Trying to install NT in addition to XP (Home Edition) on a laptop.
Harddisk was already partioned (11 and 9GByte, both FAT formatted) but NT didn’t like the size and killed the partition table while applying the required changes.
Another installation from CD-ROM failed again, NT copies files (still in DOS mode) but the laptop won’t reboot from the harddisk.
I am currently running a recovery from CD-ROM to restore XP.
But there should be a way to install both, right? Any simple how-to instructions?
Depends on how much you need to use each operating system. If one will be the primary OS and the other one is only needed every once in a while you could try Virtual PC for windows. connectix.com/products/vpc5w.html
There are links on the right for installing XP with NT4 or with Win2000 (the most recent version of NT before XP)
Also from the MS website: “In general, you should always install the most recent OS last.” In this case, you should install Windows NT (which version, by the way- win2000 might be easier) and then install Windows XP.
Installing XP second may be a problem if you have some funky “restore” cd (some manufactures ship machines with a special restore cd that is usually limited in ways that a full retail copy is not) instead of a full version install disc.
I went through the 2000, XP install before and it was a pain in the ass like all MS products. I figured XP and 2000 should play nicely since they are both using the NT kernel and everything else should be about the same. 2000 and XP can not be installed on the same partition. The best way to do the install is to install 2000 and then xp. The reason is that the boot program for 2000 is older than the XP OS and it doesn’t recognize XP as a valid OS and I believe you get some errors out of it. There is a page in MS support that talks about what you need to do to make both OS work. It’s been a while since I have done it so I can’t remember it. I use an english 2000 and a Chinese XP so that way I can read Chinese Unicode.
Linux installs pretty easily especially if you use Red Hat. I haven’t really use any other distributions of Linux in a long time. Just make sure that when you do the partition for your NT install, you make enough partitions for all of your OSs. It should be possible to install 2000, xp, and linux on the same computer, although 2000 and xp is kinda redundent unless it’s in different languages.
Thanks for the advise. Problem is of course that it’s a brand new laptop with XP installed and only a recovery disk, yet I would like to install NT as secondary OS to maintain compability with some older SW we need to use at work (tried it under XP but it won’t allow installing it).
So both versions should be a full version, possibly without touching XP.
That however seems not to be possible. As mentioned before I tried installing NT first by killing XP (NT formatted the XP partition), thus pretending a new installation but even that fails … so back to square one as I only can reboot with the XP recovery disk (which of course removes NT from the partition).
Can it be possible that NT doesn’t like the hardware?
Thanks for the advise. Problem is of course that it’s a brand new laptop with XP installed and only a recovery disk, yet I would like to install NT as secondary OS to maintain compability with some older SW we need to use at work (tried it under XP but it won’t allow installing it).
So both versions should be a full version, possibly without touching XP.
That however seems not to be possible. As mentioned before I tried installing NT first by killing XP (NT formatted the XP partition), thus pretending a new installation but even that fails … so back to square one as I only can reboot with the XP recovery disk (which of course removes NT from the partition).
Can it be possible that NT doesn’t like the hardware?
If you can’t get Win2000, WinNT should have a similar page.
Although the following doesn’t really address your situation, it looks like the 7.8 GB max might be a prob. for you… also access to FAT32 might apply at to XP (does it use Fat32?)…
<< support.microsoft.com/default.as … us;Q314870
Data-Preservation Issues to Consider If You Want to Remove Windows XP and Reinstall Windows NT 4.0
Q214404 Windows NT 4.0 Cannot Access Windows 2000 FAT32 Partition
Q224526 Windows NT 4.0 Supports Maximum of 7.8-GB System Partition
[quote=“Rascal”]…As mentioned before I tried installing NT first by killing XP (NT formatted the XP partition), thus pretending a new installation but even that fails …
Can it be possible that NT doesn’t like the hardware?[/quote]
Something like this happened to me awhile back. When you install a Win OS, it does not format the install partition, even though it says it does. It checks the file system (FAT, FAT32, etc.), and then proceeds to install right on top of whatever is present already. Try formating with a boot disk, and then install NT.
Its also highly possible that NT doesn’t like your laptop. There’re stories about NT being a real bitch when it comes to getting them work on laptops.
You mentioned about a software not running in XP, did you try the ‘Program Compatibility Wizard’ ?
My engineer tried to play around with partition magic but that failed, too. Totally screwed up the harddisk but the XP recovery managed to repair the partition table and allowed installation (of XP).
You mentioned about a software not running in XP, did you try the ‘Program Compatibility Wizard’ ?
Aeh, no, what’s that? Does it work before installing the SW as that’s the problem - i.e. I don’t get as far as running it, the installation aborts with an error message saying it requires WIN NT.
The manufacturer also confirms that it has to be NT, and NT only …
I tried installing NT on a 2Gig partition but the laptop cannot reboot with NT. So run another XP Recovery and now the laptop is with the dealer as we gave up …
