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re: Re-install Windows 98 on computer ["upgrade" disk] Friday, August 14, 2009 at 8:37 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) Carlos wrote: |I want to do a reinstall of Windows 98 on a PC. | My condolences on having to run an OS that is 10 years old and hasn't been supported by its vendor for over 3 years. |It is not connected to the internet. | Immaterial. |I have multiple disks |but when i inserted a Windows 98 disk in, it said something like |i needed "Windows 98 upgrade version" to install it. | The "upgrade" disk contains all the necessary files, you just have to get past the stupid M$ licencing restrictions.[1] After the drive is format'd, at the DOS prompt, type MD C:\NTLDR {Enter} Now, try installing again. [1] You wouldn't have to bother with that licencing nonsense if you just got a Free Software operating system like Linux Mint. The latest version of Linux Mint is less than 6 months old. Did I mention that Linux is FREE? It also **comes** with all the apps you need (unless you're planning on running something REALLY specialized). [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 on computer ["upgrade" disk] Friday, August 14, 2009 at 9:01 pm Posted by Carlos (3 messages posted) When I try to boot from the CD, it doesn't go through the formatting at all. is the formatting done later in the process or at the very beginning? It does something with the cmd at the beginning but it think its just booting up the disk. I heard that Windows 98 doesn't install over an existing OS. They said that i had to delete the windows directory completely. Is this right? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 on computer ["upgrade" disk] Friday, August 14, 2009 at 9:18 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) Carlos wrote: |When I try to boot from the CD, | Pet peeve: {semantics}You don't boot *from* a CD; you boot **TO** a CD.{/semantics} |it doesn't go through the formatting at all. | Put in your Windows Startup Disk (floppy) and boot to it. At the DOS prompt, type FORMAT C: {Enter} This will wipe the disk clean. After that, use the previous advice. Again, Linux doesn't bother you with this licencing nonsense. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 on computer not connected to internet? Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 2:55 pm Posted by Steve (23810 messages posted) Just find a Web site that has the Directions posted. You will need to make and learn how to use a Boot Floppy, and a few dos commands before you can install 98. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 ["upgrade" disk] Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 5:15 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) Steve wrote: |Just find a Web site that has the Directions posted. | I tried to Google up one that included all the good stuff (WinDriversBackup, MagicalJellybean, bootdisk.com, NTLDR, etc.) and I couldn't find a single page that is anywhere near complete. I think that this is still the best page available: http://web.archive.org/web/20040410105136/http://www.hexff.com/win98_install.php (...and it misses A LOT of good tricks.) Note also that the original is 404 and I had to get an old copy from the WayBack Machine. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 ["upgrade" disk] Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 7:59 pm Posted by Steve (23810 messages posted) My first Google Hit. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/221829 [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 ["upgrade" disk] Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 8:05 pm Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) Steve wrote: |My first Google Hit. |http://support.microsoft.com/kb/221829 M$ will NEVER tell you about the tricks WRT using "upgrade" disks. That page doesn't assume it's a REinstall either. It certainly doesn't assume it's 2009 (and that all the hardware vendors dropped their 9x drivers years ago). THAT is the kind of page I was looking for. The *16MB of RAM* thing is hilarious too. ...and again, Linux is FREE and doesn't make you do any of that nonsense --not to mention Linux "test drives" (without having to *install* anything). [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 on computer not connected to internet? Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 10:41 pm Posted by Arminius (334 messages posted) Based on the message you got it sounds as though you tried to install an OEM version of Win98 Second Edition on top of a copy of Win98 First Edition. You really don't need an upgrade CD. If you have your data backed up I suggest you wipe your hard drive and do a clean install. The residue left by previous installations can be a pain in the a$$. Formatting doesn't erase it. You should then be able to install Win98 using your OEM CD. That assumes you have all the drivers for your hardware on CD as well. Killdisk is a freeware tool you can use to wipe your drive. http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm It wouldn't surprise me if your Win98 CD is bootable and you don't have to mess around with boot floppies. You should be able to boot right from (to?) the Win98 CD. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 on computer not connected to internet? Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 12:02 am Posted by Carlos (3 messages posted) If I don't have the drivers , do you know where I can get them? Thanks sooooo much in advance to everyone! [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 on computer not connected to internet? Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 1:17 am Posted by Arminius (334 messages posted) You can start at the computer manufacturer's website, otherwise you will have to Google for them. It is up to you to be familiar with your hardware components. -Graphics card if any (make and model) -Sound card if any (make and model) -Network card or modem if any (make and model) -The same applies if those components are integrated on the motherboard. Then you need to know the motherboard make and model number. -Motherboard chipset "drivers" if the board was manufactured after Win98 was released so Win98 can recognize all the components. Are you sure you don't have a driver CD among those "multiple disks" you were talking about? