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having trouble installing win98 on a laptop with no os



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 4th 08, 01:06 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.setup
xskarmah
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 2
Default having trouble installing win98 on a laptop with no os

I got a laptop free and wanted to install 98 on it, a clean install for my
nephew. I burned a bootcd, and managed to format and partition it, my trouble
starts because I dont have another disk drive to put the iso I have in, I
only have the one drive, the laptop does not have a Floppy drive.


Any suggestions? Whenever I try and use any setup commands I get invalid
media trying to read disk
  #2  
Old May 4th 08, 01:30 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.setup
philo
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 1,318
Default having trouble installing win98 on a laptop with no os


"xskarmah" wrote in message
...
I got a laptop free and wanted to install 98 on it, a clean install for my
nephew. I burned a bootcd, and managed to format and partition it, my

trouble
starts because I dont have another disk drive to put the iso I have in, I
only have the one drive, the laptop does not have a Floppy drive.


Any suggestions? Whenever I try and use any setup commands I get invalid
media trying to read disk



Win98 cd's at least legit ones are generally bootable
so you do not need a floppy


  #3  
Old May 4th 08, 02:28 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.setup
Jeff Richards
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 1,526
Default having trouble installing win98 on a laptop with no os

You have two options.

One is to make the ISO image setup CD you created a bootable CD. This means
you will have to modify the image before creating the CD. The only way I
could think to do that would be to use the boot CD you created and copy the
_contents_ of the setup CD you created onto it. You might find a 'Virtual
CD' utility that allows you to create a virtual CD drive on your desktop
hard disk from the ISO image, and then copy the contents to the boot CD, or
you could simply copy the contents of the setup CD to a folder onto the
desktop hard drive, then create a _bootable_ CD and copy the contents of
that folder onto it. There might be a utility that creates a bootable CD
from a non-bootable ISO image, but I'm not aware of it.

The other option is to set up the laptop hard disk so that you can access
the laptop's CD drive from a boot to hard disk. After partitioning and
formatting the disk (as you have already done, from your description) you
need to install DOS, or at least a rudimentary set of DOS utilities. You
will need to SYS the hard drive, and that will enable you to boot to it.
Then you can modify CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to support the CD drive.
After that, when you boot to the hard drive, you can access the ISO image CD
you created, and run setup from the CD.

You will need DOS drivers for the CD drive to do this. Laptops often use
special hardware and generic drivers often won't work, so the standard CD
support files that are available may not be good enough. Look at the
manufacturer's www site and see if they provide DOS drivers for that
machine.. If the manufacturer makes DOS drivers available they should have
instructions for building the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and copying
in the software that's needed.

There is a description of setting up CD support he
http://www.computerhope.com/cdromd.htm

I'm not sure from your description, but you may have already got this far -
if so the invalid media messages indicate you do not have the correct
drivers for the CD drive.

Also, have a good look around the BOOT CD sites such as Barts and see if
there's a source for a bootable CD that automatically configures the hard
disk for you. This is a task that's very common for laptop configurations
such as yours.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"xskarmah" wrote in message
...
I got a laptop free and wanted to install 98 on it, a clean install for my
nephew. I burned a bootcd, and managed to format and partition it, my
trouble
starts because I dont have another disk drive to put the iso I have in, I
only have the one drive, the laptop does not have a Floppy drive.


Any suggestions? Whenever I try and use any setup commands I get invalid
media trying to read disk



  #4  
Old May 4th 08, 03:25 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.setup
Gary S. Terhune[_2_]
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 2,158
Default having trouble installing win98 on a laptop with no os


"philo" wrote in message
...

"xskarmah" wrote in message
...
I got a laptop free and wanted to install 98 on it, a clean install for
my
nephew. I burned a bootcd, and managed to format and partition it, my

trouble
starts because I dont have another disk drive to put the iso I have in, I
only have the one drive, the laptop does not have a Floppy drive.


