How to Install Windows 98 on a Computer with No Operating System

ID: Q221829

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98

SUMMARY

This article describes how to install Windows 98 on a computer with no operating system installed.

MORE INFORMATION

Determine Which Product to Use

To install Windows 98, you must have one of the following products:

The "Microsoft Windows 98 Upgrade" product. This version is available on CD-ROM, or you can order the floppy disks by calling the Microsoft Supplemental Order Center at (800) 370-8758. When you use the Windows 98 Upgrade version, a copy of a previous qualifying version of Windows, on CD-ROM or floppy disks, is necessary for a compliance check during Setup. Make sure that you have your qualifying version of Windows CD-ROM or floppy disks available before you run Setup. A Windows 98 Startup disk is also required to install this product.

The "Microsoft Windows 98 for PCs Without Windows" product. This version is available on CD-ROM, or you can order the floppy disks by calling the Microsoft Supplemental Order Center at (800) 370-8758. A Windows 98 Boot disk is included with the product.

For information about how to create a Windows 98 Startup disk, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q187632 How to Create a Windows 98 Startup Disk that Supports FAT32

Minimum Hardware Requirements to Install Windows 98

The minimum hardware requirements include:

486DX 66 MHz or faster processor (Pentium recommended)

16 megabytes (MB) of memory (24 MB recommended)

195 MB of free hard disk space (the required space may vary from 120 MB to 295 MB, depending on your computer's configuration and the options you choose to install)

CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.

3.5-inch high-density floppy disk drive

Video adapter and monitor that support VGA or higher resolution

Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

For additional information about minimum hardware requirements, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q182751 Minimum Hardware Requirements for Windows 98

System Updates, Device Drivers, and Other Considerations

CMOS Anti-Virus Utility

It is important that you disable any CMOS anti-virus utility that is enabled on your computer before you run Setup. If you are not sure if this feature is enabled on your computer, review the documentation included with your computer, or contact the computer's manufacturer.

Drive Overlay Software

If your computer uses drive overlay software to enable large hard disk support, the drive overlay software must be installed before you install Windows 98. To install the drive overlay software, review the documentation included with the software, or contact the software's manufacturer.

System Updates and Device Drivers

To ensure that your hardware and software is compatible with Windows 98, verify that you have the latest drivers, Basic Input Output System (BIOS), or patches for your hardware and software before you run Setup.

If you have a computer that has proprietary hardware and you try to install Windows 98 on a clean hard disk, you may receive error messages. Before you install the retail or upgrade version of Windows 98 on your computer, check with the hardware manufacturer and verify that there are no known issues. Also, if your current version of Windows came preinstalled and bundled with a software package that is on a Restore disk provided by the hardware manufacturer, you may not be able install the programs that are on the Restore disk.

In these circumstances, use the hardware manufacturer's Restore disk to install Windows 95 and the included programs first, and then run Setup from the Windows 98 Upgrade version. Please refer to your original hardware documentation if you are not sure how to run the Restore program.

NOTE: Running the Restore program may erase all of the data on your hard disk.

Real-Mode CD-ROM Support

The Windows 98 Startup disk and Boot disk have generic CD-ROM drivers that work with most CD-ROM drives. The Windows 98 Startup disk contains generic, real-mode ATAPI CD-ROM and SCSI drivers that cause CD-ROM drives to be available after you boot from the Windows 98 Startup disk. These CD-ROM drivers are not guaranteed to work with all CD-ROM drives. They may work as a replacement if the real-mode CD-ROM drivers included with your CD-ROM drive are not available. If these drivers do not work with your CD-ROM drive, please review the documentation included with your hardware, or contact your hardware manufacturer.

Preparing the Hard Disk for Windows 98 installation

NOTE: The following information applies to preparing an empty hard disk for the installation of Windows 98. If you use the following steps on a hard disk that is not empty, all of the data on that hard disk will be erased.

Before you install Windows 98 on an empty hard disk, a primary partition must be created and then a file system must be formatted on that partition. Each allocated space on the hard disk (primary partition or logical drive) is assigned a drive letter. Windows 98 supports the FAT16 and FAT32 file systems. When you run the Fdisk utility on a hard disk larger than 512 MB, you are prompted to choose a file system.

The FAT16 file system has a maximum of 2 gigabytes (GB) for each allocated space, or drive letter. For example, if you use the FAT16 file system and have a 6-GB hard disk, you can have three drive letters (C, D, and E) each with 2 GB allocated.

The FAT32 file system supports drives up to 2 terabytes in size and stores files on smaller sections of the hard disk than does the FAT16 file system. This results in more free space on the hard disk. The FAT32 file system does not support drives smaller than 512 MB.

For additional information about file systems, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q154997 Description of FAT32 File System

Q118335 Maximum Partition Size Using FAT16 File System

More information about file systems is also available in the "Getting Started" manual included with the Windows 98 CD-ROM.

For additional information about the Fdisk utility, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q66706 The Four Steps Needed to Make a Hard Disk Usable

Partitioning the Hard Disk

After you decide on the file system you want to use, run Fdisk:

Place the Windows 98 Startup disk or Boot disk in the floppy disk drive, and then restart your computer.

