Dual Boot Question

I know that the generally accepted method for Dual Boot is to load
Win98 on C, then WinXP on D.

However, C is faster than D because it occupies the outer portion of
the drive platters. Therefore I have already installed XP on C and it
is formatted with FAT32.

Having installed XP first on C drive goes counter to everything I have
read on dual-boot, so it may be too late for this, but at this point
is there a way to:

1) install another instance of XP on D drive and dual boot to a
screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or XP on D ?? This
is my preferred setup, because I want to put my video apps on C (the
fast partition) and run XP there when doing Adobe Photoshop, Premiere,
etc - and then put my Business apps on D where speed is not
important (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc).

2) if (1) is impossible, can I instead install Win98 on D drive and
dual boot to a screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or
Win98 on D ??

Why install a second copy of XP? Installing a second copy would require
another license and I don't know if there would be any problems with the
activation of it.

Why not just leave the current install on C:\, load your video apps on C:\,
and then load your business apps on D:\. Most install programs will let you
choose the location at which they'll be installed.

As an aside, it appears that you've got a C and a D partition on one
physical hard drive. If so, you probably won't notice the difference in
speed. Also, with the XP on C, your speed will be better than if your XP was
on D.

As for the Win98 question - you can dual boot to 98, it's just a bit more
difficult if you don't install it first. The reason for this is that 98
can't see XP and make adjustments for it, while XP can see 98 and can make
the needed adjustments.

Here's a link to the dual boot thingie:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q217210

The part that you're looking for is about 1/2 the way down, buried in some
gobbledygook. Here's what it says:

How to Install Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me in a Windows XP,
Windows 2000, and MS-DOS, or a Windows NT and MS-DOS Multiple-Boot
Configuration

"Ken Roberts" wrote:

I know that the generally accepted method for Dual Boot is to load
Win98 on C, then WinXP on D.

However, C is faster than D because it occupies the outer portion of
the drive platters. Therefore I have already installed XP on C and it
is formatted with FAT32.

Having installed XP first on C drive goes counter to everything I have
read on dual-boot, so it may be too late for this, but at this point
is there a way to:

1) install another instance of XP on D drive and dual boot to a
screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or XP on D ?? This
is my preferred setup, because I want to put my video apps on C (the
fast partition) and run XP there when doing Adobe Photoshop, Premiere,
etc - and then put my Business apps on D where speed is not
important (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc).

2) if (1) is impossible, can I instead install Win98 on D drive and
dual boot to a screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or
Win98 on D ??

Oops! Forgot the link to editing the boot.ini file (so you can change the
boot menu from reading MS-DOS to Windows 98.

Here's the link:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;289022

"usasma" wrote:

Why install a second copy of XP? Installing a second copy would require
another license and I don't know if there would be any problems with the
activation of it.

Why not just leave the current install on C:\, load your video apps on C:\,
and then load your business apps on D:\. Most install programs will let you
choose the location at which they'll be installed.

As an aside, it appears that you've got a C and a D partition on one
physical hard drive. If so, you probably won't notice the difference in
speed. Also, with the XP on C, your speed will be better than if your XP was
on D.

As for the Win98 question - you can dual boot to 98, it's just a bit more
difficult if you don't install it first. The reason for this is that 98
can't see XP and make adjustments for it, while XP can see 98 and can make
the needed adjustments.

Here's a link to the dual boot thingie:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q217210

The part that you're looking for is about 1/2 the way down, buried in some
gobbledygook. Here's what it says:

How to Install Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me in a Windows XP,
Windows 2000, and MS-DOS, or a Windows NT and MS-DOS Multiple-Boot
Configuration

"Ken Roberts" wrote:

I know that the generally accepted method for Dual Boot is to load
Win98 on C, then WinXP on D.

However, C is faster than D because it occupies the outer portion of
the drive platters. Therefore I have already installed XP on C and it
is formatted with FAT32.