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 ["upgrade" disk] Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 6:44 am Posted by Steve (23810 messages posted) I know Linux is free, but he asked for 98 install directions. Any one who has to post how to install a operating system won't be able to figureout how to use linux anyway. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 ["upgrade" disk] Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 10:41 am Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) Steve wrote: |I know Linux is free, but he asked for 98 install directions. | He **assumed** an ancient, unsupported environment with zero security, produced by a corporation convicted of criminal activity, was his only choice --or that he would have to PAY for something else and deal with licencing nonsense. All those assumptions are incorrect. ...or maybe he assumed that Linux was a stripped-down environment that comes with no really useable applications (the way Windoze comes) and that he would have to then make an effort to get real apps. That is also incorrect. Linux is chalked-full of useful apps that can use his old data files. |Any one who has to post how to install a operating system |won't be able to figureout how to use linux anyway. | ...because it's so difficult to: Put the Linux CD in the drive Boot to it Click on the icons on the destop that appears (because you can use Linux WITHOUT installing it). It's especially difficult to click on the Install Linux icon on the desktop when you realize Linux is even easier than Windoze. You don't even have to download Linux and burn it to your own CD any more. Your local Linux Users Group has a stack of CDs they hand out like candy. Your local newsstand has Linux magazines that contain a Linux disk. DistroWatch.com's front page has places that will mail you a Linux CD for $2 - $5 typically. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 ["upgrade" disk] Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 9:16 pm Posted by Steve (23810 messages posted) Linux Free to Install, but cost to Learn to use is $3784.50 more then Windows. Based on Minimum US wages of $7.25 per hour, and a average of 522 hours more time to learn the basics. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 ["upgrade" disk] Monday, August 17, 2009 at 9:34 am Posted by gewg_ (4444 messages posted) Steve wrote: |Linux Free to Install, but cost to Learn to use is $3784.50 more then Windows. |Based on Minimum US wages of $7.25 per hour, |and a average of 522 hours more time to learn the basics. Ah. Thus the old verisimilitude "Linux is only free if your time has no value." Interesting numbers, but the fact is, with a point & click environment, Joe Average gets a 5 minute intro to an OS from a friend or co-worker and manages just fine from there. If the apps average people use are there on the desktop, ready to be clicked (and they *are*), it won't even take that amount of time to get going. If the newbie is *already* familiar with the concept of a directory tree, it takes even less time than that to become productive with Linux. Of course, it's fun to toss about the old doom and gloom lines about the modern competitor that has a fresh build from just weeks ago. OTOH, popping in a CD that starts up to a graphical desktop rebutts that FUD in short order. The fact that the Linux CD recognizes and configures all the hardware without the need to scurry about finding separate device driver disks really wows most folks. (The LiveCDs have to be able to do that or they wouldn't be as useful as they are.) A big point from the Free Software side: The Linux user doesn't have to learn how to futz with anti-malware apps. The default install of a *n*x environment is hardened to deal with all of that.[1] (I've been wondering if malware is the reason the OP is jumping thru this hoop.) ...and on the nerdy side, for those who *want* to make the investment and REALLY get the most out of their OS, Slashdot had a tag line the other day: "Hackers do for free what others do for money." It's also useful to be familiar with a Linux CD for when Windoze implodes. [1] ...and, of course, Win9x is the lowest of all OSes, with ZERO *actual* security. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Re-install Windows 98 on computer not connected to internet? Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 10:08 am Posted by Ed (741 messages posted) You can get the drivers from your existing hard disk. The easiest - and safest! - way for you to reinstall Windows 98 is to boot into DOS and rename your directory C:\Windows as C:\WinOLD Then carry out a new installation of Windows 98 using an UPGRADE version of Windows 98. The upgrade version does NOT wipe your entire hard disk, but only overwrites the directory C:\Windows (To use an upgrade version of Win98SE, you need the CD or floppy disks from an older version of Windows, to put in the drive for checking, when you are asked for them by the upgrade program.) I'm not sure that a *full* install version of Windows 98SE will wipe the hard disk: I'm almost sure that I once had to do a reinstall with one - about ten years ago - and all that was overwritten was the C:\WINDOWS directory. By preserving your original Windows directory as C:\WinOLD you are keeping (temporarily) all the existing driver files. When you reinstall Windows 98 into C:\Windows and it asks you to supply the driver files it needs, you will still have them on hand (in C:\WinOLD). Ed On Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 12:02 am, Carlos wrote: >If I don't have the drivers , do you know where I can get them? Thanks sooooo much >in advance to everyone! 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