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SPECIAL COMPUTER FEATURE Dual boot for your PC By Greg Swain Windows 95 or Windows 3.1x? – install a dual-boot system and it’s your choice Want to upgrade to Windows 95 but fear the unknown? A dual boot system may be the answer. Let’s make one thing clear right from the outset: Windows 95 is quite different to Windows 3.11, so don’t expect more of the same. Even an experienced 3.11 user will have to spend some time coming to grips with the new interface. For this reason, many PC users have been reluctant to take the plunge into Windows 95, particularly if they need their computer for work. Another concern for many people is that an important appli­ cation or hardware item might not run properly under Windows 95. That problem can invariably be solved by upgrading Don’t be fooled by the spartan look of the desktop when you first install Windows 95. It’s far more user friendly than the old Windows 3.1x interface and you can easily customise it by adding shortcuts to your drives, programs, and utilities, or even to individual documents. Everything else is normally accessed via the Start button. 4  Silicon Chip the application or, in the case of a hardware item, installing new drivers. The drawback is that you usually only find this out after you’ve installed Windows 95 and that means lost time. The pros & cons Although there are some drawbacks, a dual-boot system has several advantages, especially if you are new to Windows 95. First, it lets you explore the new interface and become familiar with it at your own pace. If you need to produce some useful output during this learning phase, then it’s simply a matter of rebooting to switch back to the more familiar Windows 3.11 terri­tory. Second, you can keep all your 3.11 applications and gradu­ally test each one in turn by installing it under the new operat­ing system. In some cases, it will be necessary to obtain an upgrade to avoid problems, although most software should operate satisfactorily. However, it’s nice to know that you can go back to the old Windows 3.1x interface if a particular application does prove trou­blesome. Finally, you can check that all your peripheral devices (scanners, modems, SCSI controllers, soundcards, etc) operate satisfactorily under Win- The Basic Steps To A Dual-Boot System ❶ dows 95. Most setups will be relatively hassle-free, although it may be necessary to retain the old 16-bit drivers in some cases. We’ll have more to say on this subject a little later on. So should you go for a dual-boot system or not? If you absolutely cannot afford computer downtime and you have lots of hard disc space, the answer is a qualified yes. A dual-boot system is not for everyone though. Opting for Windows 95 as the sole operating system is usually a very safe choice, so weigh up the pros and cons of a dual-boot system carefully before making a decision. Space requirements One important thing to consider before plowing ahead is how much space you have left on your hard disc. The Windows 95 oper­ ating system requires about 50Mb or so of hard disc space. On top of that, you will have to reinstall all your applications to get them to run under Windows 95. This means that, for 32-bit applications at least, you will end up with two versions of the same program on the hard disc – one version for each operating system (note: 16-bit applications can be generally be reinstalled into the same directory as before, to save space). By now, you will be starting to realise that a dual-boot system can quickly gobble up hard disc space. Of course, once a program is up and running under Windows 95, the old Windows 3.1x version can be deleted, so a great deal of that hard disc space can easily be regained. After all, there’s little reason to retain two working versions of the same program. A new hard disc If hard disc space is a little tight, then you should con­sider installing a second hard disc (ie, a D: drive). Windows 95 and your various applications can then be installed on this D: drive. This approach simplifies the installation of a dual-boot system somewhat (see Corrupt Swapfile Work­ around) and is also less confusing since most of the files for the two operating systems are kept well separated. Fig.1: when you install Windows 95, the Setup Wizard takes over and guides you step-bystep through the procedure. ❷ Fig.2: choose Other Directory when this dialog box appears to prevent your old c:\windows directory from being overwritten. ❸ Fig.4: pressing F8 when the “Starting Windows 95” message appears brings up this Startup Menu. Option 1 launches Windows 95, while option 7 launches MS-DOS, after which you can launch Windows 3.1x. Fig.3: enter in the directory where you want Windows 95 installed and then complete the rest of the setup procedure. ❹ Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Normal Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT) Safe mode Step-by-step confirmation Command prompt only Safe mode command prompt only Previous version of MS-DOS Enter a choice: 7 July 1996  5 Table 1: System File Names MS-DOS Filename Filename Under Win95 Win95 Filename Filename Under "Old DOS" autoexec.bat autoexec.dos autoexec.bat autoexec.w40 command.com command.dos command.com command.w40 config.sys config.dos config.sys config.w40 io.sys io.dos io.sys io.w40 msdos.sys msdos.dos msdos.sys msdos.w40 mode.com mode_dos.dos Big hard disc drives are dirt cheap right now, so this is