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Old January 22nd 16, 02:19 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion
98 Guy[_5_]
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Posts: 34
Default I want to install Win-ME on a blank HDD

wrote:

I'm trying to figure out the best way to install Win-ME. I got a .ISO
file of it, but I used Winimage run under Win98 and extracted it. I dont
burn CDs and dont even want to try.


Here's how I install win-98 and (on the odd occasion I need to) - XP.

First, it helps if you already have a working system. That's normally
not a problem for most people that are trying to get a system up and
running from scratch.

In this case, it helps if you have a working win-98 or ME system. If
not, then XP will do for at least part of this.

I assume you already have a working system, otherwise you wouldn't have
been able to post your question to this newsgroup. Hopefully your
working system is a desktop computer, and not a laptop, tablet or cell
phone.

Take the hard drive you want to install ME on (I'll call it the Target
drive from now on) and connect it as a slave to your working computer.
If the drive is IDE, then unplug your CD drive and connect that cable to
the Target drive.

Boot the computer.

If the computer is running win-98 or ME, you can boot into DOS and use
fdisk and format to format the Target drive as FAT32, and you can use
the /s switch to place the DOS boot files on the drive. You'll have to
reboot a second time to make the new partition on the Target drive
bootable (active).

When you're finished, the Target drive (when installed in the new
computer) will allow you to boot into DOS.

If your working computer is NT-based, then you should download a copy of
DOS and boot the working computer from a floppy that you've prepared
with the downloaded copy of DOS. Make sure that format.com and
fdisk.exe are copied to the floppy.

So at this point, your Target drive will be formatted and will be
DOS-bootable.

Now with the Target drive still connected as a slave to your working
computer, boot the working computer into windows (doesn't matter what
version of windows at this point). Make a new directory on the Target
drive - call it something like "WinME-CD" and unpack your ME ISO image
into that directory.

At this point, I also will go and get all the drivers for what-ever
hardware the new computer has (chipset drivers, video, USB, etc) and
copy those to the Target drive.

Now shut down the computer and remove the Target drive and install it
into the new computer. Boot the new computer. You'll be in DOS now.

Change to the c:\WinME-cd directory, and then change to the i386
directory (I think it's the i386 directory). Run the setup.exe that's
there. That's how you start the installation manually - without booting
the CD.

Now it helps if you have your dos autoexec.bat and config.sys files
setup with himem.sys and smartdrv.exe running, because smartdrive makes
the install run faster.

Then comes the task to copy the Win-ME installer files to that HDD. I
think I can do that by using a cable from the HDD to the USB port on my
XP machine. -OR- I can just plug in a second HDD with these install
files already on it.


Yes, connect the Target drive to the XP machine. Hopefully the XP
machine is a desktop, and not a laptop.

Then all I need to do is run the W-ME installer.

Is this correct?
Is there an easier way?


No.

Dont waste your time telling me to burn a CD. I DO NOT burn CDs or DVDs,
Period!


That's fine - I don't like burning those either.

I presently run Win98SE nearly all the time. I only have XP on my
laptop, but rarely use it. I've always wanted to try Win-ME, and since I
got this spare computer, thats what I want to do. Win98 has always been
the best OS ever made. I have always heard bad things about Win-ME, but
few people have ever proven it. I bet I can make it work just fine, the
same way I have made Win98 the most stable OS ever developed. I can
watch XP crash fairly often, but W98 just keeps running......


I run win-98se with KernelEx API enhancement and firefox 2.0.0.20 is my
main browser. There isin't much I can't do with this computer and the
interent. Web sites that don't render to the extent that I need, I will
use Opera 12.02. Playing youtube video's is no problem with FF2.

One thing I haven't been able to run for about 2 years is skype.

I also have 2 gb of ram in my computer, and have hacked a certain .VXD
file so that win-98 can use all of that ram.

Are you aware of the win-9x group on the MSFN.org forum?

I dont run Vista, Win7, Win8, or Win10, or any form of Linux. Its all
rubbish...


I have had to deal with win-7 from time to time, and I hate it. Even
when running as the admin and you've tweaked it in all sorts of ways it
still throws road blocks at you.

Just a few days ago I installed win-7 pro sp1 64-bit on a test system at
$dayjob, and had a list of updates I WAS NOT going to allow the system
to download. I had to scan the entire list of critical updates (there
were 160 of them) and make sure none of them were the bad ones (the ones
that nag you about upgrading to win-10, and a few others). I've never
had to be such a hawk before when applying updates to any previous
version of windoze. The average person can't do that, or is unaware of
these issues.

All the XP systems that I either have to use from time-to-time, or that
I administer for other people, have had the POS-ready 2009 patch applied
to them. POS-2009 is a version of XP used in things like cash
registers, bank teller terminals, etc. With a few registry settings,
you turn XP into POS-2009, and then you can download new security
updates that Micro$haft is making for POS-2009. It makes your XP system
just as "secure" as all newer versions of windoze. Micro$haft is
supporting POS-2009 until the year 2019.

Getting back to win-98 vs win-ME - I think that win-98se is better than
ME. It's just a gut feeling. You can take some files from ME (like
scandsk.exe and diskmaint.dll) and use them on win-98.