How to install Win98 SE?

[Scouzer]

I feel like a total idiot asking this, but I haven't tried to install the damn thing in over a year now. Anyway, so I pop in the CD without a floppy boot disk...no go. Says invalid boot disk. So I try to put in a floppy boost disk, boot with CD ROM support, then goto E:\ and use setup. Windows only it says... I don't know what to do. Is it that the CD is FUBAR because it won't let me boot with it?

P.S. I tested booting with a WinXP CD and it was fine. But my friend insists on 98...

 

[Yomama21]

Can you read from the cd after booting up from a floppy? Is it an upgrade cd or full version? Also, are you using a 98 boot disk?

 

[Scouzer]

I can see all the files on the CD via the dir command. But I have not tried actually opening any.

I assume its a full version...(its the friend's err CD-R disc). I'd also have to assume its a 98 bootdisk as there was no other computer in the house running a different OS.

 

[BCYL]

It sure sounds like that's a Upgrade CD since it said "Windows Only" when you run Setup... u might wanna find another CD and try again...

 

[FreedomFighter]

I reformated someones computer for them.. I went to install Win 98 SE and I didn't have very much luck at all. I played around with it for hours.. I slaped in Win 98 and typed in (D:\ Setup) and it worked fine.. By defualt, it reads SE as an upgrade, which it is. So you need to have a previous version on Windows in order for it to work when you are doing a fresh install of an operating system.

Hope I helped..
FF

 

[cleverhandle]

Freedom Fighter: I'm not sure what the problem is - simply running setup from a DOS prompt is supposed to work (unlike NT versions). But 98 SE can certainly be installed without a prior version of Windows on the machine, provided you have the full version. I've done it numerous times.

Most likely, that copy is from an Upgrade version, as others have suggested. But even so, that's strange. Isn't the installation supposed to prompt you for the location of the previous version in case it can't find it?

 

[FreedomFighter]

Well, I had the same problem he did. On a fresh install, I could never get Win 98 SE to work 🙁

 

[GregMal]

I've never had Win98(SE) install problems, either clean or upgrade.
On a clean install, fdisk then format /s.
Then boot with the emergency disk and CDRom support.
Then make a new directory and call it Win98flt.
Copy the cd's win98 directory files (including the cab files) to
the Win98flt directory on the harddrive.
Reboot with the hardrive.
type c:\win98flt\setup
and away you go..........................Greg

 

[SwampsterFL]

Dumb question . . . is your BIOS set to boot from the CD as the first boot device?

 

[Wizkid]

Don't run setup from the root of the cd, use the setup.exe in the win98 folder.