an option that deserves serious consideration. Spring-clean the disc Before installing Windows 95, your hard disc should be given a good clean-up. (1) Delete all junk files from the disc, including bak files, duplicate files and any programs that are no longer used. An uninstall program is handy here, since it will quickly find duplicates and orphan files (ie, files that are no longer required by the system). There are several around but make sure that it will work under Windows 95 if you plan to buy. (2) Delete the permanent swapfile (assuming that you have one). You do this via the Control Panel – just double-click the Control Panel icon, double-click the 386 En­hanced icon, click the Virtual Memory button, then click the Change button. Now go to New Swapfile Settings, choose None from the Type menu, click OK and reboot the computer for the changes to take effect. This will free up the disc space that was previously allo­cated to the swap­file. (3) Run the Scandisk and Defrag Table 2: MSDOS.SYS Values Entry Description [Paths] section: WinDir= Defines the location of the Windows 95 directory, as specified during setup. WinBootDir= Defines the location of the startup files. HostWinBootDir= Defines the location of the boot drive root directory. [Options] section: BootMulti= Enables/disables dual boot capabilities. The default is 0. Changing this entry to 1 enables the ability to start MS-DOS by pressing F4; alternatively, pressing F8 gives the Windows 95 Startup Menu. BootGUI= Enables automatic graphical startup into Windows 95. BootMenu= Enables/disables automatic display of the Windows 95 Startup Menu. The default is 0. Setting this value to 1 eliminates the need to press F8 to see the menu. BootMenuDefault= Sets the default menu item on the Windows Startup Menu. Set this value to 1 if you normally boot straight to Windows 95, or to 7 (or 8) if you normally boot to MS-DOS. BootMenuDelay= Sets the number of seconds for which the Windows Startup Menu is displayed before running the default menu item. A value of 5-7 seconds is usually suitable. 6  Silicon Chip utilities. What’s that, you’ve never run these utilities? Shame on you. Here’s what to do: exit Windows and, at the c:> prompt, type scandisk c: /autofix Then, when scandisk has finished running, type defrag c: /f For further information on these two utilities, type help scandisk or help defrag at the DOS prompt. (4) Check for viruses (this is most important). To do this job properly, you should use an up-to-date virus checker such as McAfee’s Viruscan, Norton Anti-Virus or ThunderByte. If you don’t have an up-to-date virus checker, then at least run the Microsoft Anti-Virus (MSAV) utility that comes bundled with DOS6.x. It’s better than nothing (if only just) and will at least find some of the older, more common viruses. There’s just one more thing to do before tearing the shrinkwrap off the Windows 95 Upgrade pack – clean up your system files. First, make backup copies of autoexec.bat and config. sys on a floppy disc then, using a text editor, open each file in turn and “rem” out anything that obviously has nothing to do with Windows 95 (eg, Dosshell). You can also “rem” out environment statements and anything to do with memory management but it’s best to leave the device drivers in place unless you know what you are doing. If in doubt, leave it in. When you install Windows 95, it creates its own autoexec.bat and config.sys files based on the originals and these new files can easily be edited later on (see panel). A foot in both camps Setting up a dual-boot system so that you can run either Windows 95 or Windows 3.11 is easier than you think. The best way to achieve this is to first install Windows 3.1x and then install the Windows 95 Upgrade pack. Do not attempt to use the full version or an OEM version of Windows 95, as this will install over the top of your previous DOS and Windows 3.1x directories. The installation procedure is quite straightforward. First, boot your machine to the C:> prompt and run the Windows 95 setup program as described in the manual. The Setup Wizard (see Fig.1) then takes over and guides you step-by-step through the installation. To install a dual-boot system, simply select Other Direc­tory when the Choose Directory dialog box appears, then specify a new directory that does not have your previous version of Windows in it. An obvious choice is c:\win95 or d:\win95 if you have in­ stalled a second hard disc specifically for Windows 95. Make sure that you don’t choose the default c:\windows directory if that is where your old Windows 3.1x resides. If you do, then Windows 95 will overwrite the old Windows installation and you can say goodbye to your dual-boot aspirations. Corrupt Swapfile Workaround On some dual-boot systems, a corrupt swapfile warning mes­sage may appear when Windows 3.1x is started after running Wind­ows 95. The reason for this is that Windows 95 can make changes to the swapfile (386­SPART. PAR) that the previous version of Windows does not recognise. There are several ways of beating this problem. (1) Delete the permanent swapfile and create a temporary one. To do this, first delete the corrupt swapfile when prompted. Next, after Windows 3.1x starts, launch the Control Panel, double-click the 386 Enhanced icon, click virtual Memory, click Change and choose the temporary swapfile setting. (2) Install Windows 95 on a separate hard disc drive, so that it cannot interfere with the Windows 3.1x