How do I install Windows98?
March 5, 2006 11:46 PM Subscribe
How do I install Windows 98 on a computer with an empty hard drive?
I bought an old PC at a flea market. The hard drive had been erased. (Pentium2 350 MHz, RAM 64mb, HD 6.4gb, CD-ROM, ZIP, floppy, network card).
I have a W98 CD. I made a startup floppy and managed to format the hard drive. However, I seem to lack a driver for the CD-ROM, as DOS won't concede that such a drive exists. I found this, which seems to be a description of loading the proper CD-ROM driver, but it assumes I have information about the drive, which I don't.
I'm guessing that I need to open the computer, try to identify the CD drive, then find a driver for it on the web and put that driver on my floppy? Then what?
By the way, I made the startup floppy from www.bootdisk.com (using boot98se.exe). This floppy doesn't have a config.sys file.
I bought an old PC at a flea market. The hard drive had been erased. (Pentium2 350 MHz, RAM 64mb, HD 6.4gb, CD-ROM, ZIP, floppy, network card).
I have a W98 CD. I made a startup floppy and managed to format the hard drive. However, I seem to lack a driver for the CD-ROM, as DOS won't concede that such a drive exists. I found this, which seems to be a description of loading the proper CD-ROM driver, but it assumes I have information about the drive, which I don't.
I'm guessing that I need to open the computer, try to identify the CD drive, then find a driver for it on the web and put that driver on my floppy? Then what?
By the way, I made the startup floppy from www.bootdisk.com (using boot98se.exe). This floppy doesn't have a config.sys file.
You could also probably use freeDOS rather then MS-DOS to make the boot floppy.
posted by delmoi at 11:54 PM on March 5, 2006
posted by delmoi at 11:54 PM on March 5, 2006
Actually, it doesn't assume you have information about the CD-ROM. That was the universal CD-ROM driver disk, so to speak, to enable the most basic CD functionality for DOS.
Following the instructions on that site should work perfectly. MSCDEX is the app/driver set that'll get things working for you.
For just a basic install, you shouldn't need anymore details, assuming your CD-ROM is able to use one of those standard drivers. (Most all of them were. Give it a shot.)
If not, you'll have to get the device manufacturer and then search some antique driver sites.
posted by disillusioned at 11:55 PM on March 5, 2006
Following the instructions on that site should work perfectly. MSCDEX is the app/driver set that'll get things working for you.
For just a basic install, you shouldn't need anymore details, assuming your CD-ROM is able to use one of those standard drivers. (Most all of them were. Give it a shot.)
If not, you'll have to get the device manufacturer and then search some antique driver sites.
posted by disillusioned at 11:55 PM on March 5, 2006
You should probably have a bootable CD, so try setting the BIOS to boot from floppy then CD then hard drive, and watch for a message that says 'hit any key to boot from CD'. A long time ago I think CD booting was picky about the specifics, so if that boot order doesn't work, try changing it around. (ask if you need more details for this step)
The second choice is an official Windows 98 boot floppy, which you obviously don't have. There may be a boot floppy creation tool on the Windows 98 CD, but I'm not sure.
All that aside, I believe Bart's CD-Rom Boot Disk might do the trick for you.
posted by Chuckles at 11:59 PM on March 5, 2006
The second choice is an official Windows 98 boot floppy, which you obviously don't have. There may be a boot floppy creation tool on the Windows 98 CD, but I'm not sure.
All that aside, I believe Bart's CD-Rom Boot Disk might do the trick for you.
posted by Chuckles at 11:59 PM on March 5, 2006
If your Win98 CD is bootable (it has to be an OEM version, not a retail CD), look to see if your BIOS supports a CD boot. (Many older systems do not.) If it does, turn it on, stick the cd in the drive, and off you go.
If that doesn't work, I'd suggest getting a Win98 bootable disk from www.bootdisk.com. Win98SE had the ability to make boot floppies, and they had the universal CD-ROM drivers built right in. If you get a copy of one of those, it's very likely to work. Make sure you get a bootdisk for the same version of Windows thta you have... 98/98SE/ME. If you mix versions, you can have problems.
If the driver works, once you have the CD visible as your D drive from DOS, dig around on the CD a bit. There's a subdir on it that has all the actual Windows installation files. if your hard drive is large enough to store the files permanently, I suggest copying all the files in there to a directory on your hard disk. (I usually used C:\WIN98). You will probably need to FDISK (partition) the drive,reboot, format c: /s, and then copy the Windows installation directory to C:\WIN98. Then run setup from there.