Any suggestions? Whenever I try and use any setup commands I get invalid
media trying to read disk



Win98 cd's at least legit ones are generally bootable
so you do not need a floppy


WRONG!!! Where do you get that? Find me one and describe the label. Bet it
didn't come from Microsoft. Bet it was built by some OEM, and probably
specifically for laptops, at that. But not even Microsoft's generic "OEM"
CD, the one sent out with whitebox builds and smaller OEMs, is bootable.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com


  #5  
Old May 4th 08, 03:36 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.setup
Gary S. Terhune[_2_]
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 2,158
Default having trouble installing win98 on a laptop with no os

My suggestion: Use IsoBuster to extract the contents of the Win98 ISO. All
you need from this ISO is the folder named WIN98. The rest is generally
useless. Make a bootable CD and copy the WIN98 folder to it. Boot to the CD
and then run SETUP.EXE from the WIN98 folder.

But my preferred method is: If you made your original bootable CD from a
WIN98 Startup floppy disk, then you should be able to run the following
command:
SYS C:
Then copy the WIN98 folder to the hard drive, remove the CD, restart and
you'll get a C:\ prompt. Run the following commands:
CD WIN98
SETUP

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"xskarmah" wrote in message
...
I got a laptop free and wanted to install 98 on it, a clean install for my
nephew. I burned a bootcd, and managed to format and partition it, my
trouble
starts because I dont have another disk drive to put the iso I have in, I
only have the one drive, the laptop does not have a Floppy drive.


Any suggestions? Whenever I try and use any setup commands I get invalid
media trying to read disk


  #6  
Old May 4th 08, 04:12 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.setup
philo
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 1,318
Default having trouble installing win98 on a laptop with no os


"Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in message
...

"philo" wrote in message
...

"xskarmah" wrote in message
...
I got a laptop free and wanted to install 98 on it, a clean install for
my
nephew. I burned a bootcd, and managed to format and partition it, my

trouble
starts because I dont have another disk drive to put the iso I have in,

I
only have the one drive, the laptop does not have a Floppy drive.


Any suggestions? Whenever I try and use any setup commands I get

invalid
media trying to read disk



Win98 cd's at least legit ones are generally bootable
so you do not need a floppy


WRONG!!! Where do you get that? Find me one and describe the label. Bet it
didn't come from Microsoft. Bet it was built by some OEM, and probably
specifically for laptops, at that. But not even Microsoft's generic "OEM"
CD, the one sent out with whitebox builds and smaller OEMs, is bootable.



That's weird I just setup a machine a few days ago and the Win98 cd was
bootable.
As I post this I have just confirmed that my win98 cd is bootable.
I have the license and everything. Though it does not say OEM on it...
it must be one though.

Here is what is says:

Microsoft Windows 98
for PC's without Windows.
I have a whole box of similar cd's that came from the many desktops I've
scrapped out...
none came from laptops and as far as I know, they are all bootable.
At least when I do setup a win98 machine I've never yet pulled one out of
the box
that did not boot.
The only exception was a win98 upgrade cd, that I assume was supposed to be
installed
from within an existing OS or with a boot floppy.

So if most win98 cd's are not bootable then I am wrong!!!!
but all I can say is the ones I have come from Microsoft and do not have the
name of any mfg on them
but they do indeed say : for PC's without windows.

So what's the deal?


  #7  
Old May 4th 08, 04:37 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.setup
Gary S. Terhune[_2_]
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 2,158
Default having trouble installing win98 on a laptop with no os

Sounds like Microsoft's generic OEM CDs you got there. Would blow my socks
off to find out they're bootable. I can't recall one instance of such a
disc. I do recall such with WIN95 discs.

Oh well, unless someone else can clarify... I'll dig through a couple of
places and see if I have one or two handy. But non-bootable is the standard
AFAIK.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com


"philo" wrote in message
...

"Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in message
...

"philo" wrote in message
...

"xskarmah" wrote in message
...
I got a laptop free and wanted to install 98 on it, a clean install
for
my
nephew. I burned a bootcd, and managed to format and partition it, my
trouble
starts because I dont have another disk drive to put the iso I have
in,

I
only have the one drive, the laptop does not have a Floppy drive.