When the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed, choose Start computer without CD-ROM support, and then press ENTER.

At the command prompt, type fdisk, and then press ENTER.

If your hard disk is larger than 512 MB, the following screen is displayed:
Your computer has a disk larger than 512 MB. This version of Windows includes improved support for large disks, resulting in more efficient use of disk space on large drives, and allowing disks over 2 GB to be formatted as a single drive.

IMPORTANT: If you enable large disk support and create any new drives on this disk, you will not be able to access the new drive(s) using other operating systems, including some versions of Windows 95 and Windows NT, as well as earlier versions of Windows and MS-DOS. In addition, disk utilities that were not designated explicitly for the FAT32 file system will not be able to work with this disk. If you need to access this disk with other operating systems or older disk utilities, do no enable large drive support.

Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N).............? [Y]
If you want to use the FAT32 file system, press Y and then press ENTER. If you want to use the FAT16 file system, press N, and then press ENTER.

After you press ENTER, the Fdisk Options menu is displayed. Press 1 to choose Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive, and then press ENTER.

Press 1 to choose Create Primary DOS Partition, and then press ENTER.

After you press ENTER, the following message is displayed:

Do you wish to use the maximum available size for primary DOS partition?

FAT32 File System

If you chose the FAT32 file system in step 4, and you want all of the space on the hard disk to be assigned to drive C, press Y, and then press ENTER.

Press ESC twice to quit Fdisk and return to the command prompt.

Skip to step 10.

FAT16 File System

If you chose the FAT16 file system in step 4, and you want the first 2 GB on the hard disk to be assigned to drive C, press Y, and then press ENTER for yes.

Press ESC to return to the Options menu, and then skip to step i.

If you want to customize the size of the partitions (drive letters) on the hard disk, press N, and then press ENTER.

A dialog box is displayed for you to type the size that you want for the primary partition in megabytes or percent of disk space. Note that for a Windows 98-based computer, Microsoft recommends making the primary partition at least 500 MB. Enter the size of the partition that you want to create, and then press ENTER.

Press ESC to return to the Options menu.

Press 2 to choose Set active partition, and then press ENTER.

The following prompted is displayed:
Enter the number of the partition you want to make active.
Press 1, and then press ENTER.

Press ESC to return to the Options menu.

To assign drive letters to the additional space on the hard disk:
1. Press 1, and then press ENTER .
2. Press 2 to choose Create Extended DOS Partition, and then press ENTER.
3. The dialog box that appears displays the maximum space available for the extended partition. You can adjust the size of the partition or leave it at the default size. Note that the default maximum space is recommended, but the space can be divided between multiple drive letters. Enter the amount of space you want, press ENTER, and then press ESC.
4. The Create Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition menu is displayed. This is the menu you use to assign the remaining hard disk space to the additional drive letters. Enter the amount of space you want to assign to the next drive letter in the Enter logical drive size in Mbytes or percent of disk space (%) box, and then press ENTER.
5. A table that lists the drive letter you created and the amount of space in that drive is displayed. If free space still remains on the hard disk, it is displayed near the bottom of the table. Repeat steps 1-4 until you receive the following message:
6. After you receive this message, press ESC twice to quit Fdisk and return to the command prompt.

After you have created the partitions, restart you computer with the Windows 98 Startup disk or Boot disk in the floppy disk drive.

When the Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed, chose Start computer without CD-ROM support.

When the command prompt is displayed, type format c:, and then press ENTER.

NOTE: If you receive the message "Bad command or file name," the Format.com utility may need to be extracted to your Boot disk. Type the following command at the command prompt, and then press ENTER:
extract ebd.cab format.com
After Format.com is extracted to your Boot Disk and the MS-DOS command prompt is displayed, type format c:.

When you run Format.com successfully, the following message is displayed:

WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST!

Proceed with Format (Y/N)?

Press Y, and then press ENTER to format drive C.

After the format is finished, the following message is displayed:
Volume label (11 characters, ENTER for none)?
This is an optional feature that you can use to type a name for the hard disk. Type an 11-character name for the drive, or leave it blank by pressing ENTER.

Repeat steps 10-14 for any additional drive letters you created in step i.

Installing Windows 98

After you have partitioned and formatted your hard disk, you can install Windows 98:

Place the Windows 98 Startup disk or Boot disk in the floppy disk drive, and then restart your computer.

When the Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed, choose Start computer with CD-ROM support, and then press ENTER.

If CD-ROM support is provided by the generic drivers on the Startup or Boot disk, one of the following lines is displayed

Drive X: = Driver MSCD001

Drive X: = Driver OEMCD001

NOTE

Place the Windows 98 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive, type the following command at the command prompt, and then press ENTER
X:\setup
where X is the drive letter assigned to your CD-ROM drive.

The following message is displayed:

Please wait while the Setup initializes. Setup is now going to perform a routine check on your system. To continue press Enter.

REFERENCES

For additional information about the Windows 98 Setup process, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q195568 Description of Windows 98 Setup Process

Q188881 How to Install Windows 98: Helpful Tips and Suggestions

Additional query words: new hard drive installation os pc installing win98 partition fdisk clean install setup

Keywords : kbsetup win98
Version : WINDOWS:
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto