Windows 98 Setup with Other Operating Systems

This section presents details related to installing Windows 98 over an existing operating system, including changes made to system files by Windows 98 Setup and configuring for dual-booting with the previous operating system.

Microsoft Windows 98 dual-boot is supported with Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 95 and MS DOS 5.x. Dual-boot with third-party operating systems, such as Novell DR DOS and IBM OS/2, is not supported. For more information on dual booting Windows 98 with a third-party operating system, you should contact your operating system vendor.

Table 5.13 summarizes some of the available options for upgrading with Windows 3.1x, MS-DOS, and Windows NT, and how you should install Windows 98 to take advantage of these options.

Table 5.13 Upgrade versus clean installations

Desired configuration	Install Windows 98 in a new directory	Upgrade existing Windows 3.1x/95 installation with Windows 98
Migrate existing Windows application settings and files
Dual boot Windows 98 and MS-DOS
Dual boot Windows 98 and Windows NT1
1 Windows 98 and Windows NT can work together properly if the computer is configured for dual booting between MS-DOS and Windows NT. However, you must install Windows 98 in a new directory.

The topics discussed in this section include the following:

• Upgrading Windows 95 to Windows 98 keeping your current configuration settings
• Upgrading Windows 95 to Windows 98 changing your current configuration settings
• Upgrading Windows 3.1x
• Dual booting Windows 98 with Windows 3.1x and MS-DOS
• Dual booting Windows 98 with Windows NT

Upgrading from Windows 95 to Windows 98

There are two methods for upgrading from Windows 95 to Windows 98. The method you choose depends on whether you want to retain the existing configuration settings (such as computer name, installation directory, and network settings) on your computer.

Keeping Current Configuration Settings

If you have a computer running Windows 95 and you want to upgrade it to Windows 98, keeping its current configuration settings (such as computer name, user name, and installation directory), run the Windows 98 Setup program from within Windows 95. This is the recommended method for upgrading Windows 95 to Windows 98, because it requires minimum user interaction and is the easiest method.

With this method, Windows 98 is installed in the same directory where Windows 95 was installed. Furthermore, Windows 98 Setup uses the existing configuration information to set installation defaults and to set other configuration options. Windows 98 Setup migrates all Windows 95 folders and programs to Windows 98, so they appear on the Windows 98 Start menu. Windows 98 automatically migrates all the shortcuts you had under Windows 95.

To upgrade Windows 95 to Windows 98 keeping current settings

1. Start Windows 95.
2. Close all programs, including any anti-virus programs.

   For information about closing an anti-virus program, see the program documentation and Setup.txt on your Windows 98 disk.

3. If you are installing Windows 98 from a compact disc, insert the Windows 98 compact disc into your CD-ROM drive.

   – Or –

   If you are installing Windows 98 from floppy disks, insert Setup Disk 1 into the floppy disk drive.

   – Or –

   If you are installing Windows 98 from source files on a network server, connect to that server and switch to the shared network directory that contains the Windows 98 source files.

4. On the Start menu, click Run.

   The Run dialog box appears.

5. In the Open box, enter the location of the Windows 98 disc. For example, type the drive letter, followed by a colon (:), a backslash (\), and the word setup. For example: d:\setup.
6. Click OK.

   The Windows 98 Setup Wizard starts.

7. Follow the on-screen instructions, as described in "Running Setup from the Windows 95 Interface" in Chapter 2, "Setting Up Windows 98."

Changing Current Configuration Settings

If you want to upgrade your Windows 95 computer to Windows 98 but you want to change its current configuration settings (such as computer name and workgroup) or you want to install Windows 98 in a new directory, you run the Windows 98 Setup program from within MS-DOS.

Before you begin, you should be prepared to provide the following information:

• Name of the installation directory (for example, c:\Win98).

  If you do not know the directory in which to install Windows 98, you can use Setup to create a new one. When prompted, type a new directory name.

• Network information, such as your computer name, workgroup, and computer description (if your computer is on a network).

When starting Setup from MS-DOS using either a network server or local CD-ROM drive, the real-mode network or CD-ROM drivers must be loaded. If the real-mode network drivers are running when you start Windows 98 Setup, the appropriate network client is installed automatically. Setup detects existing network components, installs the appropriate supporting software automatically, and adds the necessary network settings in the registry.

To upgrade Windows 95 to Windows 98 changing current settings

1. Start your computer up and press F8 when the message, Starting Windows 95 appears. Then select Command Prompt Only.

   – Or –

   From Windows 95, click on Start, and click Shut Down. Then select Restart in MS-DOS mode.

