Location of xp installation for dual OS operation

  • Thread starter Thread starter John
  • Start date Start date
J

John

I'm having some trouble with setting up a new HDD partition in
readiness for installing XP as a second OS to my present win98.

I've read that the new partition for xp must start within 8Gb of the
beginning of the HDD. Is this correct?

If it is, then I have a problem with interposing a new partition
between the present OS (win98) partition, C: and the present
application partition, D:

No problem setting up the partition, using Partition Magic - the
problem arises in shifting all the registry references from 'D:' on to
E:. The software for doing this (drivemapper in Partition Magic)
finds all refs to d:, even when the registry is not referring to drive
d:, and shifts them up one. Net result is that I lose my internet
connection - I don't know which registry ref is the problem and there
are thousands of possibilites. I'm currently considering trying to
get round this by learning more about networks but it is a tough road.

I feel that the demand for a separate partition within 8Gb of the
start of my HDD is going to prevent me trying xp.

Can anyone throw any light on this dilemma?
 
Hi,

No, it is not required to have it within the first 8GB, you can load WinXP
pretty much anywhere on the drive (note: drives larger than 128GB requires
additional bios support and sp1 or higher). I would suggest that you use PM
only to create free space on the destination drive. Allow XP setup to create
the partition and format, not doing so often causes installation issues.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Rick \"Nutcase\" Rogers said:
Hi,

No, it is not required to have it within the first 8GB, you can load WinXP
pretty much anywhere on the drive (note: drives larger than 128GB requires
additional bios support and sp1 or higher). I would suggest that you use PM
only to create free space on the destination drive. Allow XP setup to create
the partition and format, not doing so often causes installation issues.
Click to expand...


How wonderfully straightforward - damn Partition Magic manual for
misleading me.

So I'll just cut off my second partition about 4 gig short of the end
and let XP setup work on the unused bit.

Many many thanks
 
Hi John,

I'd give it 6GB, XP likes room to expand.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Rick \"Nutcase\" Rogers said:
Hi John,

I'd give it 6GB, XP likes room to expand.
Click to expand...


Thanks Rick

Unfortunately, as outlined in another poster, things aren't working at
the moment.
 
Hi, John.
How wonderfully straightforward - damn Partition Magic manual for
misleading me.
Click to expand...

What version of PM? The 8 GB limit did apply up until about WinNT4. But
not in Win2K/XP. The boot process will always start in the "system
partition" (the active primary partition on the first physical HDD), but the
"boot volume" (where \Windows, the "boot folder" resides) can be just about
any volume (primary partition or logical drive in an extended partition) in
any HDD in your computer.

And Rick is right; WinXP likes to grow! Even 6 MB might not be enough if
you are not vigilant. It seems most applications try to install all their
files into the boot volume, but they will work just as well if you force
them to go somewhere else.

RC
 
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