Uninstalling + reinstalling win98

[RevoluChe]

I am wondering if this is possible: I need to uninstall windows 98 and then reinstall it. But I do not want to lose any other information on my HD, ie I do not want to format my drive. Basically, can I reinstall windows without going through the hastle of backing up all my programs and data?

Thanks,
Che

 

[Lilith]

Normally it think it should be ok, i just did that, ie, 'uninstall' meant copy all the files in the windows directory somewhere else, just in case, then deleted them, otherwise my setup program insisted there was already an operating system, and wouldn't do it. It appeared to find everything i had installed and even running at startup, but i have other problems, it seems, which have not been fixed, in fact have got worse, so i started another thread, "ibm thinkpad is possessed?"

 

[unclebabar]

I don't think it's possible without third party software, esp. in win98. (talking about completely uninstalling win98, not reinstalling over the existing win98)

 

[Buz2b]

can I reinstall windows without going through the hastle of backing up all my programs and data?

Yes and no. You can reinstall Win98 over itself and most likely not have any trouble with losing programs or data. You cannot remove 98 and then reinstall it without losing functionality of your programs. Even if you reinstall it over itself that is a temporary solution at best. It might buy you some time but eventually you will have to do the "nasty" and format/reinstall everything. Such is the nature of the beast unfortunately.