Can a Windows 98 UPGRADE disk stand alone for a new hard drive reinstall?
Greetings wise wizards of Experts Exchange:
I am helping a friend with a rather ancient PC, a Gateway 2000 which originally came with Windows 95; he eventually purchased the Windows 98 upgrade, which worked well for many years. Now, his hard drive has crashed, and I picked up a new one (a Maxtor) that is supported from XP all the way down to Windows 98, second edition. I'm going to attempt to breath life into this artifact, by reloading all his software onto the new hard drive. My question is:
Will a Windows 98 UPGRADE disk act as a stand-alone operating system disk for an install, or will it require a previous version of Windows in which to operate?
I am helping a friend with a rather ancient PC, a Gateway 2000 which originally came with Windows 95; he eventually purchased the Windows 98 upgrade, which worked well for many years. Now, his hard drive has crashed, and I picked up a new one (a Maxtor) that is supported from XP all the way down to Windows 98, second edition. I'm going to attempt to breath life into this artifact, by reloading all his software onto the new hard drive. My question is:
Will a Windows 98 UPGRADE disk act as a stand-alone operating system disk for an install, or will it require a previous version of Windows in which to operate?
LeeTutor
The upgrade version requires that a) you have a previous version of Windows installed, or b) you can insert the installation media for the previous version of Windows when you install the upgraded version on a blank formatted disk or partition.
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ASKER
Thank you, LeeTutor, for responding so quickly.
Your web page link is indeed quite useful...many thanks. I do have one question though, in regards to the b) portion of your answer:
>>b) you can insert the installation media for the previous version of Windows when you install the upgraded version on a blank formatted disk or partition<<
I'm not sure I follow this...I'm using a brand new hard drive, with no operating system on it at all. I've got the original Windows 95 disk & the 98 upgrade disk. Are you saying that I would begin the installation of the upgrade 98 disk, and at some point I would be prompted to insert the original 95 disk? The reason this is so important is that the new hard drive isn't supported by Windows 95...I may not get the chance to install the 98 upgrade if the hard drive won't allow me to install 95.
Please enlighten me...many thanks!
Zovoth
Your web page link is indeed quite useful...many thanks. I do have one question though, in regards to the b) portion of your answer:
>>b) you can insert the installation media for the previous version of Windows when you install the upgraded version on a blank formatted disk or partition<<
I'm not sure I follow this...I'm using a brand new hard drive, with no operating system on it at all. I've got the original Windows 95 disk & the 98 upgrade disk. Are you saying that I would begin the installation of the upgrade 98 disk, and at some point I would be prompted to insert the original 95 disk? The reason this is so important is that the new hard drive isn't supported by Windows 95...I may not get the chance to install the 98 upgrade if the hard drive won't allow me to install 95.
Please enlighten me...many thanks!
Zovoth
Lee:
"Unfortunately, the Windows 95/98 XCOPY command will not copy system and hidden files when used from the DOS prompt."
Using Xcopy with the following switch /h will allow to copy hidded files. xcopy /h/s
I recall that if you have the win 95 boot disk, then it will allow you to install the Win98 Upgrade disk. I would need someone to confirm this.
You can as I remember can make a win95 boot disk with win 95 installed
Or can obtain a boot disk as shown.
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
gonzal13(joe)
"Unfortunately, the Windows 95/98 XCOPY command will not copy system and hidden files when used from the DOS prompt."
Using Xcopy with the following switch /h will allow to copy hidded files. xcopy /h/s
I recall that if you have the win 95 boot disk, then it will allow you to install the Win98 Upgrade disk. I would need someone to confirm this.
You can as I remember can make a win95 boot disk with win 95 installed
Or can obtain a boot disk as shown.
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
gonzal13(joe)
>> begin the installation of the upgrade 98 disk.......prompted to insert the original 95 disk? << Correct. It doesn't need to install W95, just see that you have the disk.