2. If you are installing Windows 98 from a compact disc, insert the Windows 98 compact disc into the CD-ROM drive, and make it the active drive.

   – Or –

   If you are installing Windows 98 from floppy disks, insert Setup Disk 1 into the floppy disk drive and make it the active drive. For example, type a: if the disk is in the A drive.

   – Or –

   If you are installing Windows 98 from source files on a network server, connect to that server and switch to the shared network directory that contains the Windows 98 source files.

3. At the command prompt, type the drive letter, followed by a colon (:), a backslash (\), and the word setup. For example:

   d:\setup

4. Press ENTER.

   Setup quickly scans your computer, and then the Windows 98 Setup Wizard starts.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions, as described in "Running Setup from MS-DOS" in Chapter 2, "Setting Up Windows 98."

After starting Setup from MS-DOS, Setup initializes and checks your system:

• It runs real-mode ScanDisk to check the hard disk for errors. Unlike the protected-mode version of ScanDisk, the real-mode counterpart cannot fix errors in long file names. ScanDisk does not perform a surface scan; therefore, the disk is not checked for physical errors.

  Note

  If you get file system errors during setup, you should run ScanDisk and perform a surface scan before running Setup again.

• It initializes the registry and checks it for corruption.

Tip

When you run Windows 98 Setup, ScanDisk performs a quick check of the hard disk. You can skip this quick check (for example, if the computer uses disk compression software from another vendor) by using the /iq or /is switch with the setup command, as described in "Using the Setup Command-Line Switches" in Chapter 2, "Setting Up Windows 98." If you choose to skip automatically running ScanDisk, be sure to use another utility to check the integrity of the hard disk before running Setup.

Upgrading Windows 3.1x or Windows for Workgroups to Windows 98

If you have a computer running Windows 3.1x or Windows for Workgroups, you can upgrade it to Windows 98 by running the Windows 98 Setup program from within Windows 3.1x or Windows for Workgroups.

Most of the information needed for upgrading is automatically taken from your current installation of Windows 3.1x. Setup automatically identifies and transfers your current system settings and installed programs. Windows 98 Setup also saves settings so that you can continue to use the network configuration that you had previously.

To upgrade from Windows 3.1x or Windows for Workgroups to Windows 98

1. Start Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups.
2. Close all programs, including any anti-virus programs.

   For information about closing an anti-virus program, see the program documentation and Setup.txt on your Windows 98 compact disc.

3. If you are installing Windows 98 from a compact disc, insert the Windows 98 compact disc into the CD-ROM drive and make it the active drive.

   – Or –

   If you are installing Windows 98 from floppy disks, insert Setup Disk 1 into the floppy disk drive and make it the active drive. For example, type a: if the disk is in the A drive.

   – Or –

   If you are installing Windows 98 from source files on a network server, connect to that server and switch to the shared network directory that contains the Windows 98 source files.

4. In File Manager, select the disk drive you used in step 3.
5. On the File menu, click Run.

   The Run dialog box appears.

6. In the Open box, enter the location of the Windows 98 compact disc. For example, type the drive letter, followed by a colon (:), a backslash (\), and the word setup (or, you can click Browse and browse to the Setup.exe file).
7. Click OK.

   The Windows 98 Setup Wizard starts.

8. Follow the instructions on your screen.

Dual Booting Windows 98 with Windows 3.1x and MS-DOS

You can configure your computer to dual boot with Windows 3.1x as long as the computer has MS-DOS 5.0 or later by using the F4 boot-to-previous operating system feature. To dual boot Windows 98 with these operating systems, your computer’s C drive must be FAT 16.

For more information about how Windows 98 Setup treats disk partitions created under other operating systems, see "Partition Requirements" in Chapter 2, "Setting Up Windows 98."

Important

To take advantage of the Windows 98 dual-boot capabilities, the entry BootMulti=1 must be set in the Windows 98 Msdos.sys file in the root directory. For more information, see "Msdos.sys: Special Startup Values" earlier in this chapter.

To set up dual-boot capabilities for a new installation of Windows 98

• During Windows 98 Setup, when you are installing Windows 98 for the first time, make sure you specify a new directory that does not already have another version of Windows in it.

Windows 98 Setup makes all of the necessary changes to preserve your existing version of MS-DOS, Windows 3.1x, or Windows for Workgroups 3.1x, and your current Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files.

If you have already installed Windows 98 without dual-boot capabilities, you can follow these steps to allow MS-DOS to dual boot with Windows 98. However, you will not be able to dual boot with your previous version of Windows.

