Novell 4.11 Installation Problems

[Watto]

Does anyone know anything about Novell. I come from an all windows background and I thought I should get to know Novell a little bit so I got a 2-user demo copy of Novell 4.11. The only problem is that I can't get it to install.
My system specs are:
AMD K6-2 350@450
Tyan S1590 Mobo
128 MB PC100 RAM
20 Gig hdd
Win98/NT Dual boot
I booted the machine into DOS using my Win98 start up disk, changed directories to my cd and ran "install". I got a blue screen asking for the language. Then it goes to a blank black screen with a underscore cursor flashing at me.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[simon_case]

You are going to have to have a small dos partition 16bit fat I think and some unused disk space for netware to use as your sys: volume about 500 mb min I think it wont use disk space already given over to windows etc.

[modmidget]

This may not help but I'm running a Novell 3.12 server and most of my PCs have this entry in the autoexec.bat file.

NWLANGUAGE=ENGLISH

[simon_case]

The client install will load this file in
but I think its the server he wants to install, stick to what I have suggested above
you are best using a clean PC to install it on have you got an old PC the spek doesnt have to be high 486 20mb mem 500 mb hard disk
then format a small dos partition and way you go?

[Watto]

I am just installing Novell just to experiment with it.
I have 20 gig drive partitioned as:
c=fat16
ntfs
D=fat32 (8.2 gigs)
The rest are partitoned as Fat16.

[simon_case]

You need some unformated space to use for the novell directory, use fdisk to make some of the drive unnformated and then novell will use this space

[jw10604]

Get a 3-user copy of netware 5. It runs stable and is easy to install.
1. Create a dos partition=memory size+utlities.
2. Install any utilities+drivers.(CDROM)
3. Install nw5. (Sys Vol=4 gig, but for playing around about 1.5)
4. enjoy

[Watto]

Is NW 5 much better than 4.11? What are some of the differences?

Thanks

[jgriffo]

novell 4.11 needs a 25-30mb dos partition to install the start up files. You should have nothing in your config.sys file and when the install starts it will prompt you to put a certain number of files and buffers in the config.sys file. Novell does not like win95 or any other boot up. Plain dos will do.You should have the rest of the H/D unformatted and novell wil make its own directory. After it installed you will set up a hub and a work station to connect and you are on your way.

[Watto]

That not what I wanted to hear! I want to keep my current configuration and just add this to my boot menu! What if I added a second harddrive? Could I then format a small dos partiton and use my bio )or something)to boot into Novell?

[jgriffo]

novell is designed to be an independant operating system on a server. It uses it's own file system and it can not work as a server and a work station. The latest version 5.0 will allow you to see the server volume as though it was a work station and let you carry out administrative functions at the server.
No Novell will let you use anything but Novell.

[chappy]

You should be able to add a second drive and use it for Novell. Make sure you have a small dos partition and the rest free space and that you will be able to boot from the dos partition either by altering the BIOS or some other creative means*. once you can boot to dos from your second drive, you can run the installation.
I have had 95, nt4 server, nt4 workstation and novell running from three different hard drives in the same PC. It can be done.

*One option is to remove your present hard drive and install the drive you will use for Novell, run the installation set everything up etc. then make a Bootable floppy and copy the autoexec.bat and config.sys to the floppy. re-install your present hard drive as master, set the novell drive as slave and change your autoexec.bat and config.sys on your bootable floppy to X:\ (where X: is the drive letter of your dos partition on your Novell disk). This way that you will be able to just insert the floppy and restart the computer to start your novell server.