How to Dual-Boot Windows 95/98/ME and Vista/7/8.x/10
(No Third-Party Boot Managers Required!)
- IMPORTANT! You must install Windows 9x first for the dual-boot to work properly! Also note that Windows 95/98/ME does not properly support hard drives larger than 128GB without modification of ESDI_506.PDR, and must reside completely in the first 128GB on the first hard drive.
- Insert your Windows 95/98/ME operating system CD-ROM, choose "Boot from CD-ROM", then "Start computer with CD-ROM support"
- Create a single partition of up to 128GB for use under Windows 95/98/ME using FDISK, set as primary and reboot
- Format your partition using "FORMAT C: /S", then create a "WIN95"/"WIN98"/"WIN9X" directory on the partition, and copy the files from the CD-ROM to it
- Install Windows 95/98/ME as normal (note: it is highly recommended to add MaxPhysPage=40000 to your 386Enh section of system.ini if you will have more than 1GB of RAM; it is also highly recommended to physically remove RAM from your computer until it is 1GB or less during install, but may be added back once install is complete and that line has been added)
- Install Windows Vista/7/8.x/10 on a second partition formatted as NTFS (do NOT touch or convert the Windows 95/98/ME partition!)
- Download and install Visual BCD Editor to modify the BCD and add an entry for your Windows 95/98/ME installation
- Download the attached ZIP file containing a copy of Windows XP SP3's NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, and a minimal boot.ini for Windows 95/98/ME, and copy it to the root directory of your Windows 95/98/ME installation
- Rename BOOTSECT.BAK to BOOTSECT.DOS on the root directory of your Windows 95/98/ME partition
- Reboot and select your "Windows 95/98/ME" option in the Windows Vista/7/8.x/10 boot menu, and Windows 95/98/ME should boot normally
- Optional: Download and install Paragon NTFS for Win98 to enable access to your Windows Vista/7/8.x/10 partition under Windows 95/98/ME as well as NTFS formatted network drives, flash drives or external hard drives
Known Issues
Windows 95/98/ME do not run at all with more than 1GB of RAM, so it's recommended to physically remove memory until it is 1GB or less during install, add the lines "MaxPhysPage=40000" and "ConservativeSwapFileUsage=1" under the "386Enh" section and "minfilecache=131072"/"maxfilecache=491520" under the "Vcache" section in your system.ini file, then readd the RAM once done.
Downloads