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Format Win98

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4 replies

by dsiverson

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I have a new computer that came with W2K. Because of software compatability issues it needed to run Win98. I fdisked the hard drive and now need to format the partition, but do not have a format.com file to format the hard drive with. It naturally needs to be done from the dos prompt not within windows. HELP!!!! The WIN98 CD that I have is a OEM version.

4 replies

by zlitocook

Go into the bios and have the computer boot to the CDROM or down load a boot disk off the internet. There are a ton of sites that have bootable down loads. Like bootdisk.com, bartsbootdisk, or just type win98 boot disk in google search. With W2K installed I would down load Delpart first and run it then boot to the cdrom and run setup. If you can not run setup, you will need to partition and fomat the drive. Which you can do with the boot floppy.

by ryan

You're going to need a win98 startup disk (should have been shipped with the PC). If you don't have one, you can download it from here: http://www.bitsandpc.com/bootdisk/WIN98SE.EXE. For the format.com file, you'll have to get that from another win98 computer. Format.com is located in C:\Windows\Command\. Also copy sys.com from the same directory to the startup disk and use this command when formatting:

Format C: /s /u

Good Luck.

by thechas

You can create a W98 startup disk from the Add/Remove Programs menu on any running W98 PC.

It will have all the commands that you need.

It is surprising that you were able to fdisk the drive, but cannot format it from the disk you have.

There are also links to startup disk images posted at www.bootdisk.com

Chas

by sullyman

If you are able to load your CDROM drivers, then you can just create a path statement in DOS to the format.com directory on the Win 98 CD.

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