Having installed XP first on C drive goes counter to everything I have
read on dual-boot, so it may be too late for this, but at this point
is there a way to:

1) install another instance of XP on D drive and dual boot to a
screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or XP on D ?? This
is my preferred setup, because I want to put my video apps on C (the
fast partition) and run XP there when doing Adobe Photoshop, Premiere,
etc - and then put my Business apps on D where speed is not
important (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc).

2) if (1) is impossible, can I instead install Win98 on D drive and
dual boot to a screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or
Win98 on D ??

I have never noticed one partition to be any faster than
another partition when multiple operating systems
are installed. Visit www.pcpitstop.com and run the
test.

How do I install Windows 98/Me after I've installed XP?
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_repair_9x.htm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...xp/choose.mspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ken Roberts" wrote:

| I know that the generally accepted method for Dual Boot is to load
| Win98 on C, then WinXP on D.
|
| However, C is faster than D because it occupies the outer portion of
| the drive platters. Therefore I have already installed XP on C and it
| is formatted with FAT32.
|
| Having installed XP first on C drive goes counter to everything I have
| read on dual-boot, so it may be too late for this, but at this point
| is there a way to:
|
| 1) install another instance of XP on D drive and dual boot to a
| screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or XP on D ?? This
| is my preferred setup, because I want to put my video apps on C (the
| fast partition) and run XP there when doing Adobe Photoshop, Premiere,
| etc - and then put my Business apps on D where speed is not
| important (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc).
|
| 2) if (1) is impossible, can I instead install Win98 on D drive and
| dual boot to a screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or
| Win98 on D ??

(My comments are inline)

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 09:18:23 -0400, Ken Roberts wrote:

I know that the generally accepted method for Dual Boot is to load
Win98 on C, then WinXP on D.

Not exactly. If the both drives are FAT32 ones -- you can install Win98
on D, then WinXP on C. There will be only a few Win98 files (less that
1MB total) in the root of C: drive then.

However, C is faster than D because it occupies the outer portion of
the drive platters. Therefore I have already installed XP on C and it
is formatted with FAT32.

Having installed XP first on C drive goes counter to everything I have
read on dual-boot, so it may be too late for this, but at this point
is there a way to:

1) install another instance of XP on D drive and dual boot to a
screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or XP on D ?? This
is my preferred setup, because I want to put my video apps on C (the
fast partition) and run XP there when doing Adobe Photoshop, Premiere,
etc - and then put my Business apps on D where speed is not
important (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc).

If you don't need Win98 -- you can do that with no problems if WinXP is
not an OEM version. I can't understand still, why you do need two
versions of WinXP (you can put almost any application, including MS
Office, wherever you want if to select non-automatic installation; say,
you can create manually "Program Files" folder on D: drive, and point to
this folder as to the base folder while installation) -- but that is
your choice.

2) if (1) is impossible, can I instead install Win98 on D drive and
dual boot to a screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or
Win98 on D ??

Win98 retail installation disk does see WinXP loader -- and adds Win98
as the second operating system to Boot.ini as the default system. You
can change the default system later.

--
Mikhail Zhilin
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
http://www.aha.ru/~mwz
Sorry, no technical support by e-mail.
Please reply to the newsgroups only.
======

Here is what I have on my main machine.

Partition 1 = Windows XP on 20 gig
Partition 2 = Windows 2000 on 10 gig
Partition 3 = DOS on 75 meg

I installed in this order: Windows XP, Windows 2000, DOS

Everything works fine because:

1. All three partitions are "primary" partitions

2. Before installing Windows XP, I used Partition Magic to hide 2 and 3 and
to make partition 1 active. Partition 1 thinks it is drive C:

3. Installed Windows XP

4. Booted up with PM. Made partition 2 active. Hide partitions 1 and 3.
Partition 2 now thinks that "it" is drive C:

5. Install Windows 2000

6. Boot up with PM. Make partition 3 active. Hide partition 1 and 2.
Partition 3 thinks "it" is drive C:

7. Install DOS

8. Install boot loader program in DOS partition

9. Use boot loader program to hide the 2 primary partition that are not
being booted into from the operating system that you ARE booting into.

Therefore, each operating system you boot into thinks IT is on drive C: and
does not even see the other operating system partitions. Yes, the hidden
partitions are visible in disk management, and can be deleted from there -
so be careful!



--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from: George Ankner
"If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!"

Ken Roberts wrote in message
...
I know that the generally accepted method for Dual Boot is to load
Win98 on C, then WinXP on D.

However, C is faster than D because it occupies the outer portion of
the drive platters. Therefore I have already installed XP on C and it
is formatted with FAT32.

Having installed XP first on C drive goes counter to everything I have
read on dual-boot, so it may be too late for this, but at this point
is there a way to:

1) install another instance of XP on D drive and dual boot to a
screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or XP on D ?? This
is my preferred setup, because I want to put my video apps on C (the
fast partition) and run XP there when doing Adobe Photoshop, Premiere,
etc - and then put my Business apps on D where speed is not
important (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc).

2) if (1) is impossible, can I instead install Win98 on D drive and
dual boot to a screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or
Win98 on D ??

For installing Windows 98 to another drive, AFTER Windows XP is installed your C:\ drive,
which is formatted FAT32, look he

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_repair_9x.htm
--

T.C.

Remove [NoSpam] to reply



Ken Roberts wrote in message ...
I know that the generally accepted method for Dual Boot is to load
Win98 on C, then WinXP on D.

However, C is faster than D because it occupies the outer portion of
the drive platters. Therefore I have already installed XP on C and it
is formatted with FAT32.

Having installed XP first on C drive goes counter to everything I have
read on dual-boot, so it may be too late for this, but at this point
is there a way to:

1) install another instance of XP on D drive and dual boot to a
screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or XP on D ?? This
is my preferred setup, because I want to put my video apps on C (the
fast partition) and run XP there when doing Adobe Photoshop, Premiere,
etc - and then put my Business apps on D where speed is not
important (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc).

2) if (1) is impossible, can I instead install Win98 on D drive and
dual boot to a screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or
Win98 on D ??

The plan is funadamentally flawed. 98 MUST be on c:.
"usasma" wrote in message
...
Oops! Forgot the link to editing the boot.ini file (so you can change the
boot menu from reading MS-DOS to Windows 98.

Here's the link:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;289022

"usasma" wrote:

Why install a second copy of XP? Installing a second copy would require
another license and I don't know if there would be any problems with the
activation of it.

Why not just leave the current install on C:\, load your video apps on
C:\,
and then load your business apps on D:\. Most install programs will let
you
choose the location at which they'll be installed.

As an aside, it appears that you've got a C and a D partition on one
physical hard drive. If so, you probably won't notice the difference in
speed. Also, with the XP on C, your speed will be better than if your XP
was
on D.

As for the Win98 question - you can dual boot to 98, it's just a bit more
difficult if you don't install it first. The reason for this is that 98
can't see XP and make adjustments for it, while XP can see 98 and can
make
the needed adjustments.

Here's a link to the dual boot thingie:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q217210

The part that you're looking for is about 1/2 the way down, buried in
some
gobbledygook. Here's what it says:

How to Install Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me in a Windows XP,
Windows 2000, and MS-DOS, or a Windows NT and MS-DOS Multiple-Boot
Configuration

"Ken Roberts" wrote:

I know that the generally accepted method for Dual Boot is to load
Win98 on C, then WinXP on D.

However, C is faster than D because it occupies the outer portion of
the drive platters. Therefore I have already installed XP on C and it
is formatted with FAT32.

Having installed XP first on C drive goes counter to everything I have
read on dual-boot, so it may be too late for this, but at this point
is there a way to:

1) install another instance of XP on D drive and dual boot to a
screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or XP on D ?? This
is my preferred setup, because I want to put my video apps on C (the
fast partition) and run XP there when doing Adobe Photoshop, Premiere,
etc - and then put my Business apps on D where speed is not
important (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc).