swapfile. (3) Delete the corrupt swapfile and create a new permanent swap­file in Windows 3.1x, then use a text editor to add the following lines to the [386Enh] section of the Windows 95 SYSTEM.INI file: PagingFile=<Win31xPagingFile> MinPagingFileSize=<SizeInK) where <Win31xPagingFile> is the name of the swapfile (usually C:\386SPART. PAR) and <SizeInK) is the size of swapfile divided by 1024. All you have to do now is continue with the setup procedure as normal. It’s as simple as that – well, almost! There are a few tweaks to be made later on, as we shall see. By specifying a different destina- tion directory, the Wind­ows 95 setup procedure automatically makes all the necessary changes to preserve your existing versions of MS-DOS and Windows 3.1x. This includes retaining your current autoexec.bat, config.sys, Clean Up Those System Files By now, you may have discovered that the new autoexec.w40 and config.w40 files (under “Old Dos”) are modified versions of your original autoexec.bat and config.sys files. Sure, some lines may have been “remmed” out but there will also be quite a lot that haven’t been. What happens is that when you install Windows 95 onto a computer with an existing DOS/Windows 3.1x setup, it’s pretty conservative about getting rid of the old 16-bit drivers for devices such as SCSI controllers, soundcards, scanners and net­work cards – this despite the fact that Windows 95 includes hundreds of 32-bit drivers for common devices. Note that this occurs whether you are installing a dual-boot system or a sole operating system based on Windows 95. The problem here is that those old 16-bit drivers will slow your system down. However, there’s an easy workaround for this – just open your autoexec.w40 and config.w40 files (or autoexec.bat and config.sys files in the case of a sole Win 95 operating system) and REM each driver and environment statement in turn. When this is done, Windows 95 loads its own 32-bit drivers to suit any hardware devices it finds. Test your system after each line has been “remmed” out, to confirm that Windows 95 has found the relevant driver and that the system still works cor­rectly. If there’s a device that Windows 95 doesn’t recognise, try running the Add New Hardware wizard from the Control Panel. If you still don’t get any joy (eg, a soundcard isn’t recognised), go back and remove the REM statement from the relevant device driver or environment setting item. Ideally, you should be able to REM everything out so that you have nothing at all in your autoexec.w40 and config.w40 files, although a PATH statement can be handy if you make fre­quent excursions to the command prompt. Anything to do with memory management (eg, EMM386.EXE and HIMEM.SYS) can certain­ly be removed, as Windows 95 takes care of memory automatically. So why doesn’t Windows 95 get rid of the old drivers in the first place? The answer is that it leaves them there just in case it can’t find a suitable 32-bit driver. By playing safe, it ensures that all your hardware items continue to work after installation. It’s up to you to “clean” the system up if you want maximum performance. If it does prove necessary to leave a 16-bit “real-mode driver” in place, then at least your hardware will continue to operate while you track down a suitable Win95 driver. Suitable drivers can often be downloaded from Internet sites and bulletin boards or obtained from software vendors. July 1996  7 Fig.5: Typical Modified MS-DOS.W40 File [Paths] WinDir=D:\WIN95 WinBootDir=C:\WIN95 HostWinBootDrv=C An automatic menu [Options] BootMulti=1 BootGUI=1 BootMenu=1 BootMenuDefault=1 BootMenuDelay=7 Network=0 ; ;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs. ;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes). ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxb ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxd ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxe ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxf ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxg ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxh ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxi ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxj ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxk ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxl ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxm ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxn ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxo ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxp ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxq ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxr ;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxs win.ini, system.ini and other system files. Where necessary, Windows 95 renames these system files for its own use. For example, in a dual-boot system, the Windows 95 equivalent of autoexec.bat is named autoexec. w40 while running “old DOS”. If Windows 95 is launched, the original auto­exec.bat file is renamed autoexec. dos, while autoexec.w40 becomes the new autoexec.bat. Similarly, the equivalent Windows 95 file for config.sys is config.w40 under “old DOS”. Table 1 shows how the various file names change, depending on whether you are running Windows 3.1x or Windows 95. Once the installation is complete, your computer will boot straight into Windows 95 (by default) each time it is turned on. Booting to Windows 3.1x Believe it or not, you now have an operating