Reinstalling Win98...

[MikeyP]

Sorry if this has been asked lately, I used search, but came up with nothing. What all do I need to do? I have 3 partitions, Windows has its own--C:. How do I go about this, do I need to uninstall it or anything? Reformat? I'm a clueless Windows newbie Never had to reinstall before, but I'm getting some new hardware, so thought I better. Drive D is just mp3's, E is my applications and games. I don't have anything too important on the drive either.

Thanks!

 

[GT1999]

Hey no problem - we all have to start from somewhere! If you plan on doing a clean install of the OS AND FORMAT you'll just need to:

1) Get a boot disk.

2) Boot off of the floppy, just leave it in there from startup. Select with CD-ROM support.

3) Type format c: (assuming c is the windows installation, and you want to delete EVERYTHING on that partition). This will take a little bit. You could also do "format c:\q", which makes a quick format if it's already formatted with FAT16 or 32.

4) Throw your Windows CD in the CD-ROM. Next, switch to your CD-ROM drive letter. As an example, let's say it's G:, since F will probably be the virtual drive. Just type G: and then hit enter. Then type "setup". (Don't worry, if it isn't the right drive letter it will just say it can't find setup.exe).

5) Follow the instructions on screen with the GUI; they're pretty easy to follow

 

[MikeyP]

I know how to do the format/reinstall, but is it necessary? Or do you get better results from a format too?

 

[GT1999]

With Windows, formatting is usually the best option. Just reinstalling the OS will usually leave quite a bit of clutter, especially in the Windows folder. Is it necessary to format? No.. but I'd recommend it.

 

[MikeyP]

Ok, so I just need to reformat the C drive right? And my apps and files should be ok? I'll back up the important stuff. There is nothing I really need to back up just in case, but theoretically, should everything work fine afterwards? Office for example?

 

[GT1999]

Ah, I see. You have installed the applications directly to your other drives' partitions. In that case there would be dll files and such that would be erased for some of the programs. So, if you were to format the drive with Windows on it, some or most of the programs wouldn't work.

If I were you I wouldn't format, then. I would see if you can just get by with the current installation through the hardware changes (should be fine).

 

[VanDine]

I would not partition, just make order by means of directories, take it from one who has years of experience of being stuck with partitions, again and again, that are not easily get rid off sometimes (until system reinstall that is)

V

You just have to quench that bug for orderliness some of us have

 

[Racer7201]

One thing I do after a fresh install of the os and my primary apps I ghost it with Norton Ghost and save the image to cd or another partition. If windows gets weird, I just boot to a floppy with ghost and cd drivers on it, pop in the cd and put the ghost image back. It usually takes about 10-15 minutes and I'm back with a clean system and necessary apps. Then I just have to load my backup data.
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