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Problems installing Windows 98se - Please Help
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:01 am
by malcolmboston
basically, im trying to reinstall windows 98se for a friend and its giving me major hassle, i have installed it before with no problems but for some reason this time it wont work (different CD and machine)
ill explain what im doing
firstly, ive completely wiped the hard-drive, deleted all partitions, and recreated a FAT32 primary partition using FDISK.
i then, as instructed by microsoft, put my boot disk into the A: drive and the windows 98se Disc into the CD drive (legit copy, not burned)
i then, in dos, as instructed by microsoft do, in DOS mode:
with E being my CD drive, it then says
MS DOS wrote:
This program cannot be run in DOS
so i do
it then returns:
MS DOS wrote:
This program cannot be run in DOS
basically i cannot install it @ all, and the machine simply isnt good enough to install windows XP on it (i tried installing windows 2000 pro on it a few weeks back and it freezes on the loading screen)
please, im completely stumped here, i only have access to DOS as there isnt an OS installed atm which i could simply run the setup file from
anyone know why this is happening? even if u dont, any suggestions would be extremely appreciated.
fyi - The windows 98se CD says on it "Windows 98se Starts Here"
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:29 am
by JayBird
is it an upgrade CD or the full installation CD?
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:30 am
by malcolmboston
from what im guessing its the full CD as its the CD he got when he bought the computer, surely they cant of given him an upgrade CD with a new computer with no OS already on it
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:46 am
by Sema
hmmm, i dont know, but have you tired to use the win98 boot disk. I have always used that to install win98. But the "normal" dos should do it, cant figure out why it wont install.
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:53 am
by malcolmboston
i am getting into DOS
THROUGH the boot disk, the boot disk i am using can be found
here
if all else fails then i am going to download an "illegal" copy of 98se and then use my legit serial key, its just thats much more hassle than needed....
anyone else?
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:54 am
by JayBird
im guessing the CD is the upgrade version which needs a copy of windows already installed
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:57 am
by malcolmboston
isnt this slightly illegal? my friend got it with his computer, what happens when his HD fails or whatever, how the hell was he expected to get his machine up and running again
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 7:13 am
by feyd
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q221829/ would suggest running /setup.exe
I remember that working for both upgrade and full... As the upgrade would just require a disk or two, or some files from a previous windows later during the install.
If the disk is not specifically branded Microsoft, you may need to hunt around on the disk for the actual file.. they may have stuck it in a not so intuitive location.
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 7:50 am
by Bill H
Try it without the diskette at all. Set your bios to boot from the CD drive. If this is a full install CD it will boot from the installation CD and install from there.
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:08 am
by malcolmboston
in response to feyd:
i am not entirely sure what it is, it says on the cd
the CD wrote:
Windows 98 Starts Here
it says nothing about whether it is the full or update version
and in response to BILL H
i have already tried to boot from CD, it cant, i knew it couldnt as im sure only XP is capable of doing this (my windows 2000 Pro disk cant either)
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:29 am
by feyd
Odd... all my NT based ones boot from disk.. I think my Win98's did too.. it's been years though..
Why 98? Why not Fedora, or something?
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:37 am
by malcolmboston
its not my machine, my friend is a computer n00b, *nix isnt an option
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 8:38 am
by malcolmboston
as a side note: windows 2000 cant boot from CD, it requires 4 boot disks
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:03 am
by malcolmboston
did some googling for an image of my disc it looks like this
here the only exception being in the top-left corner of the disc is says "windows 98 starts here"
i also have this booklet
here
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:13 am
by Sema
malcolmboston wrote:
i have already tried to boot from CD, it cant, i knew it couldnt as im sure only XP is capable of doing this (my windows 2000 Pro disk cant either)
Hmmm that isent correct, the win98se disk can boot, it will promt you to install win98, or my cd can

,
prof: every time i start my comp it asks to boot from HDD or CD, (i have my win98 cd in to get drivers on the fly). Dont know if theres other versions of the cd that cant boot that way...
Oh..
malcolmboston wrote:
fyi - The windows 98se CD says on it "Windows 98se Starts Here"
This text is not on my cd... and my is a Danish version, it could be a function that has been added later... ?
UPDATE: Doh... now i can see the difference, your cd is a win98 (normal) not SE... (good ol. kernel32 wooha)