reinstall windows 98se without cd

[Cloud No.9]

i'm getting a new comouter soon but i'm wanting to keep my old one. i want to give it a complete restart as over the years it has degraded and became infected with so much crap my idiot brother has tried to instal. but my parents gave away the installation discs for windows 98se and disc 1 of the works suite. is there any way to reinstall windows without this disc? the works suite isn't as important but if there's a way to reinstall that it would be nice. windows 98se is the main thing i want to keep though. eveything else has to go.

[Endless]

If you're getting a new computer and want to use Windows, go for XPee. I mean, I seriously don't see any point in installing 98 (SE or not) on a new machine, except enjoying fighting to get drivers to work properly (USB, USB 2.0), lack of support in new programs, complete lack of security updates (MS stopped supporting 98 a while ago).

And to answer your question, you need the 98se disc to install it, it doesn't exist in thin air for you to install And since you won't find it in stores...
Same goes for Works. Get <a href="http://www.openoffice.org/">OpenOffice.org</a> instead, anyway.

[Cloud No.9]

okay so can you give me a step by step process on how to reformat my hard drive and replace 98 with xp?

[NM]

1. Boot to DOS using a Win 98 Boot Disk. (If you don't have one goto, <b>Start > Control Panel > Add Remove Programs.</b> Either the middle or far right tab will say something like, Create Boot Disk.)
2. At the DOS prompt type <b>format c:</b> and press enter. confirm by pressing Y.
3. When thats done remove the floppy disk and insert your Windows XP CD and restart the system by pressing <b>CTRL, ALT and Delete</b>.
*4. Follow the on screen instructions to install WinXP.

* You'll need to change your boot priority in the BIOS if your system isn't set to boot from CDROM before the hard drive. I can't tell you exactly how to do that as every BIOS is layed out differently.

To enter the BIOS you'll need to press a certain key on the POST screen. (The black screen with all the white text which appears when you first turn on your PC.) It's usually F1, F2 or delete.

Once in the BIOS you need to look for the boot priority settings and change CDROM to the first boot device. Once done save the changes and exit.

[Endless]

Oh, wait, you're going to be using the old one, or the new one?

[crono_logical]

You don't need to bother make the floppy disk and format before using the WinXP CD, since the WinXP installation will format it for you if you want, just start off with the CD

[Cloud No.9]

okay so what would happen say if my new computer never came with the xp disc as i have been told might happen?

[NM]

okay so what would happen say if my new computer never came with the xp disc as i have been told might happen?

Then your f***ed.

Very few PC's will come with a CD containing the OS. There usually incorperated into the system recovery. Of course there are other way's to aquire Windows. :rolleyes2

[Cloud No.9]

and what are these other ways?

and so if i can't reinstall any os on my old computer how am i supposed to purge the blighted thing?

[NM]

and what are these other ways?

Mostly illegal ways.

[Cloud No.9]

so how would i purge the system without the reformat-reinstall method?

[DMKA]

Open Office has the only word processing program worse than Word Perfect.

Umm, you can get an illegal crack of it via a torrent or P2P program...that is, if you don't mind doing such.

Other than that, you need the CD.

[ShunNakamura]

just a quick word.

98 isn't that bad, I much prefer it over xp.. infact I have more trouble with xp then 98.. prolly cause I am used to 98 so meh... I don't need my hand held all the way through so 98 is fine for me, and then I can play all the DOS games I want.

as for the CD, yeah.. you may have to get a cracked one, or try and find one on ebay(doubt it but.. they supposedly have everything) or at a garage sell.

But just go with what is easiest to get, 98, XP, no major difference between them though I find 98 freindlier.

[crono_logical]

98 and XP couldn't be much more different, actually - they're even built upon completely different architectures (98 belongs to 9x, XP belongs to NT). You can disable a lot of the new features and friendly help crap in XP (true, it's a hassle at the start, but worth it in the long run if you don't like them, and it only needs to be done once on a new installation), and XP is more stable and secure. As Endless said in his first post, there's very little reason to use Win98 now.

[DMKA]

just a quick word.

98 isn't that bad, I much prefer it over xp.. infact I have more trouble with xp then 98.. prolly cause I am used to 98 so meh... I don't need my hand held all the way through so 98 is fine for me, and then I can play all the DOS games I want.

as for the CD, yeah.. you may have to get a cracked one, or try and find one on ebay(doubt it but.. they supposedly have everything) or at a garage sell.

But just go with what is easiest to get, 98, XP, no major difference between them though I find 98 freindlier.

Umm, have you used XP for more than 5 minutes? O___o

(because you're...welll...completely wrong, no offense)