Set Up a Dual-Boot System

I'm a holdout, still using good ol' Windows 98 on my everyday PC… but I'm finally getting tired of the crashing, and I'd like to try Windows XP without committing to it. Can I install Windows XP on my machine without losing Windows 98?

Absolutely just use the dual-boot feature built into Windows XP. With a dual-boot (or
multiboot) setup, you can install multiple operating systems side by side on the same computer and simply choose which one to use each time you boot.

Windows 98 doesn't explicitly support a dual-boot configuration, but it doesn't have to. The key is to install Windows XP last, so that its boot manager (installed automatically with Windows XP) can accommodate both your existing operating system and the new one.

Setting up a dual-boot system is easy, but it's not necessarily intuitive. First, you must install XP into a different folder or drive than the one your current version occupies. So, if Windows 98 is installed in c:\windows, you'll need to put Windows XP in something like c:\winxp or d:\windows.(If you're installing XP over another OS that has its own boot manager, such as Windows 2000 or Unix, you'll have to use a different drive for each operating system.)

Note: Already using Windows XP, and want to try out Windows Vista? When setting up any multiboot PC, always install earlier operating systems first, followed by more recent versions. Typically, the boot manager included with the last operating system
installed is the one that is used.

Note: don't install Windows XP from within your current version of Windows, or Setup will perform an upgrade, and you'll lose Windows 98. Instead, boot off your XP CD, and follow the instructions on screen to complete the installation. When Setup detects your existing Windows installation, it will give you the option of upgrading it or installing XP into a different folder or drive.

If, at the end of the installation, Windows XP is the only operating system on your computer, it will boot automatically without giving you a choice. Otherwise, you'll see a menu of installed operating systems each time you boot, from which you can choose the OS you wish to use for that session.

Note: If you don't want the hassle associated with a dual-boot sytem, or if you want to install many different versions of Windows, you can use a program like Microsoft VirtualPC. Instead of separate partitions, you create multiple hard disk images (resizable files on your hard disk), and then launch VirtualPC and install the operating sytems to those images from within your version of Windows. Although there's a performance hit, it's the only way to run multiple versions of Windows on the same PC simultaneously.