angela said:
i lost my windows 2000 pro disc and key code. i just want to install windows 98 that i do have back on to the computer but it wants me to restart in ms-dos and i don't know how to do that... can anyone tell me how to do that so i can run the windows 98 setup?
[The procedures below mean you will lose ALL YOUR EXISTING DATA,
PROGRAMS, EMAIL, INTERNET PASSWORDS etc., so proceed with caution]
- Make sure everything is backed up and you have all CDs to hand for
software which you want to re-install.
- Make sure you have all your internet passwords and account details to
hand.
- Make sure you have Windows 98 driver disks for any hardware which
Windows 98 may not have in-built drivers for (e.g. very modern hardware
released afater Windows 98). If in doubt, check on the web.
Usually you need a DOS bootable diskette with CD-ROM support.
You can run FDISK to trash all the partitions, then create a DOS primary
partition of maximum size (usually 2GB). Reboot with the disk still in
the drive, then Format it using the Format command (Format c
, then run
SETUP from your Windows 98 CD.
One of the nice things with Windows 2000, is that can you boot from the
CD and install from scratch if you ever need to. I don't know if Windows
98 has this facility or not.
There are various "bootdisks" you can download from the internet, but
read the instructions carefully - it's not just a matter of copying the
files to the floppy.
If you have a friend with a Windows 98 computer, you can ask them to
make you a boot disk; I can't remember where the option is, but it's
certainly possible - look in HELP maybe. The disk it creates has
everything you need in a CAB file that gets extracted to a RAMDRIVE on
bootup. The nice thing about this disk, as oppossed to the DOS one, is
that it has CD-ROM support, and also supports creation of FAT32
partitions, so you are not limited to just 2Gb like wot you are with DOS.
