keith]

Jim,
Thanks for your reply and advice. I shall be doing a
repair installation of Win98 first, I know I can do this
without losing any other partitions or data. I have
already imaged all my partitions to a backup drive just
in case I have problems and wish to return to the status
quo. I must admit I converted my WinXP partition back to
Fat 32 before I discovered the information regarding a
repair installation, but never mind I can always convert
back again when I have sorted the basic problem.
Once again, thanks for your help.

Keith
>-----Original Message-----
>I take it when you say you "converted the F: partition
back to Fat32:", it
>*was* NTFS. Considering that retaining ALL your
settings and programs on
>WinXP Pro was "absolutely essential", you've already
compromised that a bit,
>since NTFS maintains security and other information NOT
supported by FAT32.
>IOW, something always gets lost in the translation from
NTFS to FAT32. If
>WinXP Pro was using NTFS, say, to protect My Documents
across accounts, this
>may be lost. Other proteced items, like \Program Files,
system files, etc.,
>may have lost their attributes too. That's not to say
this is a
>show-stopper, just to point out that things may not be
EXACTLY as you expect
>once reinstalled. Will the repair correct these
problems?? Beats me.
>
>Frankly, I'm not even sure that the conversion was
necessary -- doesn't
>booting to the WinXP Pro CD and choosing Repair "see"
the NTFS partition? I
>have the impression that you're thinking (incorrectly)
you must start the
>repair from within Win98, thus the WinXP Pro partition
must be accessible to
>it. Anyway, if you've already converted, the issue is
moot.
>
>http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?
scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q
221/8/29.asp&NoWebContent=1&NoWebContent=1
>
>According to the above document, if you do a FULL
INSTALL (not a repair) on
>a non-empty HD, Win98 will DESTROY all the current
partitions! I assume you
>installed Win98 *first*, then WinXP Pro. So you didn't
have this issue at
>the time of initial Win98 installation. But now you DO!
>
>The only SAFE means to install Win98 is using a repair
(i.e., in-place
>upgrade), just like w/ WinXP Pro. If you want a *new*
Win98 install and
>wish to preserve your WinXP Pro partition (not to
mention every other
>partition you may have), you will need to take special
steps. For example,
>image copy the WinXP Pro partition (and other data
partitions if you have
>any) to another HD or CD-R (e.g., BootIt NG, Partition
Magic, Norton Ghost).
>Or, use a boot manager that can HIDE these partitions
during installation of
>Win98 (e.g., BootIt NG), which may be more practical,
esp. if you have LOTS
>of data.
>
>HTH
>
>Jim
>
>
>
>"Keith" > wrote in message
...
>> My system is duel boot with Win 98 on C:\ partition and
>> WinXP Pro on F:\ partition.
>> I am about to upgrade my motherboard and processor and
>> have converted the F: partition back to Fat32 so that
it
>> will be recognised by my Win 98 start up disk.
>> Updating Win98 without losing my programs/settings is
not
>> a problem but I am unsure how to proceed to get WinXP
Pro
>> working again.
>> My thinking is to do the Win98 reinstall and when
>> everything is OK follow the instructions that I have
seen
>> submitted by Doug Knox to "perform a repair
installation"
>> for XP but starting from the running Win98
installation.
>> It is absolutely essential I retain all my
>> settings/programs on my XP installation so a clean
>> install is out of the question.
>>
>> Hope someone can advise me!
>
>
>.
>

[Honjo]

Keith,

I agree that the best bet is in-place upgrading W98. But as you
mentioned in your original post it is possible to clean install W98
where an installed W98 is leaving the installed WXP intact. Only
difference compared to in-place upgrade is that you need to back up
three WXP files of ntldr, boot.ini and NTDETECT.COM in the root of W98
partition, and restore these files after the clean install is done.
Whether it is in-place upgrade install or a clean install, a bootsecter
of the partition where W98 is installed will be re-written to be that of
DOS thus WXP will become not bootable. You need to repair or restore NT
bootsecter. To do this boot to WXP CDROM and select Repair and execute
FIXBOOT.

Kaz