Any suggestions? Whenever I try and use any setup commands I get

invalid
media trying to read disk


Win98 cd's at least legit ones are generally bootable
so you do not need a floppy


WRONG!!! Where do you get that? Find me one and describe the label. Bet
it
didn't come from Microsoft. Bet it was built by some OEM, and probably
specifically for laptops, at that. But not even Microsoft's generic "OEM"
CD, the one sent out with whitebox builds and smaller OEMs, is bootable.



That's weird I just setup a machine a few days ago and the Win98 cd was
bootable.
As I post this I have just confirmed that my win98 cd is bootable.
I have the license and everything. Though it does not say OEM on it...
it must be one though.

Here is what is says:

Microsoft Windows 98
for PC's without Windows.
I have a whole box of similar cd's that came from the many desktops I've
scrapped out...
none came from laptops and as far as I know, they are all bootable.
At least when I do setup a win98 machine I've never yet pulled one out of
the box
that did not boot.
The only exception was a win98 upgrade cd, that I assume was supposed to
be
installed
from within an existing OS or with a boot floppy.

So if most win98 cd's are not bootable then I am wrong!!!!
but all I can say is the ones I have come from Microsoft and do not have
the
name of any mfg on them
but they do indeed say : for PC's without windows.

So what's the deal?



  #8  
Old May 4th 08, 05:36 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.setup
philo
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 1,318
Default having trouble installing win98 on a laptop with no os


"Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in message
...
Sounds like Microsoft's generic OEM CDs you got there. Would blow my socks
off to find out they're bootable. I can't recall one instance of such a
disc. I do recall such with WIN95 discs.

Oh well, unless someone else can clarify... I'll dig through a couple of
places and see if I have one or two handy. But non-bootable is the

standard
AFAIK.


You are probably right...
because if something is in my house...it's more than likely totally
non-standard G



Well I never saw a bootable win95 cd
OTOH: ...I don't think I ever tried to boot with one.


Now I may have to tear my house apart to find a cd that does not say:

for PC's without windows...
I could swear I had some but I doubt I'll find any now that I want to.


Good thing it's way past my bedtime and I'm falling asleep
or I'd test all my win98 cd's to see if they boot !


  #9  
Old May 4th 08, 09:41 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.setup
Franc Zabkar
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 1,702
Default having trouble installing win98 on a laptop with no os

On Sat, 3 May 2008 19:30:07 -0500, "philo" put
finger to keyboard and composed:


"xskarmah" wrote in message
...
I got a laptop free and wanted to install 98 on it, a clean install for my
nephew. I burned a bootcd, and managed to format and partition it, my

trouble
starts because I dont have another disk drive to put the iso I have in, I
only have the one drive, the laptop does not have a Floppy drive.


Any suggestions? Whenever I try and use any setup commands I get invalid
media trying to read disk



Win98 cd's at least legit ones are generally bootable
so you do not need a floppy


This URL suggests that Win98 CDs were not bootable:
http://www.webtree.ca/newlife/posts/win98_editions.htm

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
  #10  
Old May 4th 08, 03:17 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.setup
philo
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 1,318
Default having trouble installing win98 on a laptop with no os


"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 3 May 2008 19:30:07 -0500, "philo" put
finger to keyboard and composed:


"xskarmah" wrote in message
...
I got a laptop free and wanted to install 98 on it, a clean install for

my
nephew. I burned a bootcd, and managed to format and partition it, my

trouble
starts because I dont have another disk drive to put the iso I have in,

I
only have the one drive, the laptop does not have a Floppy drive.


Any suggestions? Whenever I try and use any setup commands I get

invalid
media trying to read disk



Win98 cd's at least legit ones are generally bootable
so you do not need a floppy


This URL suggests that Win98 CDs were not bootable:
http://www.webtree.ca/newlife/posts/win98_editions.htm



I am still looking to see if I have any non-oem cd's
but I now think that I was wrong when I said they were bootable.

Though the win98cd's I have are bootable...all the one's I have found
are "generic" OEM cd's that were to "be used only with a new PC"



 




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