ANSWERS: 1
  • Windows 98 SE, more than a decade after its introduction, is still a popular and viable operating system for older computers. If you have a computer running Windows 98 SE that has slowed down from years of use, perk it up again by formatting the hard drive and reinstalling the operating system.

    Beginning Steps

    Before you begin your project, determine whether your computer is able to boot from the CD-ROM drive or not. Many computers from the Windows 98 era are able to boot from a floppy drive only, which means that you may need to have a working floppy drive in your computer before you can begin. To find out whether your computer can boot from the CD-ROM drive, consult the instruction manual for your motherboard or use the motherboard setup utility. When the computer is turned on, the first screen that is displayed will show you which key to press to enter the utility. If your computer can only boot from the floppy drive, download the Windows 98 SE boot disk utility from the link in the "Resources" section of this article. If your computer has multiple hard drives, open your computer and physically disconnect each drive except for the one that Windows will be installed on. You will be formatting your hard drive from the command prompt, and disconnecting the other hard drives guarantees that you cannot mistakenly erase the wrong drive. Additionally, if you have a very old CD-ROM drive, such as one that connects to the sound card rather than the motherboard, you may need to have the original driver disk in order for it to work.

    Performing the Installation

    Boot your computer with the Windows 98 SE CD or boot floppy to begin the installation. Type the command "FDISK" and hit Enter to get started. To erase the contents of the hard drive, delete the current partition and create a new one using the FAT32 file system. In most cases, you will want to use the drive's entire available space for the new partition. Restart the computer again. This time, at the command prompt, type "format c:". This will prepare the drive for the installation of Windows 98 SE. Change to your CD-ROM drive by typing "d:" (or the appropriate drive letter). Type "setup" and hit Enter to install Windows 98 SE.

    Source:

    How to Install Windows 98

Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC

Answerbag | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy