Help with reinstall

PC came to me with Win98SE on it. I received a Win95 CD with book and cert.
of auth; a Win98 CD for use on a new PC with NO cert. of auth, and a Win98SE
upgrade CD with a 25-char Code on the back of the CD case. I can't figure
out a way using those 3 CDs which belong to that PC to get Win98SE
re-installed.

I have already done fdisk before it occurred to me to look for the
ProductKey which was running in the registry (darn it!).

Any suggestions? I tried to install Win95CD only it says there is a
compressed/cached drive and quits. I ran fdisk delete and create primary
partition, answering N to use maximum size (and lost 500MB of 20 GB disk).
Still won't run. The Win95 Code on the book is a different length than
Win98SE code on CD case so that won't work so neither code will work with
the other software.

I tried installed Win98 for new PCs CD (which doesn't have a code) and using
Win98SE upgrade Code and that doesn't work.

Suggestions for legal way to install welcomed...
Ann in PA

Use the upgrade CD and the code which came with for a clean install. You
will need a boot disk with CDROM drivers.
Then it will ask for a qualifying product. At that time insert the win95CD.
It will check and you will have to reinsert the win98 CD.
Installation should complete ok

Note: I would partition the disk answering yes to large disk for FAT32. If
not your max partition size would be 2GB.

--
Jon Hildrum
DTS MVP

www.hildrum.com
"Ann Barnes" barnesa underscore 17201 at yahoo dotcom wrote in message
...
PC came to me with Win98SE on it. I received a Win95 CD with book and
cert. of auth; a Win98 CD for use on a new PC with NO cert. of auth, and a
Win98SE upgrade CD with a 25-char Code on the back of the CD case. I can't
figure out a way using those 3 CDs which belong to that PC to get Win98SE
re-installed.

I have already done fdisk before it occurred to me to look for the
ProductKey which was running in the registry (darn it!).

Any suggestions? I tried to install Win95CD only it says there is a
compressed/cached drive and quits. I ran fdisk delete and create primary
partition, answering N to use maximum size (and lost 500MB of 20 GB disk).
Still won't run. The Win95 Code on the book is a different length than
Win98SE code on CD case so that won't work so neither code will work with
the other software.

I tried installed Win98 for new PCs CD (which doesn't have a code) and
using Win98SE upgrade Code and that doesn't work.

Suggestions for legal way to install welcomed...
Ann in PA

You can download a file and create the bootdisk from: http://www.bootdisk.com/
Please read Read1st in the right pane for instructions on how to create the
boot disk from the downloaded file.

Start the machine with a 98 boot disk that has CD Support.
From the boot disk menu select "Without CD support" and press Enter.
At the command prompt type each line below and press Enter.

fdisk
Y (yes) should be default, press Enter to support large hd.

In FDISK press 3 on the numeric keypad and press Enter.
Press 3: Delete logical DOS drive in extended partition and press Enter, follow
the prompts.
Next delete the Extended partition.
Next Delete the Primary Partition.

Create the Primary Partition. Make the size no larger than 8GB (40% of 20GB) to
maximize cluster usage.
Create an Extended DOS partition with the remaining drive space.

When finished partitioning, press ESC to back out to the command prompt.
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to reboot, leave the 98 boot disk in.
From the boot disk menu select "With CD support" and press Enter.
Note the drive letter assigned the CD drive at the tail end of booting from the
disk.
Place the Upgrade 98SE in the CD drive.
At the command prompt type each line below and press Enter. ** Replace cddrive
with drive letter assigned.

cddrive:\
setup.exe

98SE should begin installing. Use the PK provided with the disk and when
asked for a qualifying OS to upgrade, insert the 95 CD in the CD drive tray.



--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375




"Ann Barnes" barnesa underscore 17201 at yahoo dotcom wrote in message
...
PC came to me with Win98SE on it. I received a Win95 CD with book and cert. of
auth; a Win98 CD for use on a new PC with NO cert. of auth, and a Win98SE
upgrade CD with a 25-char Code on the back of the CD case. I can't figure out
a way using those 3 CDs which belong to that PC to get Win98SE re-installed.

I have already done fdisk before it occurred to me to look for the ProductKey
which was running in the registry (darn it!).

Any suggestions? I tried to install Win95CD only it says there is a
compressed/cached drive and quits. I ran fdisk delete and create primary
partition, answering N to use maximum size (and lost 500MB of 20 GB disk).
Still won't run. The Win95 Code on the book is a different length than Win98SE
code on CD case so that won't work so neither code will work with the other
software.

I tried installed Win98 for new PCs CD (which doesn't have a code) and using
Win98SE upgrade Code and that doesn't work.

Suggestions for legal way to install welcomed...
Ann in PA

Thanks folks. Still doesn't work, what am I missing:
I started from a Win9X boot disk without CD support. did the whole fdisk
delete and fdisk create primary with large support thing, no problem.
Restart PC choose w/CD support. At the A: prompt I typed d:\
Saw D: prompt.
Typed setup.exe
Response is: This program requires MIcrosoft Windows.

NOTE: This is a Win98SE Upgrade CD and says on the label "For users of
Microsoft Windows 98". It won't start except from within windows.
When I started it from within Win95, it again told me I had to have Win98
installed.

Any way out of this still...hope...hope...

Ann in PA

Are you quite sure that what you have is a Windows 98SE *Upgrade* CD, and not a
Windows 98SE *Update* CD? There were some Update CDs made, which only run in
Windows, and are *only* used to update from Win98 to Win98SE.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Ann Barnes" barnesa underscore 17201 at yahoo dotcom wrote in message
...
Thanks folks. Still doesn't work, what am I missing:
I started from a Win9X boot disk without CD support. did the whole fdisk
delete and fdisk create primary with large support thing, no problem.
Restart PC choose w/CD support. At the A: prompt I typed d:\
Saw D: prompt.
Typed setup.exe
Response is: This program requires MIcrosoft Windows.

NOTE: This is a Win98SE Upgrade CD and says on the label "For users of
Microsoft Windows 98". It won't start except from within windows.
When I started it from within Win95, it again told me I had to have Win98
installed.

Any way out of this still...hope...hope...

Ann in PA

Oh my gosh, you're right! Now what can I do??? For whatever reason I never
thought to question that! *sheesh*

Ann in PA

You need that Product Key that was in the registry in order to use the Win98 disc to
install. Unless you can either get it from the person who gave you the computer, or
have a backup of the registry on other media (like CD-RW) from before you formatted
from which you can find it, the only other option is to buy Win98 or 98SE online
somewhere.

Win95 can be installed fairly easily, though not exactly legally, because the
Product ID can be easily made up. That won't do you much good though, as you still
have no upgrade path without that Win98 Product Key.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Ann Barnes" barnesa underscore 17201 at yahoo dotcom wrote in message
...
Oh my gosh, you're right! Now what can I do??? For whatever reason I never
thought to question that! *sheesh*

Ann in PA

I believe that at this point you may need to buy a Win98SE Upgrade (or Full)
CD on eBay (for example), if they're still available.

Ann Barnes wrote:
Oh my gosh, you're right! Now what can I do??? For whatever reason I never
thought to question that! *sheesh*

Ann in PA