Converting from Win98se to Win2K - clean install instead of upgrade

[TheJTrain]

Ok everyone, I've decided to upgrade my Win98se system to Win2K, but am a little unclear on some specifics, mostly having to do with applications and backing them up vs. reinstalling them.

Stuff like games and IDEs (like Visual Studio or Dreamweaver) I'll probably just reinstall since I have all the original CDs and serial numbers and stuff. Save me time and potential headaches.

But for utility apps like Netscape (which contains all my email, bookmarks, prefs, etc.) I'd rather not have to start from scratch, since they've been modified substantially from their originally installed form. So if I were to copy whole directories from my Win98 system and paste them onto my other system (running WinXP) through the LAN via shared folders, will I have any trouble bringing them back to the upgraded Win2K system (which will be NTFS after a repartition/reformat) and having them work right, just like before? Or will it be totally dorked up and have to be reinstalled anyway, and cross my fingers that I can restore bookmarks, old emails, etc. somehow?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[TheJTrain]

Now that I think about it, I suppose an idea would be to try to run something from my WinXP machine once I've transferred it whole through the LAN - that might give me an idea if it'll work or not.

Any other thoughts?

Jason

 

[anonymouse]

Things to consider:

1. Applications that you have installed that say Win98, Win2000 and WinXP will run without problems.

2. Your best bet is to upgrade all known apps that have a newer XP version first (chances are that they will also run on 98), i.e. a newer XP version app usually says 98/2000/XP or something. This way you wont have to reinstall and all your setting should be preserved.

3. isolate the ones that dont have an update for XP, and ask the company to see if there is an upgrade. If not, you have a choice to make if your application is critical in which case you will probably not be upgrading in the first place!

4. I dont know if you have a decent backup mechanism in place, backup of files and apps. At least backup your critical files, so if something goes wrong, you can always get that. Apps usually will get backed up with backup software (I have Retrospect, expensive! I am not sure what other cheaper alternatives exist).

Cheers!

 

[Agent004]

Unfortuntely , any kind of customisation which is stored in registry(not in a ini file) , which most of the softwares are, is not transferable, meaning you will have to reconfigure most of the stuff anyway.

 

[anonymouse]

hmmm....

That's a new one on me, I have never paid attention to this issue. I am not 100% convinced that what
you are saying is correct.

I have upgraded from 98 to Windows 2000 in the past and I can't recall if I lost any custom configs.

 

[Richard98]

<<
But for utility apps like Netscape (which contains all my email, bookmarks, prefs, etc.) I'd rather not have to start from scratch, since they've been modified substantially from their originally installed form. So if I were to copy whole directories from my Win98 system and paste them onto my other system (running WinXP) through the LAN via shared folders, will I have any trouble bringing them back to the upgraded Win2K system (which will be NTFS after a repartition/reformat) and having them work right, just like before? Or will it be totally dorked up and have to be reinstalled anyway, and cross my fingers that I can restore bookmarks, old emails, etc. somehow?

Thanks,
Jason >>



I'd do a fresh install of w2k. It's fairly easy to backup your netscape settings. Just copy the directory "program files\netscape\users" to a cdrw or to another drive. After the fresh install of w2k, copy the directory back to the drive where you plan to install netscape, then install Netscape. All your settings, bookmarks, email will be the same. Worked flawlessly for me when I upgraded to w2k.