Detail Instructions for Formatting your Hard Drive then Reinstalling Windows 98 or 98 SE
If you have not created a Windows 98 Startup Disk, do so now!
To Create a Windows 98 Startup Disk, Place a clean floppy in your A: drive, and place your Windows 98 CD in your CD Player then click: Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs Icon, then click the Startup Disk Tab, then Click Create Disk.
HOT NOTE: If you have already formatted your hard drive and don't have access to a computer running Win 98, go to this site: BootDisk.com, and download a Win 98 Startup Disk.
Once you have the Startup Disk, While Still Running Windows 98, place Startup disk in your A: drive then copy the file: FORMAT.COM to the disk. For some reason when the Win 98 Startup Disk is created it just doesn't include that file.
To copy the file: FORMAT.COM to the Windows
98 Startup Disk go to Start, Find, and in the Find window type: FORMAT.COM, then
click the Find Now Button. Once
FORMAT.COM is in the Find Windows, Right Click on
the file and select: Send To 3 1/2 Floppy
{A}
After doing that, leave the Startup disk in your A: drive and reboot your computer. After you arrive at the
A:\> prompt (make sure your Win 98 CD is in your CD-ROM drive then type:
E: [Enter]
The reason for typing E: is because when the Windows 98 Startup Disk boots up your computer it creates a
RAM drive on your hard drive that takes up
one drive letter, causing your CD-ROM drive letter to advanced by one letter.
After typing: E: [Enter] you should get an
E:\> prompt. At the E:\>
prompt type: Dir /W [Enter] doing that should cause the contents of the
CD-ROM to be displayed on your screen.
If the files on your Windows 98 CD are displayed on the screen, you can be sure
that you do have CD-ROM access when booting with the Windows 98 Startup Disk. If you do
have access to your CD-ROM, change back to your A:\ drive by typing: A:
[Enter]
VERY SPECIAL NOTE:
Before you format your hard drive and do a clean installation of Windows. Make sure that you have all the drivers for things
such as: Modem, Printer,
Video Card, and Sound Card handy because
it's more than possible that the version of Windows that you are installing won't have the correct drivers for those items and will
ask for an installation disk for those things.
When you get back to the A:\> prompt type: Format C: /S /V [Enter]
Example::: A:\>Format C: /S /V [Enter]
That will cause your C: drive to be formatted and copy the systems files to the hard drive and give you the option of entering a
Volume label (name the drive).
After the format has been completed, reboot your computer. After rebooting, and you are back at the A:\> prompt, change back to your CD
drive by typing: E: [Enter]
When you get back to the E:\> prompt type: Setup
[Enter] and that will
cause the Windows 98 installation to begin.
One more special Note: Make sure that if your copy of Win 98 is an upgrade copy (not a full copy) that you have either a Win 95 CD or a
copy of Win 3.x on floppy available, because during the early part of the Win 98 installation you will be asked for proof that you do have and
older copy of Windows. When that happens, place the Win 95 CD in the CD drive or place Disk
One of the Win 3.x disks in the floppy drive then click the Next
Button. After the Win 98 installation routine is happy that you do have an older OS, remove the Win 95 CD or Floppy
then place the
Win 98 CD in the drive again and click the Next Button and the
installation will continue.
Comments appreciated: eric.groves (at) verizon.net