DOS
Most operating systems uses the boot partition to boot the computer. In some operating systems, both the system partition and the boot partition are used to boot up the system.
Dual booting is not restricted to Linux. Dual booting refers to the presence of two operating systems on one computer. Switch/choice between these operating systems is determined at boot time (either via bios or boot manager), therefore only one operating system is at use at a time.
You do not have to dual-boot. This is a choice of practicality. Many people dual-boot to get the most functionality out of each operating system without having to purchase multiple computers. Running additional operating systems via another method, such as virtualization, can often impair the operating system's performance or capabilities.
Reformat the hard drive Reformat the hard drive
The computer starts but will not do anything useful. The Operating System is what creates any user interface. when you start up your PC in your BIOS there is a boot sequence normally it will check for something to boot from out of the HD first (in some cases it will look at the floppy drive first...usually on really old machines) if it doesn't find anything in the Hard Drive(aka your OS) it will follow the boot sequence until it finds something to boot from if it doesn't find anything to boot from (such as a live CD) then it will display something along the lines of "error: boot device not found"...i hope that answers your question (by the way you can change the boot seq in your BIOs if you were thinking about installing a new OS)
Most operating systems uses the boot partition to boot the computer. In some operating systems, both the system partition and the boot partition are used to boot up the system.
Boot menu allows you to choose programs/operating systems/program blocks to load. For instance, if you have two operating systems on your computer (not applicable for virtual machines) the boot menu allows you to choose OS to work with.
To install two separate operating systems you will have to create separate partions on the hard disk. You then install each operating system in it's own partion and use a boot loader such as GRUB to select which system you want to boot, some operating systems might include their own boot loader during the installation.
The boot block of any OS contains the initial loading sequence of the Operating System. It starts the process of bringing into memory the first part of the Operating System which in turn brings the rest of it in for the entire boot process. This is known as bootstrapping the Operating System.
bootstrap loader
You are required to use a boot loader to run two or more Operating Systems. You have to use it to get a screen with a list of available options to boot into different Operating Systems. Some good examples are- Windows Loader, Grub or Grub4DOS.
You can have more than one operating system installed on a computer at a time. Dual boot allows you the choose which system you want to use. With dual boot enabled, when you turn on your PC it will give you a choice of operating systems.
In the Boot tab of msconfig, you can identify that two operating systems are installed by seeing multiple entries listed under the "Boot options." Each entry typically corresponds to a different operating system, with details such as the name and path of each OS. Additionally, the default operating system and timeout settings can indicate which OS is set to load by default. The presence of more than one entry confirms the installation of multiple operating systems on the machine.
Dual booting is not restricted to Linux. Dual booting refers to the presence of two operating systems on one computer. Switch/choice between these operating systems is determined at boot time (either via bios or boot manager), therefore only one operating system is at use at a time.
boot.ini = file used to identify the default operating system and other operating systems if more than one is present. The boot.ini file has been replaced by the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) File in windows vista
Yes. There are two ways to do it. You can dual boot, which is installing both operating systems at the same time on the computer. When you start the computer, it'll ask you which operating system to boot. The other method is with a virtual machine. This will allow you to run the second operating system inside of the first one. It's much simpler to set up a virtual machine than it is to dual boot operating systems.
Yes with win XP and later versions of operating systems it's recommended.