Reformating

[coldturkey]

Can somebody please walk me through reformating my hard drive, right from making the startup diskette to installing win95 and upgrading to 98 (i really dont wanna stuff up) thanks.

[Rick]

First of all, why do you want to install win95, if you're just going to upgrade to win98? There is a problem with that method as win95 doesn't support FAT32, although win98 has a FAT32 converter.
You will need a boot disk of some sort that includes drivers for your CD ROM. The win98 boot disk does include generic drivers, but I'm not sure about the win95 startup disk. Your best bet is to find somebody with win98 installed on their computer and have them make the startup disk. I'm doing this from memory but I think the application to create the disk is in your control panel in a tab under Add/Remove Windows programs.
Anyway... The simplest way to partition and format your HD, is to use a utility from one of the HD manufacturers... Maxtor has a decent one for free that you can download from http://www.maxtor.com/products/DiamondMax/techsupport/TechnicalProcedures/24023.html
That utility will quickly partition, and format your HD, and it has options for FAT16 or FAT32.
Once you have your HD formatted, boot it with the startup disk, put the win98 disk in the CD ROM rather than the win95 disk. The win98 bootdisk creates a ramdisk at one drive letter above your last HD letter so if you only have one HD installed in your system, it would be drive C:, the ramdisk is drive D:. and your CD ROM would be drive E:.
At the DOS prompt, type E:\setup
That will start the installation of win98. If you have the upgrade, rather than the full install version, it will want proof of eligability for the upgrade. Simply put your win95 CD in the CD ROM, and point the Win98 install to it. Win98 will scan the Win95 CD to verify it, and then ask you to reinstall the Win98 disk.
After that, it will install with a few options it will ask you about, but that's all there is to it.

Good luck

[Giancarlo]

Umm... Rick this is all I do...

Get a Windows 98 Start up disk, pop it in and follow procedures to dos prompt. Then go to A:, and type format C:/s (I forget which way the / goes, so if it doesn't work type C:\s)

That is the most simplest way.

[meow]

Originally posted by Rick
First of all, why do you want to install win95, if you're just going to upgrade to win98? There is a problem with that method as win95 doesn't support FAT32, although win98 has a FAT32 converter.

Does too. FAT32 came with Windows95b.

You should be able to tell from the CD but if not-
Open "My Computer", rightclick on the hard disc (c) and choose properties. On the "General" tab you should see something like:

Type: Local disc(FAT32)

If it says something else or nothing at all instead of (FAT32) you're out of luck.

[Rick]

Heh... It's been a loooong time since I've dealt with win95 so I'm really fuzzy on it.
And while the DOS format works, it's options are sort of convoluted if you want to do more than create a single partition.
The Maxblast utility has a semi-graphic interface, and sort of holds your hand while you go through the process, which is why I recommend it for beginners who are nervous about reformatting. It also has some nice utilities for transferring data from one HD to another as well as some diagnostic utilities. It's a handy thing to have, and the price is right.

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Rick
Heh... It's been a loooong time since I've dealt with win95 so I'm really fuzzy on it.
And while the DOS format works, it's options are sort of convoluted if you want to do more than create a single partition.
The Maxblast utility has a semi-graphic interface, and sort of holds your hand while you go through the process, which is why I recommend it for beginners who are nervous about reformatting. It also has some nice utilities for transferring data from one HD to another as well as some diagnostic utilities. It's a handy thing to have, and the price is right.

I do have the Maxblast utility, but I find it to be a pain in the arse... but for the dos format you must know the commands.

[coldturkey]

Well you see... I have Win98 SE tunning now, only difficulty is that i have the software in two stages (install WIN95, then needs to be upgraded to WIN98SE). And even if fat32 doesnt come with win95, isnt there a fat converter in win98?

[meow]

FAT32 does come with 95 - if you don't have a very early edition. See above. ^^
Can't help with the rest though- I sux0r at that.

[Rick]

Noooooooo! Forget win95! Do a clean install of win98. It will ask you to show your win95 install CD, but you don't have to actually install the damned thing. Win 98 simply wants to see if you have a viable copy of 95. DO NOT INSTALL Win95, just have a copy of it handy when you install Win 98

[meow]

:rolleyes: Windows95 rulez! :birthday:

[Jan]

If he just has the 98 upgrade, he will need the win95 CD.

That is the only way I can get win98 on my old machine. If you try to setup from the 98 disk it tells you to install win95 first.

[Rick]

You don't have to actually install Win95. You just need to insert the Win95 CD for upgrade eligability verification. Win98 will scan the Win95 CD and accept it as ownership of the OS