2) if (1) is impossible, can I instead install Win98 on D drive and
dual boot to a screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or
Win98 on D ??

98 MUST be on C:. It is not a flexible option with that OS like with the NT
family.


"Mikhail Zhilin" wrote in message
...
(My comments are inline)

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 09:18:23 -0400, Ken Roberts wrote:

I know that the generally accepted method for Dual Boot is to load
Win98 on C, then WinXP on D.

Not exactly. If the both drives are FAT32 ones -- you can install Win98
on D, then WinXP on C. There will be only a few Win98 files (less that
1MB total) in the root of C: drive then.

However, C is faster than D because it occupies the outer portion of
the drive platters. Therefore I have already installed XP on C and it
is formatted with FAT32.

Having installed XP first on C drive goes counter to everything I have
read on dual-boot, so it may be too late for this, but at this point
is there a way to:

1) install another instance of XP on D drive and dual boot to a
screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or XP on D ?? This
is my preferred setup, because I want to put my video apps on C (the
fast partition) and run XP there when doing Adobe Photoshop, Premiere,
etc - and then put my Business apps on D where speed is not
important (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc).

If you don't need Win98 -- you can do that with no problems if WinXP is
not an OEM version. I can't understand still, why you do need two
versions of WinXP (you can put almost any application, including MS
Office, wherever you want if to select non-automatic installation; say,
you can create manually "Program Files" folder on D: drive, and point to
this folder as to the base folder while installation) -- but that is
your choice.

2) if (1) is impossible, can I instead install Win98 on D drive and
dual boot to a screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or
Win98 on D ??

Win98 retail installation disk does see WinXP loader -- and adds Win98
as the second operating system to Boot.ini as the default system. You
can change the default system later.

--
Mikhail Zhilin
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
http://www.aha.ru/~mwz
Sorry, no technical support by e-mail.
Please reply to the newsgroups only.
======

Crap. All MS OSs need their boot files on C. 98 can have windir anywhere =
and anyname same as XP. However because 98 can only read Fat drives most =
put it on C as Fat and put XP on D as NTFS.

--=20
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-------------------------
http://webdiary.smh.com.au/archives/...nt/001075.html
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3 D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3 D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
"Manny Borges" wrote in message =
...
98 MUST be on C:. It is not a flexible option with that OS like with =
the NT=20
family.
=20
=20
"Mikhail Zhilin" wrote in message=20
...
(My comments are inline)

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 09:18:23 -0400, Ken Roberts wrote:

I know that the generally accepted method for Dual Boot is to load
Win98 on C, then WinXP on D.

Not exactly. If the both drives are FAT32 ones -- you can install =
Win98
on D, then WinXP on C. There will be only a few Win98 files (less =
that
1MB total) in the root of C: drive then.

However, C is faster than D because it occupies the outer portion of
the drive platters. Therefore I have already installed XP on C and =
it
is formatted with FAT32.

Having installed XP first on C drive goes counter to everything I =
have
read on dual-boot, so it may be too late for this, but at this point
is there a way to:

1) install another instance of XP on D drive and dual boot to a
screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or XP on D ?? This
is my preferred setup, because I want to put my video apps on C (the
fast partition) and run XP there when doing Adobe Photoshop, =
Premiere,
etc - and then put my Business apps on D where speed is not
important (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc).

If you don't need Win98 -- you can do that with no problems if WinXP =
is
not an OEM version. I can't understand still, why you do need two
versions of WinXP (you can put almost any application, including MS
Office, wherever you want if to select non-automatic installation; =
say,
you can create manually "Program Files" folder on D: drive, and point =
to
this folder as to the base folder while installation) -- but that is
your choice.

2) if (1) is impossible, can I instead install Win98 on D drive and
dual boot to a screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or
Win98 on D ??

Win98 retail installation disk does see WinXP loader -- and adds =
Win98
as the second operating system to Boot.ini as the default system. You
can change the default system later.

