Win98 full grade refuses to install over Win95. HELP!

Rename the WIN.COM file (it should be in your Windows directory) and Setup should stop complaining.

Do just as said above but run the setup from command prompt or preferably use the win98 boot disk.

                                                                                                     

  To upgrade to Windows 98  from the "full" and "OEM"
 use with the following technique
1. Boot directly to MS-DOS.
 Do not  launch an MS-DOS prompt ("DOS box") from within Windows.
 make sure that the appropriate MS-DOS cd-rom drivers are loaded.
 You may want to use a boot disk with cd-rom drivers if possible, and boot from there.  Boot up with cd-rom support.
 2. Locate and rename the files WIN.COM and WINVER.EXE to WIN.old and WINVER.old                     They will probably be in your \windows directory. If there are other copies of these files elsewhere on your hard
 drive(s), remove or rename them, too.
 3. Start the Windows 98 setup program.  usually D:\WIN98\SETUP, where "D"
 is the letter of your CD-ROM drive.
 setup will attempt to install Windows 98 to \windows.000.
 Change this directory specification to \windows (or wherever the previous version of Windows is installed).

  Good luck.

If all else fails, delete the entire windows directory and install.  Of course this means you will have to reload any software you have but it will get the job done for sure.

Also, using the above method, you wont loose data, but you may need to reinstall
some apps.

But before you do that, after installing win98,
Reboot to dos again, and at the prompt type

scanreg/fix

and hit enter.
This will repair your registry, and you should be in great shape from there.

Of course what Jim is trying to do is ILLEGAL!  An OEM version is just that.  It says right on the CD "To be sold ONLY WITH A NEW COMPUTER".  "Buying" it from a "friend" violates the license.

To legally upgrade from 95 to 98 you must buy (at retail) the win98 Upgrade.

In fact thats all there is to it.
start with a bootflop.
Rename c:\windows\win.com to win.old
reboot with the startup disk from win98 and  install.
After that use the scanreg/fix command from your command line.

IF this works (renaming WIN.COM), will the Setup in Win98 find all the configurations for hardware and programs that are currently in use by Win95? It will do me little good to install Win98 if everything else has to be done from scratch. I can do that now by reformatting my C: drive (and thus wipe out all traces of Windows 95) and starting with a clean slate. Your thoughts, please.

And, are you sure there isn't an unplublished switch for Setup which would cause it to ignore an existing operating system? Like, "Setup /U" meaning to update. I don't know that there is one, but I've seen things like this before.

First, if you follow most of these methods, you will also need to reinstall your apps (I'm interested to see if the scareg /fix idea works!) and drivers for any hardware that windows does not have internal drivers for.

here's some setup switches that might or might not help

/nd - This switch ignores the presence of a Migration.dll file and is used to force Windows 98 to overwrite newer files.
  NOTE: Files that use the ",,,32" flag in the .inf file still force Windows 98 Setup to keep the newer files.

/nx - Do not check the version of Setupx that is running.

Note to bchew - About this being illegal. I like to think that I'm an honorable person; i.e., I do not steal. But, Bill Gates has already been paid his toll by Dell Computer who put this version of Windows on a computer and sold it. And also, by my friend who paid Mr. Bates his additional toll by purchasing Windows 2000. Mr. Gates has been paid to have this particular software installed on a PC somewhere, and it's none of his business WHERE it is installed as long as it is installed on one, and only ONE, computer. Now, if it was still installed on the original PC, my using it would be illegal; but it isn't!

The CD says "Do not make illegal copies of this Disc." I haven't! This software exists nowhere else in the world on a PC. 'Nuff said.

Note to bchew - About this being illegal. I like to think that I'm an honorable person; i.e., I do not steal. But, Bill Gates has already been paid his toll by Dell Computer who put this version of Windows on a computer and sold it. And also, by my friend who paid Mr. Bates his additional toll by purchasing Windows 2000. Mr. Gates has been paid to have this particular software installed on a PC somewhere, and it's none of his business WHERE it is installed as long as it is installed on one, and only ONE, computer. Now, if it was still installed on the original PC, my using it would be illegal; but it isn't!

The CD says "Do not make illegal copies of this Disc." I haven't! This software exists nowhere else in the world on a PC. 'Nuff said.

Jim,

Just read the license agreement, which your "Friend" agreed to when he purchased and used the Dell machine :o).  Mr Gates may or may not be "honorable" in your eyes but what he has done is legal.  What you are attempting is not.

Bert

Be honorable and reformat your drive and load it nice and clean then reload your apps. With all the time and effort into TRICKING the CD you could have been done already.

"IF this works (renaming WIN.COM), will the Setup in Win98 find all the configurations for hardware and programs
                    that are currently in use by Win95? "


Assuming that you legally own the software,and its not for me to make the call.
And you wish to legally upgrade your pc,  the installation will be no diff than an upgrade.

You may not need to reinstall any of the software.
But it is a new system, so you should be aware of it.
As far as drivers go, if all your hardware is pnp, and windows has the drivers, or it finds them in your system,no problem.

Biggest reason for possible apps reinstall is registry alignment.
Scanreg/fix should handle most if not all.

