I've got 2 older computers. I need to set one up for my little sister to use. One is better than the other, it is sitting here with no hard drive. Both computers run windows 98 (for future reference). I want to take the harddrive out of the computer that runs now, and put it in the computer that doesnt have one. I have already made the boot disk for windows 98 and everything, is there anything else i should know before putting my screwdriver to it? Please reply asap.. Thanks in advance

 

You don't even need the bootdisk to install windows 98 oem. Just put startup cd in and set bios to boot cd. The drive has probably got the whole drive under one partition. So format it and let it run. The only reason you would use the bootdisk to install windows 98 is if you plan on installing the cabs and running the install of the hard drive.

 

thanks man...very much appreciated.

 

I have moved several installations of Win98 in years past and I remember that there was a registry key that needed to be deleted in order for windows to wake up and detect all the hardware in the new computer. If this isn't done windows usually craps and falls on it's ****. If you aren't familiar with editing the registry you should probably just delete the partition(after backing everything up that you need to save) and reinstall win98 after moving the hard drive to the "new" computer. This will let it detect all the hardware correctly and will get it off to clean start. Sorry I can't be more help, I did those moves a long time ago and I've slept (a bunch) since then. Good luck.

 

haha, thanks again guys, major help.

 

The harddrive i have has been formatted, now when i turn on the computer, it just gives me a black screen that says " C:\>", what on earth is going on now?

 

type this
md windows
cd windows
md options
cd options
md cabs
cd cabs
cd..
cd..
cd..
e:\
cd i386
copy *.* c:\windows\options\cabs
c:\
cd windows
cd options
cd cabs
setup

there you go. It's been a while since I have installed windows 98, but that the best way to do it. Once all the files copy to the hard drive at the copy command. You can take the disk out. I'm just guessing your cd rom is E: drive. It may be D: or other letter. Goodluck

 

Hmm...It has been awhile for me too but I seem to remember typing

cd D\
at the D\ drive (assuming this is the CD drive) just type setup.

 

Thats your DOS prompt. Now you would type these simple commands
If your CD Rom is drive D: then type

D:

then it will say
D:\

then type
Setup

It will do a quick scan disk then go on to load windows.


Edited to add:
Actually it might have to be typed as SETUP or SETUP.exe
It will give you a bad command if it is wrong? If you cant find it then put teh disk in another computer open it and find the file "Setup" and see how it is tyeped. DOS is case sensitive.

 

Didn't windows98 boot from the cd rom? *shakes head* it's been so darn long since I've used it. I've only done a hundred or so new installs with win98.

If it does, my prefered method is to go in the bios and set it to boot to the cd first. (or right after the floppy drive)

The above method of running it from the dos prompt will work too.

 

he should be able to just type "setup" to get it to run. The only thing I can't remember is what drive letter it defaults the cd drive to. Some brand name machines (their install disks) would give the cd drive like an m:, z:, etc..

 

This is true... If this is an OEM disk then some didn't put Setup in the main directory either. They want to load all of thier stupid stuff first. So you have to boot to CD. I always throw the OEM's out and install an actual version for an OS.

 

The Windows 98 CD is not bootable. You can get a boot floppy from www.bootdisk.com, boot to it, and it will tell you what the drive letter is when it is finished. If you have a CD that says Windows 98 COMPANION, there is no setup. Many OEM's only supply restore images, Dell gives you a real CD. If you have a retail CD, and the drive is formatted, I would format it again from the boot floppy to get rid of whatever you are booting to now, then load Windows 98. I would also get the Win98 boot floppy to avoid any DOS version conflicts.

 

I've booted off a windows 98 cd back in the day. It is bootable. If you wanna load windows 98 the proper way do what i said in my original post. The way i have it installs the cab files allowing for a quicker install. You want be looking for win 98 disk everytime you wanna load a new driver.
If you wanna do it the simple way. The cd rom driver sets the drive letter on bootup in dos.
d:\
cd i386
setup

 

You may have had a CD created that would boot, but the retail version does not (Microsoft ), Your idea of adding the files to the drive, and booting from there is right on the money though. Your CDROM drive letter will most likely be E as the boot floppy creates a RAM drive, and the first partition on the first hard drive will take a letter.