Installing Windows 98 from scratch

The quickest way I found to manually install Windows 98:

  1. Format the HD with the /s option.
  2. Boot with 98 setup disk but choose the boot with CD option.
  3. Make a win98 directory on the C.
  4. Change to the CD ROM drive and CD to the win98 directory.
  5. MOST IMPORTANT: Use smartdrv to help copy all the files! I typically use "smartdrv 24000 /n"
  6. COPY *.* to the C:WIN98 directory
  7. Change to the c: drive and to the win98 directory
  8. Run setup from there.

This way all the CAB files will be on the HD and all the registry files will point there so you won't ever see "please insert the Windows 98 setup disk" again!

NOTE: This only works on "plain jane" PCs. Some manufacturers use a custom way to put the files in c:windowsoptionscabs, which I think is better, but I don't know how to do this other than manually creating this directory.


This was first published in December 2001

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