Question: I am trying to dual boot nt4 and windows 98 se (don't laugh - old computer).

I have seen Microsoft's instructions for doing this, but it limits windows 98 to have a Fat16 partition (NT4's NTLDR doesn't understand FAT32) and therefore only 2GB of disk space. I really need it to have more than that.

I started with Win 98 (on the 1st partition), repartitioned the disk, then added NT4 on the 2nd partition. NT4 took over the bootloader (as expected), so NT4 boots, but Win 98 doesn't. Right now I am working in VMWare so I can use nonpersistent hard drives (IDE like the real computer) to recover from errors easily.

I've tried using XPs NTLDR using the instructions here: <http://www.nu2.nu/fixnt4/> , but I got weird errors from NT4 and it never really worked. If XP's NTLDR would work, that should be able to boot both OSes.

I've also tried using GRUB. In theory that should work. In fact when booting from super grub disk, it does. But as soon as I install grub to disk, Win 98 boots, but NT 4 blue screens at boot with a 0x0000007b inaccessible\_boot\_device error (that can be alot of things see MS kb 822051). The incantation I'm using for GRUB 1 is

> 
> rootnoverify (hd0,1)
> 
> 
> makeactive
> 
> 
> chainloader +1
> 
> 
> boot
> 
> 
> 

So, anybody have some suggestions?

Answer: 
I have a machine with Windows 98, NT and XP (the NT installation is quite obsolete and not really required any more, I just never got rid of it), using **[BootStar](http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/Bootstar.shtml)**, a third party boot manager.

![alt text](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bd6Fl.jpg)

**[BootIt NG](http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-next-generation.htm)** will do the job as well.

![alt text](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2aAcc.jpg)
If your PC will hold one, I suggest installing another hard drive, and install one OS per drive. Keep only one drive connected at a time, so that each installs to its' "C: drive".

To boot, you should be able to press a key at start up to get the boot menu, allowing you to boot whichever drive is not your default. Usually it's the escape key, but it could be a function key, too.