To set up dual-boot capabilities after Windows 98 has been installed

1. On a bootable floppy disk that starts MS-DOS 5.0 or later, rename the Io.sys, Msdos.sys, and Command.com files on the disk to Io.dos, Msdos.dos, and Command.dos.
2. Create two empty text files named Config.dos and Autoexec.dos. You can customize these now or later to be appropriate for the MS-DOS version you will be adding.

   Caution

   You must rename the MS-DOS versions of these files before copying them to the root directory. Otherwise, you will destroy your Windows 98 installation.

3. Copy all the .dos files to the root directory of the boot drive. This is usually drive C. Make duplicates of these files on your host drive if you want to use disk compression.
4. Mark the .dos files in the root directory of the boot drive with the hidden, system, and read-only attributes (attrib -r -s -h *.dos).
5. Change the Msdos.sys on the boot drive to include the line bootmulti=1. Instructions for making changes to Msdos.sys can be found earlier in this chapter.

Installing Windows 98 over MS-DOS

The versions of MS-DOS supported for installing Windows 98 are versions 5.0 or later.

Files Deleted by Windows 98 Setup

This section lists MS-DOS and other files that are deleted by Windows 98 Setup. Notice, however, that these files are deleted from the old MS-DOS directory only if you install Windows 98 in the existing Windows 3.1x directory. Otherwise, the old MS-DOS files are all preserved so that you can start the computer using the older version of MS-DOS.

The Windows 98 command-line commands are stored in the Command subdirectory of the Windows directory. Deleting the related MS-DOS command file will not affect your ability to use the command under Windows 98. The versions that are deleted by Setup are known to be incompatible with Windows 98; for example, many of these MS-DOS commands do not support long file names. Table 5.14 shows files removed by Windows 98 Setup.

Table 5.14 Files removed by Windows 98 Setup

System Startup with MS-DOS Multiple Configurations

Windows 98 supports multiple configurations for the same computer, and it dynamically determines which configuration is being used. If Windows 98 cannot determine the specific configuration used during system startup before processing Config.sys, it presents a menu of available configurations as listed in the registry, and it prompts you to select the configuration you want.

If you have a multiple configuration established in Config.sys, that menu is presented next. However, if you use a multiple configuration to switch between different versions of Windows, you must edit Config.sys manually to repair this configuration after Windows 98 is installed. For information about how to create multiple configurations for the same computer under Windows 98, see Chapter 24, "Device Management."

Dual Booting Windows 98 with Windows NT

If you install Windows 98 to dual boot with Windows NT, boot to MS-DOS, and then run Setup from either MS-DOS or Windows 3.1x. You will not be able to install Windows 98 to a directory with a shared Windows 3.1x/Windows NT configuration; you will need to install Windows 98 in a different directory.

You can install Windows 98 to dual boot with Windows NT on a computer. This section provides some notes for installing Windows 98 with Windows NT.

Important

In order to take advantage of the Windows 98 dual-boot capabilities, the entry BootMulti=1 must be set in the Windows 98 Msdos.sys file in the root directory. For more information, see "Msdos.sys: Special Startup Values" earlier in this chapter.

To install Windows 98 to dual boot with Windows NT

1. Ensure that the computer is configured to dual boot between Windows NT and MS-DOS. Check your Windows NT documentation for details.
2. Start the computer by using the MS-DOS operating system.
3. Run Windows 98 Setup as described in Chapter 2, "Setting Up Windows 98."

Remember that if your computer has any Windows NT file system (NTFS) partitions, they are not available locally from within Windows 98.

If you run MS-DOS from a floppy disk in order to install Windows 98, you will not be able to start Windows NT afterward. You can restore the multiboot configuration by starting the computer with your Windows NT Boot Disks and selecting the Repair option. You will then be prompted for your Windows NT Repair Disk.

To run MS-DOS after Windows 98 has been installed, you must select the MS-DOS option from the Windows NT multiboot menu. Then, from the Windows 98 Startup menu, select Previous Version of MS-DOS.

To install Windows NT on a computer where Windows 98 is installed

• At the command prompt, switch to the directory that contains the Windows NT source files, and then type winnt /w.

The WINNT program is an MS-DOS -based application that creates the Windows NT Setup startup files and copies the system files to the hard disk from the source files. The /w switch allows WINNT to run under Windows. Using this switch also causes Windows NT Setup to skip the CPU detection process and the automatic restart at the end of Setup. You can also include the /b switch to copy the required startup files for Setup so that you do not have to create floppy disks for Setup.

For more information about the Windows NT operating system and about running computers with Windows 98 on a Windows NT network, see Chapter 16, "Windows 98 on Microsoft Networks."