Installing Win98 on top of itself

[gamble11]

I have recently been having stability problems on my computer due to a failed installation
of a webcam. Several people have suggested trying to reinstall win98SE on top of itself, so I am doing that right now. My question is this, during installation, after windows checks for installed components, it asks if I want setup to save existing configuration files, so I can uninstall windows later? What should I do, yes or no? Since I just want to install some files on top of my existing configuration in order catch the files that may have been deleted earlier, I'm thinking that choosing yes to the option would rename my existing configuration to something else like *.old, etc. instead of just installing on top of the existing configuration. Anyone out there willing to lend some advice?

Thanks,

Gamble

 

[Whitedog]

It saves it into a seperate folder, so that if your Windows DOES fix itself, you can then delete the folder...

It sounds like your windows is Hosed if it the reinstall doesn't work, so I wouldn't bother with the backup.

 

[jeremy806]

The old Windows on Windows has never worked for me, but I have tried it before.

Good luck,
jeremy806

 

[subman]

Gamble

I found that reinstalling Windows seldom corrects an error - if it works for you than you are in luck otherwise try restoring an older Registry ?? If you want to try this stop the computer at the DOS prompt and type in "scanreg /restore" this will bring up a list of backed up Registries - pick one from the list that you feel would be an error free one. They will be listed by date so try pick one of the latest one - but not the last one as that may be a copy of your current defective Registry.

 

[Ausm]

Format C: and do a clean installation

Ausm

 

[gamble11]

Well the reinstall seems to have gone ok. I think the problem has been fixed, however all of my software needs to be reinstalled. Most of the drivers appear to be intact though. All in all, I should have just done a format c: and started from scratch with a clean partition. All those junk files are still lurking....