[Ham-Computers] RE: Installing Windows 98 SE

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

Hi Kurt (et al),

Reading through this thread, I noticed something - have you tried to run the Win98SE setup with a "blank" HD?  IIRC, all the "upgrade" discs did was to search for proof of a previous version of Windows (9x/3.11).  If no OS was on the HD, then it would prompt for the installation floppies (or CD).

The 2GB limit is due to FAT16 - FAT32 was first available in Win95 "OSR2" and also in subsequent versions of Windows.  For reference, Win95 OSR2 (and later) have a built-in app for converting from FAT16 to FAT32, but it won't "extend" the existing partition size, thus you're still limited to 2GB.  To get the full 5GB in one partition, you'll need to boot with an OSR2 or Win98 boot disk and partition with a FAT32 FDISK.



So, here's what I would do...

* Boot with a Win98 or Win95 OSR2 boot disk - MUST BE Win98 or Win95 "OSR2".

* FDISK and delete all existing partitions.  Then create a single 5GB "Primary" DOS partition.  Make sure it's set to "active".

* Re-boot from the same boot disk and format the new partition (C:) with "/S" to make the HD bootable.

* Create a "DRIVERS" directory (folder) on the new "C:" drive and copy the CD-ROM drivers there.

* Create a "DOS" directory and copy any DOS related files here.  I would suggest HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE as a minimum.  You may want to include SMARTDRV.EXE (for later).  FDISK and FORMAT are nice, but you've already done those.  Make sure your AUTOEXEC.BAT includes a path to this directory.

* Create a CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on the "C:" drive to load HIMEM.SYS and the CD-ROM drivers.  If you're familiar with EMM386.EXE, include it too, but it may cause boot problems if you don't configure it properly to exclude certain memory ranges.

* Eject the floppy and reboot from the hard drive.  Make sure the CD-ROM support loads as expected - if not, edit/modify the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on the hard drive and check the drivers (device driver and MSCDEX.EXE).

* Once you're able to boot from the C: drive with CD-ROM support, create a "C:\Win98" directory and copy the contents of "Win98" directory on the the Win98 CD to C:\Win98.  I would use XCOPY as it is faster plus it includes switches to copy sub-directories.  The exact command-line I would use (assuming D: is the CD-ROM) would be:

  xcopy d:\Win98 c:\Win98 /e

* Once the copy is complete, modify the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and REM out the CD-ROM drivers - this are 16-bit drivers and should not be used with Win9x unless Win9x driver support doesn't exist.  After the REM's, reboot from the hard drive.

* Load SMARTDRV (if you copied it earlier...not absolutely necessary, but it speeds up the install).

* CD to the C:\Win98 folder and run SETUP.EXE

* Follow the standard installation prompts for Win98 - it should prompt for your Win311 disks during the setup.


Once done, you should have a dual-booting HD that will prompt at boot if you want to use the previous OS or Win98.  The default is Win98, but it's nice to have the option to start directly at a DOS prompt.  You'll have two CONFIG and AUTOEXEC files - one set will have a .DOS extension.  These are the files used when you boot to the "previous OS".  Windows will automatically rename them as needed depending on which OS you boot to.  When in "DOS", you'll find the .W98 extensions.

Hopefully, these instructions will get you to where you want to be.  Let me know if you run into any issues...it's been a while since I've done a Win98 install, so I may be missing a step or two.

Oh, one more thing...if anyone is doing this with a hard drive >64GB, then you'll need to update FDISK.EXE as the original Win95/98 FDISK doesn't recognize drives larger than 64GB (it "wraps" the value starting with zero, so a 80GB drive shows up as 16GB).  You can fine the update here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263044


73 all!

  - Aaron, NN6O


p.s.  Another thought...convert your existing FAT16 to FAT32, then use a partition editing program to extend the Partition to 5GB.  However, I'd prefer to install Win98 from scratch rather than work with an "upgrade".


-----Original Message-----
From: ham-computers-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:ham-computers-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of KD7JYK DM09
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 12:26 AM
To: Computers (or other) used for amateur radio, communications, or experimenting
Subject: [Ham-Computers] Installing Windows 98 SE

I have a laptop, IBM Thinkpad 770.   It has a 5 GB hard disk.

I installed DOS 6.22, which only sees about 2 GB.

I then Installed Windows 3.11.

I then installed a BackPack CD ROM drive to operate through the parallel
port.

I put a Windows 98SE upgrade disk into the CD ROM and upgrded to Windows
98SE.

98SE still only sees 2 GB.

In checking the file system, I see it is FAT16.

It there a way to get 98 SE to use the whole drive without starting over and
trying a different route?

Kurt

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