--
Mikhail Zhilin
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
http://www.aha.ru/~mwz
Sorry, no technical support by e-mail.
Please reply to the newsgroups only.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=20
=20

Sample MSDos.Sys File

[Paths]
HostWinBootDrv=3DC
WinBootDir=3DC:\WINDOWS
WinDir=3DC:\WINDOWS
;Undocumented
Uninstalldir=3D

[Options]
BootDelay=3D1
BootKeys=3D1
BootMenu=3D1
BootMulti=3D1
BootMenuDelay=3D2
BootMenuDefault=3D1
BootGUI=3D1
BootSafe=3D1
BootWarn=3D1
BootWin=3D1
DblSpace=3D1
DrvSpace=3D1
LoadTop=3D1
Logo=3D1
DoubleBuffer=3D1
Network=3D1
;New in OSR2
Autoscan=3D2
;Undocumented
DisableLog=3D1
SystemReg=3D1



--=20
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-------------------------
http://webdiary.smh.com.au/archives/...nt/001075.html
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3 D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3 D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
"David Candy" . wrote in message =
...
Crap. All MS OSs need their boot files on C. 98 can have windir anywhere =
and anyname same as XP. However because 98 can only read Fat drives most =
put it on C as Fat and put XP on D as NTFS.

--=20
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-------------------------
http://webdiary.smh.com.au/archives/...nt/001075.html
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3 D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3 D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
"Manny Borges" wrote in message =
...
98 MUST be on C:. It is not a flexible option with that OS like with =
the NT=20
family.
=20
=20
"Mikhail Zhilin" wrote in message=20
...
(My comments are inline)

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 09:18:23 -0400, Ken Roberts wrote:

I know that the generally accepted method for Dual Boot is to load
Win98 on C, then WinXP on D.

Not exactly. If the both drives are FAT32 ones -- you can install =
Win98
on D, then WinXP on C. There will be only a few Win98 files (less =
that
1MB total) in the root of C: drive then.

However, C is faster than D because it occupies the outer portion of
the drive platters. Therefore I have already installed XP on C and =
it
is formatted with FAT32.

Having installed XP first on C drive goes counter to everything I =
have
read on dual-boot, so it may be too late for this, but at this point
is there a way to:

1) install another instance of XP on D drive and dual boot to a
screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or XP on D ?? This
is my preferred setup, because I want to put my video apps on C (the
fast partition) and run XP there when doing Adobe Photoshop, =
Premiere,
etc - and then put my Business apps on D where speed is not
important (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc).

If you don't need Win98 -- you can do that with no problems if WinXP =
is
not an OEM version. I can't understand still, why you do need two
versions of WinXP (you can put almost any application, including MS
Office, wherever you want if to select non-automatic installation; =
say,
you can create manually "Program Files" folder on D: drive, and point =
to
this folder as to the base folder while installation) -- but that is
your choice.

2) if (1) is impossible, can I instead install Win98 on D drive and
dual boot to a screen that allows me to boot to either XP on C, or
Win98 on D ??

Win98 retail installation disk does see WinXP loader -- and adds =
Win98
as the second operating system to Boot.ini as the default system. You
can change the default system later.

--
Mikhail Zhilin
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
http://www.aha.ru/~mwz
Sorry, no technical support by e-mail.
Please reply to the newsgroups only.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=20
=20

"Richard Urban [MVP]" wrote:
Here is what I have on my main machine.

Partition 1 = Windows XP on 20 gig
Partition 2 = Windows 2000 on 10 gig
Partition 3 = DOS on 75 meg

I installed in this order: Windows XP, Windows 2000, DOS

Everything works fine because:

1. All three partitions are "primary" partitions

2. Before installing Windows XP, I used Partition Magic to hide 2 and 3 and
to make partition 1 active. Partition 1 thinks it is drive C:

3. Installed Windows XP

4. Booted up with PM. Made partition 2 active. Hide partitions 1 and 3.
Partition 2 now thinks that "it" is drive C:


What do you mean by "Booted up with PM?"

