Windows 98SE OEM vs. Retail version

[Thetech]

Can I use the retail version of 98SE to upgrade an oem install of windows 98 (first edition)?

p.s. whats the difference between the oem version and retail version of windows 98 second edition?

 

[Dragonbate]

No you probably can't unless you have an upgrade version of windows 98 retail. There are ways around this though. You can use a dos boot disk to delete your windows partition and then install full retail version of 98 se. I usually back up my data and do full format/install. Finally you can get the windows 98 se upgrade. I don't know where you would find one now... at one time microsoft sold them for $19.99. There is supposed to be a big internal difference between 98 and 98 se. SE is also often lauded as the best of the windows 95-ME line of oses. The most salient difference to me is that 98se supports wireless networking while 98 does not. Good luck.

 

[JW310]

From my experience, you should be able to upgrade using the retail 98SE CD. If the 98SE CD were an OEM version, you would need to format before installing 98SE, but retail CDs should be able to upgrade. We have a retail 98SE CD in the shop where I work, and I know for sure that we've used it to upgrade systems from 98 first edition or 95. And I know for certain that the CD isn't just an upgrade CD, since when doing an install on a blank drive, it doesn't look for a previous version of Windows before allowing us to install it.

JW