multi-boot OS problems trying to boot to C drive I get error mess non sys disk nodisk

[bpsman]

:?: Sounds straight forward, but I can not figure this out I am new to this. I have a Etower 500 MHz with 192 mb's of memory and 4 gig hard drive. I used partition magic 3.5 to partition the drive in order to try and install DOS and win98 and I also want to install unix or windows 2000.
I am following the instructions from this web site here:
>> http://www.xperts.co.za/multi-boot/ I am using the disks that I made from downloading from this site referring to REUEL Boot disk this disk took me through the entire process. It all went great until I rebooted and I keep getting Non-System disk or disk error I have no disk's in the drives. I even installed win98 and all it did was go straight to windows. With in windows I could see the drives I partitioned all of them except the one that windows was actually on. I have done this again and again trying to see if I did anything wrong. Anybody know what is wrong?
Also can anyone tell me how to get free dos I can not figure out what files to download. The one that I am trying to install now is suppose to be mini dos 6.22. I am really new to dos so I am doing a lot of guessing. :cry: :-|

[Alistair]

Greetings,

I'll be the first one to mention, I'm not a expert in Dual Booting, since I use VMWare installed on the same system. =P

I would suggest maybe gettin' a dual boot program (Google it) to make your options easier, and if your planning on installin' Linux (Unix) it has it's own verstile boot manager. Usually GRUB, or LILO and should be able to pick up your different "Boot up selection."

Just my thoughts,
Alistair

[dlh6213]

First thing I'd like to ask you is if you're sure you want to put this all on a 4GB HDD? I installed Win98Se and Win2K on a 4.3GB along with some anti-virus software and that alone used about a third of my drive.

I can't help you much with the DOS part -- never did use it much and I don't know when it should be installed in a multi-boot configuration.

I'm not sure what you're doing wrong (are you sure the HDD is good?), but generally it is preferred to install Win98 first, and then Win2K, and Linux (or Unix) last.

I've attached detailed instructions for creating a dual-boot with Windows 98SE and Windows 2000 Pro, the only thing you would need to do for Unix, is create one more partition and install it on there.

By the way, I tried that link you included and it didn't work for me (page not found).

If you follow the instructions in the attachment and still have problems, post the details, including at what point the problem(s) occured and any error messages.

One more thing, if you have a 4 gig hard drive, you do have a disk in (that message is not referring to a floppy or CD, but rather any disk with an operating system).

[bpsman]

To: dlh6213 I am only putting all of this on this HHD for learning purposes I have three computers so if it doesn't work I will change it again. I am into learning as much as possible right now. I forgot to mention that that computer does have a second hard drive that is two gigs and when I installed win 98 it installed it on that drive and would not let me install it on the first HHD unless it was C drive which I had installed mini dos, anyway I will follow your instructions and see what happens. I will scale back the number of OS until I get it right.
I also tried the link to the web site I posted and it did not work as you said I found that for whatever reason if I copied and pasted it, it did not work. So type it in using www.xperts.co.za/multiboot/ I just saw why it did not work the orginal link has a dash in multiboot. Must have been a type O from his web site because I copied and pasted from his site.
I am going to try your link now and thanks. :eek:

P.S. The link works now.

[dlh6213]

I tried the link again and still no go. I tried typing it in and that didn't work. I even did a google search for 'xperts multiboot' which came up with several links, but none of those worked either. Maybe their site is having some trouble, or maybe I just can't access it for whatever reason.

I did find a link that I think may be helpful to you though:
http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue47/deblende.html
Seems this is just what you are trying to accomplish.

Since your doing this for the learning experience, I think you should still start with the dual-boot till you get that right, then move on to three, then four. It appears from that link that DOS should be installed first, but fdisk from the DOS installation disk should be used (not fdisk from Win98).

If you decide to use the instructions in the attachment to my first post, I'd appreciate any feedback; if there's anything that is mispelled, or isn't clear enough, I'd like to know as I'm trying to make it as clear and concise as possible.

