Windows 98 Install

Should I Delete the partition or just format the drive?

There is three different ways to install Windows. I have listed the advantages and disadvantages of each. Also there is different versions of the windows CD and there is no way of knowing which one you have without attempting to use the CD. You can see if there is a setup.exe on the win98 directory of the CD. If it has that file then you can use the From Hard drive selection. If it don't then you have to use one of the other two choices. Click on the selection and it will take you to the instructions on how to install Windows 98 from the selected setup.

From hard drive - Advantage is that you will not need the windows CD whenever a program needs a driver. It will get it from the hard drive and not the CD-ROM. The install is quicker as well. Takes more hard drive space. (Not all Windows 98 CDs will allow this to be done. )
From CD-ROM - This is the easiest to install because you either boot off the CD or you boot to a boot disk and type in setup. The drawback is that if you install a device later that needs a driver from the windows 98 CD, you will have to insert the CD. Some windows 98 CD's are not bootable and the install has to be Started in DOS. Then there are some windows CDs that can only be Started by booting to them. (Unfortunately, I can't tell you which one you have without trying the setup. There is no standard on how the disks are organized. )
From Recovery CD - This is the easiest to install because you boot off the CD-ROM and Start the install. Very similar to the regular CD-ROM. Just has a different layout. This one has to be Started by booting to the CD.

NOTE: There may other ways to install the operating system. You will need to consult the computer manufacture, or Microsoft for help on which one you have.

NOTE: Some technicians will try to do a reinstallation procedure called Dirty install. I do not recommend it. The only time I would attempt a dirty install is if you cannot get up in windows and you want to safe your files so you can do a clean install. A dirty install is where you install windows on top of itself. It doesn't touch folders not associated with windows itself so your personal files is still on the computer. Sometimes this lets you back into windows and sometimes it don't. On rare occasions it fixes the issue but majority of time causes more problems than it is worth.

I prefer installing the operating system from the hard drive. It takes up more hard drive space but it makes installs so much easier. Not all windows CD's have that feature available. To find out if you can do that or not. Look at the directory of the CD. If it has a Win98 directory, see if there is a setup.exe in the win98 directory. If it does then you can do the install from the hard drive.

If you need help with DOS commands click here.

Windows will not install

Instructions for using Setup switches to bypass steps

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