Going fromWin98SE to Win2000

[James Savage]

I have contemplated going from Win98SE to Win2000 for some time. My
hesitation has always been in getting all the correct drivers, etc for the
new operating system. I have a Dell Optiplex and Dell points you to a part
of their website where drivers are located. I have found trying to determine
which ones I need rather daunting - but that could be just me. I have been
told that Win2000 has a good number of the necessary drivers, but I am not
sure.
Probably the question I am asking is - how big a deal is it changing to the
Win2000 operating system (knowing that part of the answer is it depends on
what equipment I have) ? Thanks.

 

[Dan Seur]

James - three things:

1. from within W98SE, you can run (from the W2k CD):
winnt32.exe /checkupgradeonly
and this will analyze your hardware for potential W2k install problems,
and suggest solutions. It will NOT start a W2k install. It's a built-in
way of making sure your hardware is supported, or at least discovering
which if any devices the W2k package, as issued, can't support (you'd
have to find/download drivers).

2. You probably know this, but it's always best to do a clean W2k
install instead of an upgrade, to avoid propagating various registry and
other subtle corruptions that may exist and can cause serious headaches.
Reinstalling apps actually takes less time than those headaches can.

3. From watching this group for a few years, it seems that except for
Very Old Hardware there's little difficulty in finding W2k drivers.

 

[Danny Sanders]

I have upgraded the 40 to 50 Dell Optiplex computers at this company from NT
4.0/Win 98 to Win 2k. I can say that not once did I have to go "searching"
for drivers. Win 2k had them all.

hth
DDS W 2k MVP MCSE

 

[Vic]

James, I too had reservations about going from W98 to W2K so I chose the route of a dual boot system, and glad I did. You might
want to consider the same because you'll always have W98 until, or IF, you wipe it out and stick solely with W2K.

This PC has had both OS's for about a year now. Still learning about W2K ... it's MUCH more complex than W98, however it is also
much more robust. In fact it is sooo quick it's almost frightening!

The previous posts said they had no problem finding drivers but I would give a word of caution. My PC is a home computer, networked.
Being such there is a DVD drive and occasionally I like to watch a DVD on the PC. However Matrox, the video card mfg., does NOT have
a DVD player for the video card for W2K yet does for W98. Of course there is other DVD software, which I have installed, but just
wanted to illustrate the point that you may NOT find ALL the software you want/have for W98.

You ask, "how big a deal is it changing to the Win2000 operating system"?

It could be very big because there IS quite a learning curve from W98. Think about a dual boot system! When you have W2k ALL setup
and decide you don't want W98, wipe W98 off the HD (just be SURE -NOT- to share files between the two OS's).

-Vic