Remove and re-install Windows 98SE

[john11dogs]

I want to completely remove a corupt version of Windows 98SE and re-install it from a CD. There is no facility to do this in the add / remove programs list. What is the best way to go about it and would I have to format the hard drive before re-installing Windows? If so how do you format a HD.
Thanks for any help offered.
John.

 

[edfair]

#1 There is generally no need to remove it. You can overlay the installation and correct the problems in most cases. In a really severe case I had to reinstall 4 times, each time correcting something.

#2 Reinstalling it from the hard drive is a much more efficient way to do it.

#3 If you still want to do it from the CD there are 2 ways, either make the CD bootable or use a boot floppy and move to the CD and install.

#4 You can use the floppy to format the drive. Boot with it and "format c:". Assuming, of course, that the install is on c:\windows.



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

 

[john11dogs]

Thanks Ed. How do I re-install from the HD then?
Regards
John.

 

[edfair]

My method is overkill butit suits me:
Install CD in place, goto msdos, xcopy cddrive:\*.* c:\w98sein\ /v. 4 files copy. xcopy cddrive:\win98\*.* c:\w98sein\win98\ /v. 101 files copy.
Reboot to command prompt. Rename config.sys conf.sys then rename autoexec.bat auto.bat. Change to w98sein and setup.

If the install upchucks for a memory problem you get you config.sys back and insure that himem.sys is included and reboot, change the name again and setup again.

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