Add MS-DOS boot option to Windows 2000

Question

I've got an old laptop that is running Windows 2000 & Windows 98 in a multi-boot configuration. I need to add MS-DOS to that list of startup options.

I've already added a primary partition, formatted it for FAT16 and made it bootable, and installed MS-DOS 6.22.

My question is, how do I add my MS-DOS partition to the list of startup options?

More information:

My single hard drive has three primary partitions:

• 0: FAT32 Windows 2000
• 1: FAT32 Windows 98
• 2: FAT(16) MS-DOS 6.22

Currently, the boot-up screen lists Windows 2000 and Windows 98 as options, with Windows 2000 as the default choice.

My boot.ini file currently looks like this:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=30
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT

[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows 98"

I've tried adding the following line to the end of the boot.ini file, from an answer below:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows NT" C:\="MS-DOS"

However, it doesn't work. The third menu choice is listed as "Windows NT", and when selected, I get the following error:

Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<windows 2000 root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. 
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

I've tried the following line:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\Windows="MSDOS 6.22"

That gives me the same "ntoskrnl.exe" error as shown above.

I've also tried this line in boot.ini:

C:\="Microsoft DOS"

All this does, when selected, is start my Windows 98 installation.

I'm currently using a boot CD to boot to MSDOS, but I would rather boot from the hard disk.

Answer 1

You need to add a line to the boot.ini file

Here are directions for Windows 2000.

You would add the following line to the end:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows NT" C:\="MS-DOS"

Make sure the partition is the right number (starts at 0 for the 1st partition)

Answer 2

Boot.ini is used by the Windows boot loader, which most commonly supports Windows. For other operating systems, like Linux or MS-DOS, I believe you may need to supply some sort of data file (maybe a 512 byte file). Syntax for doing such a thing may be found from Microsoft's official documentation: MS KB Q157992 : Tri-booting NT/9x/DOS.

Another option may be to use another boot loader. Various boot managers can perform similar functionality.

It is possible to get Win98's boot loader to rename boot files and load MS-DOS files, so MS-DOS doesn't technically have to be in a different partition than Win98 in Win98 is installed to a 2GB or less FAT16 primary partition. Win98 has an ability to use data from an MS-DOS installation, and effectively boot an older version of MS-DOS.