Why? Win98 goes back to the CD fairly frequently for drivers and the like. If you have put the files onto your hard drive to begin with, it will remember that, and it will never again prompt you for the CD. It also installs faster.
To install faster still, before you start the installation routine (I think it's SETUP.EXE), run the command 'smartdrv'. That runs a small cache, which will greatly, greatly speed the installation of Windows.
posted by Malor at 12:22 AM on March 6, 2006
If that doesn't work, I'd suggest getting a Win98 bootable disk from www.bootdisk.com. Win98SE had the ability to make boot floppies, and they had the universal CD-ROM drivers built right in. If you get a copy of one of those, it's very likely to work. Make sure you get a bootdisk for the same version of Windows thta you have... 98/98SE/ME. If you mix versions, you can have problems.
If the driver works, once you have the CD visible as your D drive from DOS, dig around on the CD a bit. There's a subdir on it that has all the actual Windows installation files. if your hard drive is large enough to store the files permanently, I suggest copying all the files in there to a directory on your hard disk. (I usually used C:\WIN98). You will probably need to FDISK (partition) the drive,reboot, format c: /s, and then copy the Windows installation directory to C:\WIN98. Then run setup from there.
Why? Win98 goes back to the CD fairly frequently for drivers and the like. If you have put the files onto your hard drive to begin with, it will remember that, and it will never again prompt you for the CD. It also installs faster.
To install faster still, before you start the installation routine (I think it's SETUP.EXE), run the command 'smartdrv'. That runs a small cache, which will greatly, greatly speed the installation of Windows.
posted by Malor at 12:22 AM on March 6, 2006
Also note: DOS CD-ROM drivers come in two pieces. There's a low-level piece that is loaded in config.sys. Most frequently, that's ATAPI.SYS, the universal IDE CDROM driver, but it can be other things.
MSCDEX is the 'upper level' part, which loads in AUTOEXEC.BAT. You have to have both levels installed and working for your CDROM to come up.
I don't remember the exact syntax anymore, but you have to tell the low-level driver what device name to provide. i think it might be the /L switch, like this:
device=a:\atapi.sys /L:DRV001
And I think you need the equivalent switch in MSCDEX:
mscdex.exe /L:DRV001
It's something like that, but I'm really not sure I have the syntax exactly right. You can double-check on the bootdisks at bootdisk.com for working examples.
posted by Malor at 12:28 AM on March 6, 2006
MSCDEX is the 'upper level' part, which loads in AUTOEXEC.BAT. You have to have both levels installed and working for your CDROM to come up.
I don't remember the exact syntax anymore, but you have to tell the low-level driver what device name to provide. i think it might be the /L switch, like this:
device=a:\atapi.sys /L:DRV001
And I think you need the equivalent switch in MSCDEX:
mscdex.exe /L:DRV001
It's something like that, but I'm really not sure I have the syntax exactly right. You can double-check on the bootdisks at bootdisk.com for working examples.
posted by Malor at 12:28 AM on March 6, 2006
Oops, I just saw that you'd been to bootdisk.com.... missed that the first time. You might see if there are any other flavors there... I'm almost sure I downloaded a good one from them at one time. If you're still having no luck, drop me an email (check my profile)... I might be able to scrounge something up for you.
posted by Malor at 4:01 AM on March 6, 2006
posted by Malor at 4:01 AM on March 6, 2006
I looked up the syntax that Malor refers to. I've used the oakcdrom.sys driver with good success. Here's the syntax I've used:
Config.sys needs to know to load the device driver. The oakcdrom.sys driver needs to be in the root of the floppy drive. Add to config.sys
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:oemcd001
Autoexec uses Mscdex.exe to make the cdrom available using the drive loaded in config.sys and gives it the name/drive letter D:. I'd put mscdex.exe in the root as well. Add to Autoexec.bat
LH MSCDEX.EXE /D:oemcd001 /L:D
I recently reloaded Win98 on an old pc that didn't automagically boot to cd. What a pain. If you can find a friend who'll let you put your hard drive as the 2nd drive on their pc, you can format it and put the W98n setup files on it.
