Installing Microsoft Windows 98 Cookbook

by Jerry Winegarden, Duke University

Last revised: 04/05/03

Introduction

There are eight steps:

Plan your installation
Obtain installation disks (floppies and CD's)
Partition your hard drive
Format your hard drive
Install MS Windows
Configure MS Windows
Install Additional Software
Clean Up desktop

Whether you need to perform steps 3 and / or 4 depends on whether or not you are trying to preserve existing files (e.g. your documents or data files). If not, just directly proceed with step 1 and follow on through to step 6. If you do want to preserve some files, then read on in this section before you proceed.

STEP 1: PLAN your installation

What software do you want to install, what will be the machine's name, what user accounts (e.g. User or Student).

STEP 2: OBTAIN installation disks (floppies and CD's)

Microsoft Windows needs to be installed from a CD. It can be an INTERNAL CD drive or an EXTERNAL drive (e.g. Backpack model - connects through parallel port).

The installation CD should be bootable and if your PC's BIOS allows it, you can get into setup mode and configure it to boot first from CD drive. Then, with the MS Windows 98 installation CD in place, it should be able to boot from that CD, and then run the Windows 98 installation.

Preparing Windows 98 Startup Disk

If you don't want to bother or cannot boot from a CD, you must obtain a Windows 98 Startup floppy disk. You can produce one you will need a floppy disk (high density, 1.44 MB) and a copy of the Windows 98 installation CD (or else the ".cab" files must be located in a directory of the machine your are trying to make the installation boot floppy from (e.g. C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS) Then, go to any PC with MS Windows 98 and do the following:

(Note: "==>" means "Click on" or "Select" or "Type in")


Preparing a Windows 98 Startup floppy disk


==>Start ==>Settings ==>Control Panel ==>Add/Remove Programs 

Insert your Windows 98 CD (if you have it here).

==>Startup Disk  ==>Create Disk

You should get the message:

"Please insert the disk labeled "Windows 98 Second Edition CD-ROM" and
press OK to continue:"


==>OK

If you don't have the Win 98 CD inserted here, but the cabinet files
(.cab files) are in a location such as  C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS,
then you will get the following message:

Copy files from:    ==>  C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS
				(or where ever they are)

==> OK

(If it cannot find them, you will be prompted for their location again.
If they are not there, then cancel. Go get your Win 98 CD, and try again.)


"Label a (floppy) disk "Windows 98 Startup Disk" and insert it in Drive A"

(Caution:  this will erase anything on the disk)

==> OK


Now, you can use this floppy disk to boot your system.   Then you can
proceed with steps 3 and 4 (if necessary) and then step 5.

STEP 3: PARTITION your hard drive(s)

As mentioned above in the PLANNING section (STEP 1), there is one way to partition your hard drive(s), but it is something that must be done. It may be already done and you may be satisfied with the partitioning, but you still should check.

Use the program called: FDISK to partition. (It is located on A: and in D: (the "RAM disk" created by booting from the startup floppy).

There are three actions you will take with FDISK:

Display existing partitions
Remove partitions
Add partitions

You will need to do things in that order.

STEP 4: FORMAT your hard drive(s)

Command is: format c: /s (pay attention to spaces and "/" (not "\"))

Warning...Do you want to format: =>y Volume Label: ==>Win98 (or nothing or anything you want)

STEP 5: INSTALL Microsoft Windows 98

If you have booted from the Windows 98 startup floppy, and you have only one hard drive partition, then your CD drive will be called "E:" If you have more than one hard drive and/or you have more than one partition on your hard drive(s) then your CD drive will be referred to as a letter greater than E: (F: or G: ?). You can find out by simply doing a directory command: dir e:

If you see a directory called Win98 there, you then E: is your Win98 CD. Keep doing a dir F: or dir G: or whatever until you find which drive letter refers to your CD drive with the Win98 CD in it.

E:SETUP (or E:\SETUP) will be all that you must do to start the installation.

Now, for the installation cookbook.