For many users Windows 2000 will meet all their requirements for an Operating System, however there may be many reasons why a user would choose to install a second Operating System alongside it: extra gaming performance, application compatibility, use of DOS/16 bit based programmes, or just a desire to have a change now and then! Dual booting means the simultaneous installation of a second operating system: the selection of which system you wish to use is made during the boot process from a boot loader menu. Initially this section will deal with the most common dual boot configuration: Windows 2000 and Win 95/98/ME (Win9X).

It is recommended that you install Windows 9X first in a dual boot configuration. There are good reasons for this: firstly, by not installing 2000 first it ensures that you do not format the boot partition as NTFS, which would prevent the installation of Windows 9X; secondly the Windows 9X installation routine will of overwrite the Windows 2000 boot sector with its own, rendering the 2000 installation unbootable. If you need to install Windows 9X alongside an existing Windows 2000 installation I would strongly recommend the use of third party boot manager software such as the excellent System Commander 2000 . Install this programme after you have completed your Windows 9X installation (it cannot currently be installed under Windows 2000), and it will automatically detect both installations and create the appropriate boot menu. Alternative boot manager programmes are Bootmanager 2000 , XOSL, and Bootstar. Dual Boot Tools is another set of utilities that will allow you to access NTFS from FAT partitions, and to access DOS in NTFS. Alternatively, you can run Windows 2000 set-up again, and select Repair Installation: this will restore the Windows 2000 boot loader and allow you to access both Operating Sytems. Third party boot managers can cause problems when trying to repair installations of Windows 2000.

Ensure that you have a separate partition available for your Windows 2000 installation, then run the Windows 2000 setup from within Windows 9X. (Note that if you are trying to install Windows 9X alongside an existing Windows 2000 installation, you will have to use a boot disk to access DOS, and run the setup from a DOS prompt) The setup process will run and install the boot loader automatically: you will be presented with a choice of available Operating Systems at boot up. Note that the boot files for both operating systems are placed on the same partition, even though the Operating Systems themselves are on different partitions. Once your Windows 2000 installation is complete you can configure the options for the boot loader screen in Control Panel/System/Advanced/StartUp & Recovery: here you can select the default Operating System, and the time the menu will display before the default is selected (if you select 0 here, you will not see the menu displayed).

FOR INFORMATION ON FILES WHICH CAN BE SHARED ON A DUAL BOOT SYSTEM, SEE HERE.

THE BOOT.INI FILE

The boot loader information can also be accessed via a system file called boot.ini which is in the root of the boot partition, C: is normally the boot partition. To access this file you must uncheck Tools/Folder Options/View/Hide Protected Operating System Files.

To access the boot.ini file on a NTFS partition from DOS you can use the ntfs.ini programme from Powerquest; if it is on a FAT partition you can access it from DOS using the EDIT function, but you may have to set the attributes to make it visible e.g. "attrib -r -h -s c:\boot.ini".

The contents of the file will look something like this:

[Boot Loader]

timeout=3

Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT

[Operating Systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect /nodebug

C:\="Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition"

This is a dual boot configuration with Windows 2000 and Millennium, with a three second menu display, using Windows 2000 as the default Operating System. Here you can alter the timeout figure, and by altering the descriptions in blue, you can change the information that is presented in the boot menu. In this sytem Millennium is actually installed on the D: drive, but it shows as C: because that is where the boot files are for the system. Setting timeout=0 would mean the system would boot into Windows 2000 automatically, with no menu displayed. The multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1) section is important because it gives the path to the Windows 2000 installation folder. The multi(0) means the first IDE or SCSI disk controller, normally a system will have only one (this will show as scsi(0) for a SCSI controller without the bios enabled); the disk(0) refers to the first physical disk on the system, and the partition(1) refers to the first partition on that disk.

BOOT.INI SWITCHES

Note the addition of the /nodebug switch, this specifies that no monitoring of debugging information takes place, which can speed up the system. The /fastdetect switch, which is usually set by default, disables serial mouse detection during rebooting. One switch worth remembering if you are having driver problems whilst booting is /SOS, which displays the device driver names as they are being loaded, and can help you determine which driver is causing the problem. Finally, adding the switch /BOOTLOG creates a log file of the boot up process called ntbtlog.txt.

CREATING A WINDOWS 2000 BOOT DISK

To create a set of Setup boot disks, run Makeboot.exe from the Bootdisk folder on the Windows 2000 CD-ROM: Insert the Windows 2000 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive. Click Start, and then click Run. In the Open box type drive:\bootdisk\makeboot a:, and then press ENTER, where drive is the letter of your CD-ROM drive. NOTE: You do not have to be running Windows to create the Setup boot disks. For example, you can start your computer with a Windows 98 Startup disk, and then run the Makeboot.exe file from the Windows 2000 CD-ROM.

To make a simple boot disk that will allow you to boot into Windows 2000 in the event that your one or more of your boot files is corrupted, e.g. boot.ini or ntldr, you can make a single boot disk by formatting a floppy disk in Windows 2000, and then copying the following files from your active partition e.g. C:\ to your newly formatted floppy: boot.ini, NTLDR, bootsect.dos, ntbootdd.sys (you will only need this file if you are using scsi(X) in the boot.ini file, see above) and ntdetect.com. Then if you are unable to boot into Windows 2000 for any reason simply insert the Boot Disk, and the loader menu will appear, and you can boot as normal.