dual-boot system. So how do 8  Silicon Chip dows 95 in its minimal con­figuration (safe mode), boot with step-by-step confirmation, or boot straight to the Windows 95 command prompt. you load your old operating system? It’s easy – wait until you see the message “Starting Windows 95” appear on the screen (it’s there for about two seconds) and press F4. Your old version of MS-DOS will now load, after which you can remove the “rem” statements from your original autoexec.bat and config.sys files. From here on, you will be able to load MS-DOS and launch Windows 3.1x just as before, simply by pressing F4 at the right moment. Alternatively, you can press F8 when the “Starting Windows 95” message appears to view the Windows 95 Startup Menu – see Fig.4. This typically presents you with a list of seven or eight options. If you do nothing, Windows 95 will automatically boot up after a delay of 30 seconds (this delay can easily be changed). If you want your old DOS, you simply select “Previous version of MS-DOS” and press <enter>. The remaining options boot Win- Having to press F4 or F8 at the correct time to boot “Old DOS” is a bit of pain. Wouldn’t it be nice if the startup menu could be made to appear automatically? Well, in case you haven’t already guessed, it can. All you have to do is modify the Windows 95 menu file. This file lives in the root directory of the hard disc and is called (oddly enough) msdos.w40 under “Old Dos” (or msdos.dos under Windows 95). Note that this is a hidden, read-only, system file so you will have to undo these attributes before modifying the file. Assuming you are running “Old Dos”, go to the root directory command prompt and type: attrib -r -h -s msdos.w40 You can now open the file with a text editor and modify it to make the startup menu appear automatically. This simply invol­ves adding the line: BootMenu=1 to the [Options] section of the file. Table 2 shows a list of some possible settings while Fig.5 shows a typical msdos.w40 file. Let’s take a closer look and analyse the various settings under the [Options] section if Fig.4: (1) BootMulti=1 – enables dual-boot capabilities. (2) BootGUI=1 – enables automatic graphical startup into Windows 95. (3) BootMenu=1 – enables automatic display that the Windows Startup Menu, thereby eliminating the need to press F8. (4) BootMenuDefault=1 – sets the default item on the Windows Startup Menu. In this case, the value is 1 and so “Normal” (ie, Windows 95) is selected. Change this value to 7 if you want “Old DOS” to be the default. (5) BootMenuDelay=7 – sets the delay (in seconds) before the default menu item automatically boots if no further action is taken. In this case, the value is seven seconds. (6) Network=0 – this value should be 0 if no network software components are installed, or 1 if networking is installed. Note that this list is by no means complete. We’ve only listed the settings that are relevant to this article. If you like, you can experiment with other settings from Table 2, to customise your particular setup. And in case you’re wondering, do not removed any of the commented lines (ie lines with a semicolon in front of them) from msdos.w40. This file needs to be greater than 1024 bytes for the system to function correctly. Don’t forget to restore the msdos. w40 file attributes when you have finished; ie, type attrib r h s msdos. w40 at the DOS prompt. Giving old Windows the boot That’s really it – you now have a fully functioning dual boot system that will let you explore and optimise Windows 95 at your leisure. My tip is that once you get used to the new inter­ face and sort out any software hassles, you will eventually give your old DOS/ Windows 3.1x setup the boot. Finally, don’t run your old disc maintenance utilities after you have installed Windows 95 (Scandisk, Defrag, etc), as you could wreck your installation. Windows 95 comes with itys own disc maintenance utilities and these should be used instead. In fact, it’s a good idea to delete the old utilities, to prevent any accidents. SC Setting Up Dual Boot Capabilities After Windows 95 Has Been Installed Let’s say that you’ve taken the plunge and installed Windows 95 over the top of your old system but now also want to be able to boot your old MS-DOS. Fortunately, you can set up a dual-boot MS-DOS/Windows 95 system after Windows 95 has been installed. You will not be able to use your previous version of Windows, however. Although we haven’t tested it, the following procedure should work: (1) On a bootable floppy disc that starts MS-DOS 5.0 or later, rename the IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS files to IO.DOS and MSDOS.DOS, respectively. Note that these are normally hidden, system, read-only files, so undo these attributes before modifying them; ie, type attrib -r -h -s IO.SYS and attrib --r -h -s MSDOS.SYS. (2) Copy these files to the root directory of your hard disc (ie, to the boot drive). Important: be sure to rename the files as described in step 1 before copying them to the hard disc, other­wise you will wreck your existing Windows 95 installation. (3) Rename the COMMAND.COM file on the bootable floppy to COM­MAND. DOS and copy this to your boot drive. (4) Use a text editor to create suitable CONFIG.DOS and AUTOEXEC.DOS files and store them in the root directory. (5) Edit the MSDOS.SYS file so that the Windows 95 Startup Menu automatically appears during boot-up, as described in the text (see “An Automatic Menu”). July 1996  9