- How To Reinstall Windows 98 Without Cd
- How To Instal Windows 98
- How To Install Windows 98 On Virtualbox
- How To Reinstall Windows 98 From A Cd
Microsoft's Windows 98 - CD Install on Blank Hard Drive. Welcome to Microsoft's Windows 98 Install step by step. This will give you an idea on how to do this when and if the time arises for you to either reinstall the operating system, install for the first time or upgrade your present operating system.
- How to install Microsoft Windows 98. Windows 95 with CD. Place the CD into the computer. Type X: (where x is the CD-ROM drive, often this is D:). Once at the appropriate drive, type cd win95 and press Enter to get into the Windows 95 directory. Once at X: WIN95 type setup to begin the installation.
- Start your computer, press and hold CTRL, and then choose Safe Mode Command Prompt Only from the Windows 98 Startup menu. If you are running Windows Me, start your computer with the startup disk. At the MS-DOS prompt, type cd windows command, and then press ENTER. Where windows is the name of the folder in which Windows is installed.
- I have an old system running Windows 98 that seems to have a lot of corrupted files. Can I reinstall Windows 98 over itself without effecting the applications and data files that are already on.
- I'm trying to install Windows 98 SE on an old Toshiba desktop PC and it's not going well. Toshiba stopped producing desktops around the year 2000. This model is from around 1999/2000, and it's called.
I'm trying to install Windows 98 SE on an old Toshiba desktop PC and it's not going well. Toshiba stopped producing desktops around the year 2000. This model is from around 1999/2000, and it's called Equium 3300M. It's probably one of their last desktop models. This one was the top model at the time. There was also a 3300D which was a desktop variant, while the M model was a tower.
While trying to install Windows 98 I run into the following problem.
After that last line, it leaves me at a bitmap image displaying instructions to reboot with Ctrl+Alt+Del. It doesn't say why I have to reboot, and it doesn't state any error type, it just want's me to reboot for no apparent reason. After reboot, it just boots up from Floppy again and it cycles through the same thing all over again.
The computer has been restored to original specification. Original system recovery 'CD-ROM' discs are available and they are not scratched or anything, they are in very good condition. It's a set of 3 CDs, and the first disc labeled '1/3' should be the one holding the OEM version of Windows 98 SE. There is also a boot disk for Windows 98. I'm not sure what the other two discs are for. This computer came with three language support, so those could be holding different language versions or additional OEM discs. But I'm quite sure that the first disc holds the main operating system.
BIOS has been set to optimized defaults. Boot priority is as follows; Floppy, IDE-0, CD-ROM.
Under Standard CMOS settings, BIOS scans and autoconfigures both the hard drive and the CD/DVD drive. On POST it finds them both, and it finds the DOS bootdisk and starts preparing for installation, as you can see above. So what's this 'invalid drive specification' about? Why isn't the installation starting?
Updates
Update 1
Booting from CD disc 2
In desperation I tried booting from the second CD. Boot order was; Floppy, CD-ROM, IDE-0. It boots normally from floppy disk, just like above, but then returns following.
I accidentally pressed some key on the keyboard, and before I knew it, the following screen showed up.
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After completion another screen showed up.
I didn't choose Yes, it was set automatically. After completion the computer was automatically rebooted. Then I got a new screen. This is in Norwegian/Swedish/Finnish. Here's the message in Swedish.
Let me translate that.
I pressed Enter and it started formatting the hard drive.
It automatically sets the 'y' option and starts formatting.
Rebooting with CD disc 1
After completing this operation it rebooted automatically. I inserted CD disc 1 and there was no issue with 'invalid drive specification' anymore. Instead, a bitmap menu was displayed where it asked me to choose a language. And I thought I had it there for a while but it didn't work out.
After choosing the language, another menu was displayed asking me to choose a type of recovery (restore pre-installed software OR restore hard drive partitions and pre-installed software).
I opted for the second option.
Then a data destruction warning showed up where I just pressed 1 to Continue. It did something and then just rebooted and the same formatting screen shows up as before. So something is not right. Am I doing it wrong?
I seem to have come past the CD-ROM driver issue at least. But now I'm stuck with this problem.. it seems to have something to do with the hard drive. Like.. why is is it always trying to format it? Isn't it enough to format it once?
By the way, it needs to be formatted as FAT32, right? Windows 98 doesn't support NTFS? I think FDISK should have taken care of this already. I know this is an old hard drive, but I connected to my main computer and it was able to read and write to it without a problem. It does have bad sectors though, but it's expected on an old hard drive like this.
