reinstal win98 without theCD

[david196]

I wish to format my PC and reinstal Win98SE. The PC came with the OS already instaled so I don't have the CD. Which files on my hard disc do I need to burn to a CD to keep safe so that I can put the OS back onto my newly formatted PC. (Any advice on how you actually do this would be much appreciated)

One last question - where is the Product Key stored?

 

[TekTippy4U]

look in C:\WINDOWS\Options\cabs
if there are .cab files there (Base4.cab thru 6, Win98_22.cab thru 69), and others - that's it..
make sure there is a Setup.exe file there too, and any OEMSETUP.BIN files.

what Manu PC?

make sure you d/l ALL the files/drivers necessary for other hardware for your Soundcard, Video Card, Printer, Modem, NIC, etc.


TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
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[edfair]

HKeyLocalMachine\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion.
Listed in this page.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[TekTippy4U]

did you forget to post a link ed? - or are my browser tweaks causing this.?
anyway - just in case - what ed means is you can usually find the location of your ProductKey (25 alphanumeric) which you'll need for a reinstall....good catch ed, I forgot this time.

The source files dir can be seen from an entry contained in the Reg key in one folder deeper Current Version\Setup - so Start > Run REGEDIT
drill to those keys and view and write down the ProductID#, the ProductKey# and the SourcePath in the \Setup subkey

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[david196]

Thanks to all who replied. A colleague at work has also pointed out the location of the product key. He then says that I can use any Win 98SE CD, and I have access to one of these, and unlock it with the Product ID that I have located in the registry.

 

[TekTippy4U]

hi david196; see faq615-5157 for a helpful outline using an OEM CD....you're going to need 'that' particular 98 CD's ProductKey to install, then you can change it in the REG later

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[david196]

Thanks - I didn't understand the process correctly until I read your response. I now see that I use the product key that comes with the CD and then change it (after the process is complete) in the registry to the product key that exists at the moment on the PC that I'm going to format. I had incorrectly thought that I use the Product key that is presently on the PC to unlock the CD. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[edfair]

You can use the one in the registry. The system uses whatever you provide to generate the serial number.
I have run across a couple of occasions where there were glitches in swapping keys between installs, but I think it was more a hardware problem since restarting the install from scratch resolved the problem.
And since you have a CD available, how about creating a small fat16 partition at the beginning of the hard drive and put the install stuff there? Allows you to do some manipulation from there to do things like reformat your D: and reinstall without needing the CD again. Just don't lose it.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.