Dual boot FreeDOS with WinXP already installed !

[hulkbuster]

Hello folks ,
          i already have WinXP installed and i want to install Freedos in my second partition or logical drive. I know it has to be FAT32 formatted and only would the setup would proceed .
But what, i would like to know is: would i need to edit the bootini file in win XP .

Any suggestion is greatly accepted.

[Ath]

The FreeDos Wiki page^w does give a few hints, and yes, you'd have to edit boot.ini

[hulkbuster]

I just want to be on a fast track : going through all those manuals just to get what i want is a tedious work considering i am messaging from a mobile.
What if i edit the boot.ini file in the begining and proceed to make a secondary partition and then i install it.
I believe installing free dos would not write a seperate MBR since its pretty much like dos requiring only MSDOS.SYS or some files.
Would that work. . . . . 

[40hz]

I just want to be on a fast track : going through all those manuals just to get what i want is a tedious work considering i am messaging from a mobile.

-hulkbuster (June 04, 2012, 08:42 AM)

Just to "fast track"  your request - and assuming you know all the other things you should understand before you dither with your BOOT.INI - this is what the link Ath provided you with has to say about it:

Technical details
Booting

FreeDOS can be booted from a hard drive, live CD, USB flash drive or floppy disk. It can also be run using virtualization software like Virtual PC and VirtualBox or emulation software like Bochs and QEMU.

To use the Windows Boot Menu the following line can be added to 2K/XP's C:\BOOT.INI:

C:\FDOSBOOT.BIN="FreeDOS"


To boot using GRUB something similar to the following can be added to menu.lst:

title FreeDOS           # Anything you want
root hd(x,y)            # x = device and y = partition on which FreeDOS resides
chainloader /kernel.sys # Boots FreeDOS's bootloader

Luck! 

[hulkbuster]

thank you for your advice :i wasn't able to get to that link since i am messaging from my mobile.
And its kind of limited in its function.
And i an not near my computer so i cant see for myself :  I will message you again to see what happens . . . .
Thank you for your advice.

[hulkbuster]

So i took the default bootini and gave a new entry, would that be enough to boot to FreeDos 1.0, i would install it in 2'nd partition.

[Select]

[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 Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="FreeDOS" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

i don't think FreeDos would make a separate mbr.

Can anyone tell me this is right.

Right

[hulkbuster]

I just want to be on a fast track : going through all those manuals just to get what i want is a tedious work considering i am messaging from a mobile.

-hulkbuster (June 04, 2012, 08:42 AM)

Just to "fast track"  your request - and assuming you know all the other things you should understand before you dither with your BOOT.INI - this is what the link Ath provided you with has to say about it:

Technical details
Booting

FreeDOS can be booted from a hard drive, live CD, USB flash drive or floppy disk. It can also be run using virtualization software like Virtual PC and VirtualBox or emulation software like Bochs and QEMU.

To use the Windows Boot Menu the following line can be added to 2K/XP's C:\BOOT.INI:

C:\FDOSBOOT.BIN="FreeDOS"


To boot using GRUB something similar to the following can be added to menu.lst:

title FreeDOS           # Anything you want
root hd(x,y)            # x = device and y = partition on which FreeDOS resides
chainloader /kernel.sys # Boots FreeDOS's bootloader

Luck! 

-40hz (June 04, 2012, 09:26 AM)

Hey man can you give me a heads up: would that meht

[hulkbuster]

I think i will leave this idea of Installing FreeDos , i do not have any work here, i read somewhere instsalling MS DOS and FreeDos were hard wired to stay in c:\ and i do not want to destroy the table just to install 300 MB OS, instead just be happy with what you have.

Anyways thanks: