Setting up a "quad-boot" machine...

[Limerick]

Hi Folks,

I should know how to do this, as I've set up lots of dual and triple boot machines in the past. But it's been a while and I'm a tad rusty with it at this point. I've read some of the archives here on VDr, but didn't see one that specifically "turned on the light" for me.

I need to set up a test machine at work, so as to be able to boot into WinXP, Win2K, WinMe, or Win98. Historically, I have used Boot Magic on multiple boot machines, and will likely use it again here. If you have some insight as to how you would set this up, I'm open to your suggestions. Thanks!

Happy Computing!

Limerick

[SuperSparks]

Hi Limerick,

Though I've set up a few multi-boot machines in the past I've never used a 3rd party bootloader on any of them, so I can't be any specific help here. But have you considered using MS Virtual PC 2004 or VMWare? For a test machine it could have a lot of advantages. It's available for a 45 day trial as well:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/virtualpc/

[DVOM]

I'd set up 4 primary partitions with PartitionMagic.

Then use BootMagic to hide 3 of them and install the first OS.

Do the hide/unhide thing with BootMagic leaving only one partition visible at a time and install the other 3 OS's.

The nice thing about doing it this way is the OS's don't have to be installed in any particular order. All of them will see their partition as "C:"

[Limerick]

SuperSparks , thank you for the reply. I have used VMWare, and while it will work for most folks, this is a case of me not wanting to have anything else in the picture. Just the OS itself. So in this case, I'll not use it. Also, not interested in buying the VirtualPC stuff.

DVOM, we are on the same plane, it seems. I did precisely what you mentioned. BootMagic them gave me an error upon install that it could not find enough free space at the beginning of the drive, and asked if I'd like it to make some space. Saying "no" aborts the installation of BM. Saying "yes" makes the first OS inaccessible. I may try it again and leave WinMe out of the picture and see if the other three work properly. (I supect that they will.) Thanks for the reply.

Limerick

[DVOM]

Since there can only be 4 primary partitions per drive, and I'll bet the installation of BootMagic needs a primary partition.So 4 OS's and a BootMagic partition needs 5 primary partitions.

I would guess that you should either run BootMagic off of a floppy or install a second hard drive. On the #2 IDE channel.

I use floppies.

[Limerick]

Hi DVOM,

I decided to try this project on a secondary machine here at home over the weekend. This time I made four Primary partitions, did the "Make Active" thing each time so as to install each of the OSes into their own partition, and used PQ Boot (on a floppy) to control the booting chores. This worked well. Just to see if it would work, I then installed Boot Magic on the Win 98 partition, and it worked beautifully.

I'm not sure why I got that error about there not being enough free space to install Boot Magic on my work machine, but no such error on this home machine. I recorded the steps I used on this home machine, and will try the same sequence on the work machine. Will report back...

Limerick

[Limerick]

Just thought I'd add a final word to this one...

This morning, I wiped the drive clean on my work machine, created four Primary partitions, installed Partition Magic 8.0, and then installed 98SE, Me, 2K, and XP Pro respectively. When using a floppy to boot between them (via PQBoot) all worked well. However, I once again got that weird error (that I previously mentioned above) when I tried to install Boot Magic.

The folks at Powerquest (recently bought out by Symantec) have their act together. In the documentation for Partition Magic, there is mention of what can be done when one has trouble running Boot Magic (or in the case of using all NTFS partitions, there's no way to even install it). Since I'm using all FAT32, I was interested in the alternative suggestion in the manual. There is a Windows version of PQBoot that you can run from within Windows so as to boot back and forth between the OSes. I simply created a desktop shortcut to it in each OS, and I found this procedure to work wonderfully well! So, I've got things as I want them now, and can get on with doing some testing on this machine. Partition Magic ROCKS!

Happy Computing!

Limerick

[DVOM]

So the shortcuts work even when the target program is on a hidden partition?

I've been under the impression that when some people install BootMagic, it would install itself on an unlettered partition at the beginning of the drive. When installed in this manner, the boot menu is presented when booting.

In my case, the only time I actually installed it, it installed to the first OS partition. I wasn't getting the boot menu when booting, I had to change the setting within windows.

Due to a problem I had with that, mainly due to being inexperienced at the time, I now only use floppies for BootMagic.

[Limerick]

Hi DVOM,

"So the shortcuts work even when the target program is on a hidden partition?"

Yes, they do. Actually, there are two versions of PQBoot. One opens a DOS box that contains a choice of the four OS that are installed. It looks something like:

1- Windows 98
2- Windows Me
3- Windows 2000
4- Windows XP

You simply press your choice and hit Enter. The machine reboots, and comes back up in whichever OS you chose. The other version has a spiffy looking Windows interface with radio buttons that you use to make your choice. (The DOS box appears instantaneously. On that old machine that I'm using for this, the Windows interface takes 2 or 3 seconds to load.)

"I've been under the impression that when some people install BootMagic, it would install itself on an unlettered partition at the beginning of the drive. When installed in this manner, the boot menu is presented when booting."

I installed it here on this home machine on the C drive that contained Win 98. It worked just fine. But now that I've seen how to make the choice within Windows, this appeals to me much more than having a menu at the DOS level.

Limerick

[DVOM]

Originally posted by Limerick
You simply press your choice and hit Enter. The machine reboots, and comes back up in whichever OS you chose.

I didn't know that!! Even though I don't have it installed, I still have the program folder from awhile ago. I found that "PQBoot32.exe" file and tried that. Very nice!

Actually, that may be the only file you need. To heck with the installation. I'll put it on my desktop and give it a try.

Edit: Yep, that's the only file you need. Just put one copy of it on each OS and you're good to go.

[Limerick]

DVOM, it's good to see that you have picked up a useful tip out of this thread. Oh, the beauty of VDr!

Happy Computing!

Limerick

[Limerick]

After a couple of days of using this quad-boot set up, I feel compelled to stop in for a second and holler "Yeeeeehaaaaw!" This is really a nice way to have a secondary machine set up! I wish that I had done it a good while ago, as I didn't realize how useful it is to me in my work.

Happy Computing!

Limerick

[DVOM]

Limerick, Glad it's working out. Just one question I thought of earlier, how did you get a shortcut of a program on a hidden partition onto a visible partition?

I've got to be missing something here.

[Limerick]

Hi DVOM,

What I have on the desktop of each of the four operating systems is simply a shortcut to the PQBOOT32.EXE file. Once double-clicked, that little jewel works its magic in populating the menu with the available OSes that you can choose to boot to.

Limerick