Reinstalling 98se with backup of previous OS on D partition gives error, HELP!

[RedHot]

Computer previously had Windows 95b installed. I created a new partition on the HD, and copied/backedup the whole c: partition onto d: (everything except the swap file of course). I then booted to DOS, formatted c:. Ran setup on the Windows 98se cd, all good.

Setup runs for a bit, does a system scan and then comes back with an error that there is already an OS installed on the HD and it can't continue without the 'upgrade' version of windows.

My question is: I am assuming there is a file or group of files that setup looks for to verify there is an OS installed. Anyone know what those files are so that I can rename/delete them to get past this error? I might just take out the HD and zip up the root files and windows directory, but thought I would try here first to see if anyone has dealt with this before.

Thanks for the help!
-RH-

 

[RedHot]

Wow, seems all you have to do is rename 'win.com' and install happens without incident.

Thanks for all the help!
-RH-

 

[yazz]

got your message RedHot

windows setup checks all the harddrives for previous WIN9X installs. if it finds another win9x with a win.com in it it will not install. you can either rename the file or delete the win.com file. just make sure your target directory is where you want win9x installed.
i have even upgraded win3.1 to win98se with this trick... have fun

so, RedHot, i am confirming you can do this. sorry a little late...

 

[RedHot]

No, thanks for the reply! It was your post in another topic that led me to get the computer done and get a little sleep! 🙂

Take care-
-RH-

 

[dsparks]

Yeah, what Yazz said. Hope you get it worked out though!