Why couldn't you just direct the Win2000 installation CD
to install Win2000 to partition 2? Why did you have to
hide partition 1 and 3?

How does a partition "think" if there is no OS on it?

*TimDaniels*

=?Utf-8?B?dXNhc21h?= writes:
Why install a second copy of XP?

Well, for one thing, a person might have two substantially different
setups needed to run two different programs.

For example, I have two different companies urinating on each other.
One refuses to be compatible with Sun Java VM and must have MS Java
VM or fails. The other company is exactly the opposite. So I have
two copies of XP, one in each partition, each with their own silly
configuration satisfied. And I just reboot into the needed partition
to be able to get work done.

Installing a second copy would require another license and I don't
know if there would be any problems with the activation of it.

Nope, wrong. Install your XP CD in one partition, activate as usual.
Stick the same CD right back in, install XP in the other partition,
activate as usual, activation goes right through without any complaint.

(This is because ALL the critical items that are checked to confirm
that they are the same and this is legal and that you haven't tried
to install one copy on multiple different machines are EXACTLY THE SAME,
because it is on the SAME machine)

Actually I came up with this because very very early in the release
of XP there was a Microsoft written document that said "you might
find it useful to have more than one installation of XP, if for
example you need to have multiple different configurations." I have
tried to find that document a couple of times since that time and
have not found the right combination of keywords to use. But it
gave all the details about how to have multiple installations.

If someone can dig up that document again I'd love to see it.

"Don Taylor" wrote:
writes:
Installing a second copy would require another license and I don't
know if there would be any problems with the activation of it.

Nope, wrong. Install your XP CD in one partition, activate as usual.
Stick the same CD right back in, install XP in the other partition,
activate as usual, activation goes right through without any complaint.

(This is because ALL the critical items that are checked to confirm
that they are the same and this is legal and that you haven't tried
to install one copy on multiple different machines are EXACTLY THE SAME,
because it is on the SAME machine)


I am of the opinion that two installations of WinXP in the
same machine under one license is legal, but I don't think
it has ever been tested in court. As far as Microsoft is
concerned, though, it is a violation of their EULA and therefore
by their own self-serving definition "illegal".

*TimDaniels*

"Timothy Daniels" wrote in message
...
"Richard Urban [MVP]" wrote:
Here is what I have on my main machine.

Partition 1 = Windows XP on 20 gig
Partition 2 = Windows 2000 on 10 gig
Partition 3 = DOS on 75 meg

I installed in this order: Windows XP, Windows 2000, DOS

Everything works fine because:

1. All three partitions are "primary" partitions

2. Before installing Windows XP, I used Partition Magic to hide 2 and 3
and to make partition 1 active. Partition 1 thinks it is drive C:

3. Installed Windows XP

4. Booted up with PM. Made partition 2 active. Hide partitions 1 and 3.
Partition 2 now thinks that "it" is drive C:
What do you mean by "Booted up with PM?"
Why couldn't you just direct the Win2000 installation CD
to install Win2000 to partition 2? Why did you have to
hide partition 1 and 3?
How does a partition "think" if there is no OS on it?

I have WinME and WinXP on one hard drive, with data and video files on a
second hard drive.
Using Partition Magic, both OS are on "C" drive (HD 1) and each "C" is
hidden from each other.
During installation of OS you "boot with Partition Magic floppies" and make
a partition "active" to install the OS.
Afterwards you use a Boot Manager (Boot Magic comes with Partition Magic) to
start whichever OS you want to use.
So far I have partitions on HD 1 :
"C" - WinME
"C' - WinXP
"E" - Data
Partitions on HD 2 :
"D" - Data and Back Up
"F" - Video files (NTFS)
The "C" partitions are hidden from each other in Explorer, helping to avoid
accidental file contamination between OS, however Partition Magic can see
all the partitions (If you really have to mess with one OS while in
another.)