Dumb question. Does the BIOS see the new HD OK?
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ASKER
Greetings coral47:
Thanks for the information regarding the install & the bios suggestion. I haven't checked yet whether the BIOS has detected the new drive. I think I have all the information I need to continue the install. Before I close this inquiry though, I would like clarification of your comment "Dumb question"... May I ask what & who's question do you consider dumb?
Zovoth
Thanks for the information regarding the install & the bios suggestion. I haven't checked yet whether the BIOS has detected the new drive. I think I have all the information I need to continue the install. Before I close this inquiry though, I would like clarification of your comment "Dumb question"... May I ask what & who's question do you consider dumb?
Zovoth
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Thank you much. : )
ASKER
Greetings to the trio of excellent wizards, LeeTutor, coral47 & gonzal13:
I thank you all for your input, all of which will help with my project of resurrecting my relic of a PC. I increased the point value of this question and split it among the three of you. I chose LeeTutor's as the primary answer, as he answered my inquiry first and provided a useful link to the entire process. However, coral47 & gonzal13 also provided very useful information which I hadn't considered, especially in terms of using the BIOS to detect the drive, and the problems with older systems.
A special thanks to coral47 for clairifying your statement and providing the excellent support link.
Thanks again to the three of you, and may your BIOS's always detect your hard drives!
Take care,
Zovoth
I thank you all for your input, all of which will help with my project of resurrecting my relic of a PC. I increased the point value of this question and split it among the three of you. I chose LeeTutor's as the primary answer, as he answered my inquiry first and provided a useful link to the entire process. However, coral47 & gonzal13 also provided very useful information which I hadn't considered, especially in terms of using the BIOS to detect the drive, and the problems with older systems.
A special thanks to coral47 for clairifying your statement and providing the excellent support link.
Thanks again to the three of you, and may your BIOS's always detect your hard drives!
Take care,
Zovoth
Zovoth, glad you got your problem solved, and thanks for the points. (I was gone from my computer the rest of the day, so couldn't contribute any more to the discussion. Thanks to coral47 and gonzal13 for giving you the information necessary to continue...)
Lee
Lee
Zovoth:
It is rare the 'experts' get such a wonderful commentary.
Joe
Lee:
I had a file on xcopy for reference to relocate files from one drive to another. Would like your comments.
Start > Run > xcopy /e/h/k/c D:\*.* C: (The /c tells the xcopy to continue despite the error that it
will get when trying to copy the swap file. The swap file will be recreated as needed.) Can it be used even though one HD is Fat16 and the other fat 32. If not can a HD with Fat 16 be converted over to fat32 with out loss of data etc?
Joe
It is rare the 'experts' get such a wonderful commentary.
Joe
Lee:
I had a file on xcopy for reference to relocate files from one drive to another. Would like your comments.
Start > Run > xcopy /e/h/k/c D:\*.* C: (The /c tells the xcopy to continue despite the error that it
will get when trying to copy the swap file. The swap file will be recreated as needed.) Can it be used even though one HD is Fat16 and the other fat 32. If not can a HD with Fat 16 be converted over to fat32 with out loss of data etc?
Joe
I think I can answer one of your questions, gonzal13. This quotation:
Windows 98 and Windows Me also includes a FAT32 conversion tool that you can use to convert an existing drive to the FAT32 file system. To use the conversion tool, follow these steps:
Click Start , point to Programs , point to Accessories , point to System Tools , and then click Drive Converter (FAT32) .
from the following MSKB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;154997
Description of the FAT32 File System
Windows 98 and Windows Me also includes a FAT32 conversion tool that you can use to convert an existing drive to the FAT32 file system. To use the conversion tool, follow these steps:
Click Start , point to Programs , point to Accessories , point to System Tools , and then click Drive Converter (FAT32) .
from the following MSKB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;154997
Description of the FAT32 File System
.Thanks
Joe
Joe