posted by theora55 at 7:18 AM on March 6, 2006
Config.sys needs to know to load the device driver. The oakcdrom.sys driver needs to be in the root of the floppy drive. Add to config.sys
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:oemcd001
Autoexec uses Mscdex.exe to make the cdrom available using the drive loaded in config.sys and gives it the name/drive letter D:. I'd put mscdex.exe in the root as well. Add to Autoexec.bat
LH MSCDEX.EXE /D:oemcd001 /L:D
I recently reloaded Win98 on an old pc that didn't automagically boot to cd. What a pain. If you can find a friend who'll let you put your hard drive as the 2nd drive on their pc, you can format it and put the W98n setup files on it.
posted by theora55 at 7:18 AM on March 6, 2006
If you can find a friend who'll let you put your hard drive as the 2nd drive on their pc, you can format it and put the W98n setup files on it.
Now that is the correct advice!
posted by Chuckles at 7:40 AM on March 6, 2006
Now that is the correct advice!
posted by Chuckles at 7:40 AM on March 6, 2006
The way I have got round this in the past was to use a floppy based linux distribution (something like tomsrtbt)to copy the cab files across to the hard drive, then install Win98 from there.
Compared to wasting a lot of time finding the right DOS driver, or disassembling the PC to get at the hard drive, using the decent IDE HD/CD support in linux is a real time saver.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 8:59 AM on March 6, 2006
Compared to wasting a lot of time finding the right DOS driver, or disassembling the PC to get at the hard drive, using the decent IDE HD/CD support in linux is a real time saver.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 8:59 AM on March 6, 2006
I agree on the bootable CD, but IIRC only Win 98SE was bootable, not Win 98.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 9:17 AM on March 6, 2006
posted by WinnipegDragon at 9:17 AM on March 6, 2006
Response by poster: Add to config.sys: device=oakcdrom.sys /D:oemcd001
Add to Autoexec.bat: LH MSCDEX.EXE /D:oemcd001 /L:D
original poster again:
This didn't work. I opened up the computer and identified the drive as a Mitsumi FX322M2. Mitsumi's website yields for this device a file called IDE158.EXE, although no .SYS file. I tried using IDE158.EXE in place of MSCDEX.EXE, along with OAKCDROM.SYS; doesn't work.
posted by neuron at 2:34 PM on March 6, 2006
Add to Autoexec.bat: LH MSCDEX.EXE /D:oemcd001 /L:D
original poster again:
This didn't work. I opened up the computer and identified the drive as a Mitsumi FX322M2. Mitsumi's website yields for this device a file called IDE158.EXE, although no .SYS file. I tried using IDE158.EXE in place of MSCDEX.EXE, along with OAKCDROM.SYS; doesn't work.
posted by neuron at 2:34 PM on March 6, 2006
neuron, sorry I forgot this thread. Probably you need to load the IDE158.EXE in config.sys... you can do that with some drivers. Try loading it with the argument syntax for OAKCDROM.SYS.
There's nothing out there that replaces MSCDEX... that's Microsoft-supplied, part of DOS, and can't be replaced. The part that changes is the low-level driver.
posted by Malor at 12:44 PM on March 8, 2006
There's nothing out there that replaces MSCDEX... that's Microsoft-supplied, part of DOS, and can't be replaced. The part that changes is the low-level driver.
posted by Malor at 12:44 PM on March 8, 2006
Hit submit too soon..."you can do that with some EXEs... they can function both as runnable programs and as loadable device drivers."
EMM386.EXE is an example of that.
posted by Malor at 12:45 PM on March 8, 2006
EMM386.EXE is an example of that.
posted by Malor at 12:45 PM on March 8, 2006
Response by poster: Ok, I'll try that. If I can't get it to work, I'll just dig the HD out and put it in my other PC to load Win98 on it.
posted by neuron at 4:37 PM on March 9, 2006
posted by neuron at 4:37 PM on March 9, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
Basically the way to do this with a DOS floppy would be:
1) Copy whatever drivers to the floppy
2) Edit A:\autoexec.bat on the disk to start up the driver loader program (It's just a regular .bat file
3) boot from the floppy
4) run D:\setup.exe
You could also try copying the windows setup files to the hard drive before installing, so that windows can install new stuff from there, rather then asking for the hard drive.
posted by delmoi at 11:52 PM on March 5, 2006