The fact is that you have a very good chance,
in the 90% plus of having a very uneventful installation, with everything working the 1st reboot.

BE SURE to redirect the installation to the existing c\windows folder at the proper time of installation.

If you dont, then you will have a clean install and will have to reload the apps.

As always, good practice to backup any files that you need.








 

semperphi, as you are new here, welcome.  However, there are some protocols you need to be aware of with this site.  First, experts here do not propose answers unless they are absolutely sure that the advice will solve the problem.  This is because posting an answer locks the question and stops other experts from possibly helping.  This is not beneficial to the questioner.  Second, we do not use other people's comments in our answers for obvious reasons.  Third, we do not help people to infringe on copyrights or other state and federal laws (regardless of whether this issue is or is not legal)

These are all things that you should have read when you signed up here.  Please adhere to these protocols in the future.

The renaming Win.com was a Win95 trick, it will not work with Win98, when you do that and still not able to install Win98 then you also won't be ablr to boot back to Win95 until you rename the Win.com file back to the original name.

When you try to upgrade your Microsoft Windows 95-based computer to Windows 98, you may receive the following error message:
Warning SU0168
Your computer already has an operating system installed, which cannot be upgraded by this version of Setup. Please obtain the Windows 98 Upgrade.
This can happen if an incorrect version of the Setupx.dll file is currently loaded into memory. To fix this, run Windows 98 Setup from MS-DOS mode:
1.Select Start > Shutdown, and select Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode, then click OK
2.At the command prompt, type the following commands, pressing Enter after each command:
 ren setupx.dll setupx.old1
 ren setupx.w95 setupx.old2
                             
Note: If the Setupx.w95 file is missing, extract a new copy of this file to the  \Windows\System folder.
See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q129605 for information about how to extract files.
3.Restart your computer

good info, sounds like you have a choice between that and running from the DOS prompt: setup /nx

I've read through this thread, and RayT333's procedure works in most cases.

As for the legal issue surrounding the use of the Win98 CD, the seller has every right to sell that CD as long as all rights, upgrades, updates etc go with it, eg: Win98 is removed from the former owners machine. Therefore Jim has every right to own it, see (if I recall correctly) Paragraph 5 of the license agreement.

Dennis

If you have a DOS directory it will be detected as an operating system. Rename it to DOSOLD. I had this same problem. I renamed win.com and it still detected an operating systm until the DOS rename.

First of all, thanks to all the people who responded to my problem. I think the 1000 points should be shared because the final answer came from at least three people. I don't know how to do this. Maybe the Webmaster does. Here is what I finally did:
1. I took an old HDD, reformatted it and installed Windows 95 and a few other programs like WordPerfect. I dolled up the DeskTop like I usually do. Then, ...
2. I booted to DOS and renamed two files to something else, WIN.COM --> WIN.CO~ and WINVER.EXE --> WINVER.EX~. Then, ...
3. I booted to DOS with the Windows 98 Boot disk and installed Windows 98, smoothly and without any problems.
4. The DeskTop came back up like it was in Windows 95 and all my programs ran OK.
5. I booted to DOS and run SCANREG/FIX, which ran OK, but I didn't see any difference, meaning, it might not have been needed.
6. I read the license agreement fully this time, and in my jackleg lawyer opinion, it is the same as all other such "liability releasing" useless pieces of paper, "created of, by and for the sole benefit of lawyers"; i.e., whatever a jury says it says. I'm entitled to one (1) Windows 98 on my PC and I'll stand by that. Thank you, one and all. I truly appreciate your comments. Jim Caraway.

First of all, thanks to all the people who responded to my problem. I think the 1000 points should be shared because the final answer came from at least three people. I don't know how to do this. Maybe the Webmaster does. Here is what I finally did:
1. I took an old HDD, reformatted it and installed Windows 95 and a few other programs like WordPerfect. I dolled up the DeskTop like I usually do. Then, ...
2. I booted to DOS and renamed two files to something else, WIN.COM --> WIN.CO~ and WINVER.EXE --> WINVER.EX~. Then, ...
3. I booted to DOS with the Windows 98 Boot disk and installed Windows 98, smoothly and without any problems.
4. The DeskTop came back up like it was in Windows 95 and all my programs ran OK.
5. I booted to DOS and run SCANREG/FIX, which ran OK, but I didn't see any difference, meaning, it might not have been needed.
6. I read the license agreement fully this time, and in my jackleg lawyer opinion, it is the same as all other such "liability releasing" useless pieces of paper, "created of, by and for the sole benefit of lawyers"; i.e., whatever a jury says it says. I'm entitled to one (1) Windows 98 on my PC and I'll stand by that. Thank you, one and all. I truly appreciate your comments. Jim Caraway.

Hi JimCaraway,

In furture, when you need to split points, please ask to do so in Community Support. The link is at the bottom of every Experts Exchange page.

Since you have already split the points, I will manually award points to each expert who you feel helped you, please let me know which experts helped you, and what % of points you wish to award to them.

Ian
Community  Support @ Experts Exchange

Just split the points to everyone who responded with a comment. That will be good enough for me. Sorry I'm late on this. I was through with the question, and didn't check back until now.