multi boot Inquiry for setting up a multi-boot configuration with 4 OS

[Inkadinkadoo]

Hi, this is my first time posting in these forums. I play a lot of games ranging from the newest to very old '90s games on PC. I'm sure most of you know that Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10 all have poor compatibility with games that run on x32 bit operating systems (not to mention Windows 10's shady compatibility with DirectX9 programs). In order to combat this, I would like to set up a multi boot configuration with Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows 10 on a SATA III SSD. But there are a few things I'm unsure about, so I'll list my computer's specs and then proceed to point them out.

 

Motherboard: ASUS Maximus Hero IX Z270 LGA1151

CPU: Intel Core I7 7700K Stock clock speeds

GPU: Nvidia GTX 1070 8GB Overclocked

RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3600mhz

Storage 1: SATA SSD of negotiable capacity (currently own a 128GB, but am going to get a bigger one, perferably 1TB)

Storage 2: Seagate Ironwolf 10TB 7200RPM 256MB Cache

Optical Drive: Yes

 

Now, the first thing i'm concerned about is attempting to run Windows XP, a x32 bit operating system, with a computer with 16GB of RAM. x32 bit can only support 4GB of RAM, but i don't have a 4GB or less stick, i have two 8GB sticks. Would this stop me in my tracks right there? Or would it work, but only use up to 4GB of ram on 1 stick Is it even compatible with DDR4 RAM or Z270 mobos? Also, is Windows XP and Windows 98 even compatible with being installed on an SSD? (I avoided NVME for compatibility issues with Windows 7, though easily fixable with a patch i heard) Also, i don't know anything really, about Windows 98 and 16bit operating system compatibility or requirements. Also i have no clue if the CPU is too new and incompatible with older operating systems. i know Microsoft blocked Kaby Lake processors on Windows 7 in an effort to get more people to "update" to windows 10, but it's easily fixed with an unofficial patch (which i'm currently using) because they should work just fine with Windows 7, but MS got shady.

 

I'd like to throw in Ubuntu if at all possible, as an added bonus. It's not a huge want, but just that. an added bonus.

 

Also, would Windows XP and Windows 98 even support video output through DisplayPort or HDMI?

 

Would I be better off attempting to set up Virtual Machines for XP and 98? If so, or if not, please explain.

 

Thank you for taking the time to check out my conundrum/plan. All input is greatly appreciated!

[MedievalMatt]

7 minutes ago, Inkadinkadoo said:

Hi, this is my first time posting in these forums. I play a lot of games ranging from the newest to very old '90s games on PC. I'm sure most of you know that Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10 all have poor compatibility with games that run on x32 bit operating systems (not to mention Windows 10's shady compatibility with DirectX9 programs). In order to combat this, I would like to set up a multi boot configuration with Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows 10 on a SATA III SSD. But there are a few things I'm unsure about, so I'll list my computer's specs and then proceed to point them out.

 

Motherboard: ASUS Maximus Hero IX Z270 LGA1151

CPU: Intel Core I7 7700K Stock clock speeds

GPU: Nvidia GTX 1070 8GB Overclocked

RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3600mhz

Storage 1: SATA SSD of negotiable capacity (currently own a 128GB, but am going to get a bigger one, perferably 1TB)

Storage 2: Seagate Ironwolf 10TB 7200RPM 256MB Cache

Optical Drive: Yes

 

Now, the first thing i'm concerned about is attempting to run Windows XP, a x32 bit operating system, with a computer with 16GB of RAM. x32 bit can only support 4GB of RAM, but i don't have a 4GB or less stick, i have two 8GB sticks. Would this stop me in my tracks right there? Or would it work, but only use up to 4GB of ram on 1 stick Is it even compatible with DDR4 RAM or Z270 mobos? Also, is Windows XP and Windows 98 even compatible with being installed on an SSD? (I avoided NVME for compatibility issues with Windows 7, though easily fixable with a patch i heard) Also, i don't know anything really, about Windows 98 and 16bit operating system compatibility or requirements. Also i have no clue if the CPU is too new and incompatible with older operating systems. i know Microsoft blocked Kaby Lake processors on Windows 7 in an effort to get more people to "update" to windows 10, but it's easily fixed with an unofficial patch (which i'm currently using) because they should work just fine with Windows 7, but MS got shady.

 

I'd like to throw in Ubuntu if at all possible, as an added bonus. It's not a huge want, but just that. an added bonus.

 

Also, would Windows XP and Windows 98 even support video output through DisplayPort or HDMI?

 

Would I be better off attempting to set up Virtual Machines for XP and 98? If so, or if not, please explain.

 

Thank you for taking the time to check out my conundrum/plan. All input is greatly appreciated!

your biggest problem will be drivers with XP, i think the OS should be fine though running on bare metal, assuming you can get working drivers.  which should be a fun time *sarcasm*.  Windows 98 your going to need to visualize, which should be more than enough to get what you need.  modern hardware was so far beyond anyone imagination in 1998 that it likely wont even know how to talk to 90% of your hardware.