Thanks and good luck!

[bpsman]

I tried the link again and still no go. I tried typing it in and that didn't work. I even did a google search for 'xperts multiboot' which came up with several links, but none of those worked either. Maybe their site is having some trouble, or maybe I just can't access it for whatever reason.

I did find a link that I think may be helpful to you though:
http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue47/deblende.html
Seems this is just what you are trying to accomplish.

Since your doing this for the learning experience, I think you should still start with the dual-boot till you get that right, then move on to three, then four. It appears from that link that DOS should be installed first, but fdisk from the DOS installation disk should be used (not fdisk from Win98).

If you decide to use the instructions in the attachment to my first post, I'd appreciate any feedback; if there's anything that is mispelled, or isn't clear enough, I'd like to know as I'm trying to make it as clear and concise as possible.

Thanks and good luck!

I don't understand why that link doesn't work for you everytime I try it, it works here it is again? http://www.xperts.co.za/multiboot/
I need a copy of dos 6.22 or at least the IO.sys , msdos.sys, command.com files I think the ones I have are corrupt.
Can you tell me why when I type in ( at the comand prompt ) a:\ sys or c:\ sys , d:\ sys it actually changes directories I thought the change directory command was ( CD d:\ ) for instance.
I tried the attactment and when I used win98 start up disk and tried using without cd support it did not work. I used the start up disk I downloaded from the site you can not access. Using partition magic 3.5 I partitioned the drive then installed windows 98 and then installed XP. It works fine and windows XP Professional comes with a biult in partitioner and I also have a choice of which operating system I wanted to start up at the boot process. I still as previously said I can't install and get to work ms-dos I need help here. :idea:

[DMR]

Can you tell me why when I type in ( at the comand prompt ) a:\ sys or c:\ sys , d:\ sys it actually changes directories...

Your syntax is incorrect; the command to transfer system files to a given drive is "sys drive letter:'. For instance, if you wanted to make C: bootable, the syntax would be:

sys C:

With the syntax you're using, your commands are interpreted as:

A:\
C:\
D:\

which to DOS means "change to drive directory A:\, C:\, and D:\" respectively).

[dlh6213]

Well, the link works for me now -- don't know what the problem was before. I'll take a look through it when I get a chance.

As I mentioned before, I don't know much about DOS, so hopefully someone else will be able to help you with that. I don't know why a sys command would change the directory, I believe you're correct about cd being the command for that.

I don't understand why using a win98 startup disk didn't work either, unless it's corrupted or incomplete like your DOS.

[bpsman]

Your syntax is incorrect; the command to transfer system files to a given drive is "sys drive letter:'. For instance, if you wanted to make C: bootable, the syntax would be:

sys C:

With the syntax you're using, your commands are interpreted as:

A:\
C:\
D:\

which to DOS means "change to drive directory A:\, C:\, and D:\" respectively).

Ok I can change drives by typing in ( at the comand prompt if I am in A drive for instance ) I just type c: and it changes drives. If it I type sys c: while in drive A and my dos start up disk in the floppy drive I get bad command or file name. I can not seem to find the sys files needed to make c drive bootable. are these hidden files?

[DMR]

If it I type sys c: while in drive A and my dos start up disk in the floppy drive I get bad command or file name.

You've got the command right this time- not sure why you get the error.

I can not seem to find the sys files needed to make c drive bootable. are these hidden files?