Any ideas?.
Update 2
I seem to be repeatedly getting stuck at the format screen where it asks to press any key to continue. So tried to cancel it this time with Ctrl+C. This leaves me at:
How To Reinstall Windows 98 Without Cd
I can do DIR and CD and I tried to change to Z: drive. I tried running 'setup' but there is no such thing.
Update 3
Floppy structure
Here's the file/folder structure of the floppy disk.
CONFIG.SYS contents
Here's the content of CONFIG.SYS.
AUTOEXEC.BAT contents
CD structure
Now which line or lines need to be changed? Do I really have to change drive letter Z: to C:?
Proposed solutions
Solution #1
Ramhound proposed to change the boot order to following; CD-ROM, IDE-0, Floppy
This didn't help. In fact, here is the result of it.
Any other ideas?..
Solution #2
Rik proposed to run Z:setup. Now that I have found a way to drop to DOS prompt with Ctrl+C as described above (Update 2), I did try running setup but there is no such command or file in there. So that didn't work.
3 Answers
Instead of assigning the CD-ROM to Z:, assign it to E: at
MSCDEX Version 2.25 Copyright (C) MIcrosoft Corp. 1986-1995. All rights reserved. Drive Z: = Driver TOSCD001 unit 0
Older systems may have an issue with drive letters above E: when assigned to physical hardware. So using the floppy to boot, you may have to edit AUTOEXEC.BAT to change that line. i.e.
will load the CD driver as drive G:.
There is a reference for the MSCDEX command at http://users.cybercity.dk/~bse26236/batutil/help/MSCDEX_E.HTM and many other places.
Also make sure that you have a hard drive that '98 can read (or that is unallocated) for the first drive and partition; while you can subsequently install later versions of Windows on C: or other drives, '98 won't understand later partition types and is needs to copy files to C: so that it can restart and complete installation.
DebraDebraNow i slowly starting to understand.
You don't have the standard Windows 98 setup disks. These are special recovery disks (from the OEM) with a floppy disk to boot. If you want to keep it working you need not change the config.sys and autoexec.bat and keep the drive-letter at Z:. Or else the whole batch-file doesn't work anymore.
You didn't specify make and model of your PC but i'm guessing a Toshiba. Toshiba has a FAQ for restoring Windows. You need to lookup the model on this page and look in the last column what instructions to follow. For example if it is number 5 you would:
5 - Insert the Toshiba Product Recovery CD and turn on the system while holding down the C key. This will allow the system to boot from the CD. Select either a Complete Recovery (this recreates all the partitions and formats each one, this may reboot the system several times depending on the size of the HDD and the number of partitions) or Standard Recovery (this just formats drive C:). This will then restore Windows 98 as shipped from the factory. A Toshiba Tools & Utilities CD is supplied for re-installation of drivers and utilities without re-installing the complete operating system.
I can't read Swedish so i'm not sure what those screens are saying exactly but i think it's just choosing the right order for the discs. (I don't think you need the floppy-disc according to the FAQ)
I think you need to start with disc #1 and follow all the instructions. It can require several reboots and only use disc #2 when asked for.
If this does not work then what is the content of disk #1 with the Windows 98 files on it? It may be possible to just start the installation of Windows without following the recovery procedure.
RikRikI think part of the 'invalid drive specification' problem was a failing hard drive. I actually managed to install it, but I was only able to reboot it once or twice at most, and then on next boot it would fail at loading Windows. When this happened the first time I noticed that the hard drive name was not listed correctly on POST screen, and when I went into BIOS and tried to re-detect the drive it jumped from being around 15000 MB to some 151 GB.
If I shut it down, waited a few minutes, and then powered it back on again it would be detected correctly again, and Windows would load and run a CHKDSK and then log in. But as soon as I rebooted again and the hard drive was not detected correctly Windows would fail to load again. I tried typing in the number of heads, cylinders, etc. manually but it was no help.
So I changed the hard drive to a more recent one and with higher capacity. I was then able to install on that one and it has been booting properly ever since. The original hard drive was a 15.3 GB WD. The new one is 40 GB Maxtor. I had no capacity issues with it.
So here are the steps I took to install this version of Windows 98 SE on the new hard drive.
1: I took the 40 GB drive and hooked it to my main system and started Acronis Disk Director 11. I used the 'Clean up disk' option to wipe the disk and reverse the 'initialize' process. So after doing this it looked like a brand new hard drive (e.g. no partitions, and you have to initialize it to start using it).