[Inkadinkadoo]

thanks for the quick responses and great suggestions guys. So basically, I could either have Windows 10, 7 and XP multiboot and dance around with drivers, maybe run a VM of 98 if needed, OR use Ubuntu and WINE for older windows games....(i don't quite understand what you mean, pass GTX 1070 into a windows 10 VM. my GPU doesn't work in Linux? confused on that.) well, considering i know next to nothing about Linux other than Ubuntu is one of the best versions and it's fully open source, I'm leaning toward dancing around with the XP drivers on a multiboot... I'm HOPING Windows XP has decent compatibility with Windows 98 games and programs, and i can just skip 98 or VM it. The main thing is i want to stay away from running windows XP in a VM because i've tried 98 in a VM, but games had weird artifacts and other visual issues. specifically Gearhead Garage. People seem to have determined it's a VM bug. (That and the fact i'd have to buy a liscense for whatever VM software i would end up using, either VMware or Virtualbox)

Edited December 28, 2017 by Inkadinkadoo

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

Setting up an XP + 7 + 10 + Ubuntu setup is easy enough once you get the hang of it.  I used to have XP+Vista+Win7+Mint on my netbook BITD.  Took me a while to figure out the correct order, but after a few attempts it turned out to be quite easy really.

 

A couple points worth noting :

- The 3 Windows OSes will want a primary partition, Linux is fine with having a logical one. 

- You can give each OS a small partition and add an NTFS data partition that can be seen by all OSes (for example on a 500GB SSD you could take 40+40+40+40GB for the OSes and use the remaining free space for a 300+GB NTFS data partition that can be accessed by all).  That makes it convenient to save pictures and downloads to a central location. 

- Be sure to unplug the Ironwolf drive first, Windows has this nasty habit of installing the bootloader on a different drive than the OS one.  You really want only one HDD or SSD in your system when installing windows.

- Install the Windows OSes from new to old, not the other way around.  So Win10 first, XP last.  Later versions of Windows will recognize earlier ones and will add them to Windows' own bootloader, which doesn't recognize linux as far as I know (haven't tried it on Win10, but I doubt that it has changed). 

If you go from old to young, the Grub bootloader's menu (more on Grub later) will only let you choose between Ubuntu and the Windows bootloader, which means you'd have to deal with 2 bootloader menus before being able to enter any version of Windows.

 

 

 

As for the procedure itself :

1 ) Boot from the Win10 installer, create a primary partition of the appropriate size for Windows 10, install the OS on that.  As soon as your Win10 install works, go straight to the Win7 installer.  Don't bother setting it up or doing updates yet, you can do all that stuff once you have the entire multiboot setup working.

2 ) Boot from the Win7 installer, create another primary partition on the drive for Windows 7, install that.  Again once it works go straight to the XP installer

3 ) Boot from the XP installer, create another primary partition on the drive for XP, install that.  Once XP works go straight to your Linux installer

4 ) Boot from the Ubuntu installer.  I'd suggest manually setting up your partitions to avoid messing up any of the Windows ones.  The installer will install Ubuntu and add the Grub bootloader, which will detect all 3 Windows OSes too and show them on the startup screen. 

 

Grub is a very basic bootloader and the names of the OSes will appear a bit weird (it'll mention bootloaders and the kernel version for Ubuntu etc), but that can all be sorted and customized with something like "Grub customizer".  No need to worry about that yet, just make sure you install everything first and are able to boot into all OSes afterwards.  Only then is it worth the effort to customize stuff.

 

As for the passthrough for Win98 stuff, I can't comment on that.  Never tried it myself.

[Inkadinkadoo]

54 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

Setting up an XP + 7 + 10 + Ubuntu setup is easy enough once you get the hang of it.  I used to have XP+Vista+Win7+Mint on my netbook BITD.  Took me a while to figure out the correct order, but after a few attempts it turned out to be quite easy really.

 

A couple points worth noting :

- The 3 Windows OSes will want a primary partition, Linux is fine with having a logical one. 

- You can give each OS a small partition and add an NTFS data partition that can be seen by all OSes (for example on a 500GB SSD you could take 40+40+40+40GB for the OSes and use the remaining free space for a 300+GB NTFS data partition that can be accessed by all).  That makes it convenient to save pictures and downloads to a central location. 

- Be sure to unplug the Ironwolf drive first, Windows has this nasty habit of installing the bootloader on a different drive than the OS one.  You really want only one HDD or SSD in your system when installing windows.

- Install the Windows OSes from new to old, not the other way around.  So Win10 first, XP last.  Later versions of Windows will recognize earlier ones and will add them to Windows' own bootloader, which doesn't recognize linux as far as I know (haven't tried it on Win10, but I doubt that it has changed). 

If you go from old to young, the Grub bootloader's menu (more on Grub later) will only let you choose between Ubuntu and the Windows bootloader, which means you'd have to deal with 2 bootloader menus before being able to enter any version of Windows.

 

 

 

As for the procedure itself :

1 ) Boot from the Win10 installer, create a primary partition of the appropriate size for Windows 10, install the OS on that.  As soon as your Win10 install works, go straight to the Win7 installer.  Don't bother setting it up or doing updates yet, you can do all that stuff once you have the entire multiboot setup working.

2 ) Boot from the Win7 installer, create another primary partition on the drive for Windows 7, install that.  Again once it works go straight to the XP installer

3 ) Boot from the XP installer, create another primary partition on the drive for XP, install that.  Once XP works go straight to your Linux installer

4 ) Boot from the Ubuntu installer.  I'd suggest manually setting up your partitions to avoid messing up any of the Windows ones.  The installer will install Ubuntu and add the Grub bootloader, which will detect all 3 Windows OSes too and show them on the startup screen. 

 

Grub is a very basic bootloader and the names of the OSes will appear a bit weird (it'll mention bootloaders and the kernel version for Ubuntu etc), but that can all be sorted and customized with something like "Grub customizer".  No need to worry about that yet, just make sure you install everything first and are able to boot into all OSes afterwards.  Only then is it worth the effort to customize stuff.

 

As for the passthrough for Win98 stuff, I can't comment on that.  Never tried it myself.

This is the kind of response I was looking for. Very informative, detailed instructions, and you're sure I shouldn't run into any compatibility problems with XP? It should pretty much be the basic install and functioning normally like windows 7 and 10? No tricky workarounds or anything? This is exactly what I plan to do once I can afford a larger SSD. I had originally planned on just using the 10TB HDD when planning the build, ended up having to RMA it after I built my pc, so decided to get a cheap SSD on sale in the mean time so I could actually use the computer lol. (I now realize how stupid it is to have not planned on getting an SSD for boot drive considering how much I spent on the build.)

 

Thanks!

[Inkadinkadoo]

oh wow, just realized there's a x64 bit version of Windows XP. obviously that's the one i want to install, right?

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

8 minutes ago, Inkadinkadoo said:

and you're sure I shouldn't run into any compatibility problems with XP? It should pretty much be the basic install and functioning normally like windows 7 and 10? No tricky workarounds or anything?

Ah, I didn't check for that.  I quickly went to ASUS' page for the Maximus Hero 9 ... and I only see drivers for Win7, Win8.1 and Win10.   So you may not be able to get XP to work properly on that motherboard.  So XP would need to be virtualized too if that's your goal.

Ubuntu shouldn't be too much of a problem, Linux driver support tends to be better than Windows' nowadays.  Most things will just work right away.

 

As for the 64bit version of XP, that one wasn't too popular and there may be issues getting things to work.  Not that it matters much if you can't get the OS to run or because it bluescreens all the time due to lack of drivers

[Inkadinkadoo]

I just did a quick Google search looking for people trying to install Windows XP on my board, but it seems nobody has attempted to do so. Also seems there's no way to use the GTX 1070 in XP anyways, due to total lack of official driver support, and there doesn't seem to be an unofficial driver. i suppose i could just buy a used, cheaper GPU with XP driver support and slap it in the other PCIE slot, but either way I wouldn't be able to install XP on my mobo... I suppose i'll just have to try out virtualization, but it's kinda expensive for a liscense key since it's not a 1 time purchase, it's subscription. Unless I've just moved in and there's some friendly neighborhood..... person who wears an eye patch to give me a "housewarming" gift, I'm kinda turned off at the idea of virtualization. What would be neat though, is a mini XP machine.

[Inkadinkadoo]

Or I might try out that Linux + WINE combo that Name Taken suggested for xp programs.

 

EDIT: Apparantly the latest Nvidia GPU that supported Windows XP is GTX 960. Apparently people have gotten the GTX 980ti to work in Windows XP with an unofficial hack or something.

Edited December 28, 2017 by Inkadinkadoo

[Inkadinkadoo]

Apparantly Linux's intergrated KVM is a free virtualization solution? so i suppose ignore my not-so-cryptic statement on virtual machines. 

[Inkadinkadoo]

6 hours ago, Name Taken said:

QEMU hypervisor is free and open source and KVM hardware acceleration is built into the Linux kernel.

Ah okay. Thanks. Yeah, I know next to nothing about Linux as I've always dealt with Windows, so I'll take any and all advice/helpful information I can get about it. Again, once I can afford a larger SSD, I'll be installing Windows 10, 7, and Ubuntu, as XP and 98 are clearly off the table due to compatibility issues with my hardware. I'll attempt to virtualize XP on Ubuntu and probably learning more about WINE to use with Windows applications, specifically XP and older windows games. (although I don't know the compatibility of WINE with older windows games and programs, I'm assuming it's a compatibility layer for all versions of windows? or just the newer ones?)