The sys command copies three files, two of which are indeed hidden:

IO.SYS (hidden)
MSDOS.SYS (hidden)
COMMAND.COM (not hidden)

To verify that all three files are available on the floppy, use the following command:

DIR /A

[bpsman]

Ok I will update you now, I used partition magic 3.5 to partition the drive and then I used windows 95 start up disk to format drive c.
I then could boot to c and I took old dos from windows 98 and copied it to drive c that was working. I then took 98 and installed it on the next partition and that worked I could boot to C and to D I then installed XP in the next partition and xp has it's own boot manager so when I booted up I would get the choice of win 98 or XP not drive C I could get there through XP or 98 of course but that is not the point. I wanted to be able to get into c by booting to it. I would like it on the boot menu I tried boot-us also and that will not work after I installed XP it changed something so I could not boot into c drive it just booted into 98. The program only reconized XP and 98 twice.

1: windows 98
2: windows 98
3: XP

click on either 98 and no c drive.
I just remembered I think when I would click on one of the 98's it would not boot to anything. I have since changed things trying to figure out what the problem is. It is easy enough to reinstall that set up.

Can you tell me what command I use to copy a floppy to the harddrive I have tried diskcopy and it will not work. I have to copy one file at a time.

[DMR]

NT-based systems such as XP use a file called boot.ini to store boot information for the operating system(s) you have installed; you can boot to DOS by adding the following line to the end of the file:

C:\="MS-DOS"

boot.ini is a hidden system file in your C:\ directory; to view it and edit it, open Windows Explorer and in the Folder Options->View settings under the Tools menu, select "show hidden files and folders", and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files".

Open the file in Windows Notepad and cut-n-paste the contents of the file here.

[bpsman]

I am trying to do what you said I have one computer with xp home and one with xp professional.
I can get the file boot.ini to open in notepad, but I can't get the file to open in xp professional and it can't find the file at all???

[bpsman]

I am trying to do what you said I have one computer with xp home and one with xp professional.
I can get the file boot.ini to open in notepad, but I can't get the file to open in xp professional and it can't find the file at all???

Sorry that looks unclear: I can open the file on my computer with xp home edition.
I am partitioning and installing dos, 98, xp pro on the other one this is the computer I can't find the file boot.ini I can't find it on xp pro cd neither. what is the entire listing to to folder that it is in.

[bpsman]

NT-based systems such as XP use a file called boot.ini to store boot information for the operating system(s) you have installed; you can boot to DOS by adding the following line to the end of the file:

C:\="MS-DOS"

boot.ini is a hidden system file in your C:\ directory; to view it and edit it, open Windows Explorer and in the Folder Options->View settings under the Tools menu, select "show hidden files and folders", and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files".

Open the file in Windows Notepad and cut-n-paste the contents of the file here.

Ok I did find the file through system\Advanced\startup and recovery. then I clicked on edit and it brought up the boot.ini file. I don't know why windows could not find it, it found it no problem on xp home edition.

Oh well, I edited the file and rebooted and it did put MS-DOS in for a choice of operating systems, but when I click on it win 98 starts still no dos.
When I click on microsoft windows it loads 98.

1: XP professional
2: windows 98
3: MS-DOS

[bpsman]

Alrighty then, I was booting to xp's operating system choices and as I said I could not get into dos, so I tried loading it again and now I am getting the orginal system error message non system disk??? I can no longer boot to 98 or xp I can only boot the system using the boot disk then I can access through dos but still no boot to 98 or xp or dos from c drive.??

[DMR]

As I asked before, please post the contents of your boot.ini file (if you can get to it now). To avoid having to make guesses as to what the problem is, we relly need to see what's in that file.

[bpsman]

Ok here is the boot.ini file I hope this is the right one.
I found it by going to control panel/ system/advanced/startup and recovery/ clicking edit on system start up. The file is the same thing here I just copied and pasted it so you don't have to open a file. When I type in boot.ini on this computer " Home edition XP" it brings up boot.ini in notepad the other computer with xp pro doesn't it brings up notepad and says can't find the file.

This boot file is off of XP professional c,d,e,
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
C:\ = "Microsoft Windows"
c:\="MS-DOS"

This boot file is off this computer which has XP home edition and only one partition. I added the C:\="ms-dos". Just to show the difference between the two..
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
C:\="ms-dos"