2: I connected the 40 GB drive to the Toshiba PC, I inserted the original Toshiba boot disk in floppy drive, CD 1/3 in the optical drive and powered on.
3: Booting from boot disk.
Since this hard drive is not partitioned, nor initialized, the setup program recognizes this and prompts me to prepare it for installation.
But instead of letting the setup program do the partitioning and formatting, I decided to do it myself.
4: I pressed Ctrl+C to drop to command line prompt.
Press Y for Yes.
5: Start FDISK tool by typing fdisk and press Enter. You will be greeted with following message.
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6: Press Y for Yes and press Enter. (Yes for FAT32, or No for FAT16.) You will get to the FDISK Options menu.
7: Press 4 and then Enter to make sure there are no partitions. You should see following.
Press Esc to go back to main menu.
8: Press 1 and then Enter to create a new partition.
9: Press 1 and then Enter to create a new primary partition. You should see following.
When completed you will see the following.
Press Y and then Enter.
When completed you will see the following message.
10: Do as it says, reboot by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del.
You will see the Starting Windows 98 once again and the prompt to prepare the drive for installation.
11: Drop to command line prompt by pressing Ctrl+C.
Press Y.
12: Type format c: and then Enter.
Press Y and then Enter.
You will then see following.
Just press Enter. There's no need for a label.
Now you will see the command line prompt.
13: Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot.
As before, you will see the Starting Windows 98 but this time you will NOT be prompted to prepare the hard drive for installation. Instead, you will see following lines at the end of the batch.
And then this bitmap menu prompt.
How To Instal Windows 98
14: Do as it says, a) remove the floppy disk, and b) reboot by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del.
So now that the floppy disk is removed, it won't be able to boot off of that. So it will skip the floppy drive. And since the CD-ROM is not bootable, it will skip that too. Lastly it will search for bootable media on IDE-0 (the hard drive), find the newly copied file or files and boot off of that.
I used following boot order priority: Floppy, CD-ROM, IDE-0. This was the defacto standard boot order on old Windows PCs. And it is for a reason, as you can see by this Windows 98 installation.
The Windows 98 loading picture appears.
Then the Toshiba installation menu appears.
I used option 2 for Swedish locale, and then 1 to start the installation.
Because the Swedish version of Windows 98 was located on CD 2/3 it prompted me to insert that one. I put that in and then pressed 1 once again to start the installation.
The installation progress bar appears.
It then reboots and a customized Windows 98 background picture appears with a Toshiba logo. New dvdvideosoft free studio 5.0.
It then goes on to prepare the keyboard and locale for this version of Windows.
The Toshiba background appears.
It identifies new hardware, such as monitor model and asks for drivers. (Typical Windows 9x asking for monitor drivers.) I opted for the default C:WINDOWSINFMONITOR.INF and it didn't bother me about that anymore.
Another window shows up asking to set keyboard layout and location. It asks for the name of the owner to be registered with that copy of Windows and then asks to accept the EULA.
A silly waving Windows flag shows up at the end and the installation is complete.
It then asks for date, time, time zone, country setting for modem, it updates the system configuration and then logs in.
Before I know it I'm in Windows 98. Weeee!! I had traveled some 15 years back in time.
From POST screen to desktop, it takes only 40 seconds! And to shut down or reboot, it takes only 2 seconds! Can you beat that with your Windows 7 PC? I doubt it. It's so much faster than most Windows versions today on much more powerful hardware. Surely the new versions of Windows are much heavier on resources. I wish they were as lightweight as some of these old versions of Windows.
You can see from this POST screen that this is on a Pentium III at 733 MHz, and 100 MHz SDRAM (128 MB). It's E-IDE and PC133 compatible, but I've set the memory to 100 MHz for better stability. It can't do 133 MHz with all three DIMM modules in use. I had put in an upgrade kit of 3 times 256 MB RAM and it didn't coupe with it.
So the key to this was using a healthy hard drive, and then preparing it with FDISK and FORMAT. I forgot all about this. Refer to Microsoft KB article 255867 on details about using FDISK, and 179756 on reinstalling Windows 98. I had some help from those. But it was fairly easy once I got past the 'invalid drive specification' errors.
I won't be using this PC to connect to the Internet. I just wanted to do a Windows 98 install on it for the fun of it. If I do connect it to any network I will install some Linux distro on it, maybe make a server out of it or a router. There's so much fun you can do with old hardware.
SamirSamir