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HIMEM.SYS Is missing in Windows 98 SE

Tags: Microsoft, Operating Systems, Windows

I am trying to boot into Windows 98 Second Edition but every time I try to, my PC boots to DOS prompt and tells me HIMEM.SYS is missing. Make sure the file is in your windows directory. And I have not restored the file and I’m not sure how to. And I cannot boot into the desktop whatsoever.

Does anyone know what I could do?

Topic

Re: HIMEM.SYS

In reply to HIMEM.SYS Is missing in Windows 98 SE

It seems you have an incomplete version of Windows 98. Reinstalling it from the Windows install CD seems be a possible solution.

Or find the right version of the file somewhere on one of your backups, boot from a Linux disc and use that to copy the file to your PC. However, it’s somewhat doubtful if current versions of Linux will run on such an old PC with hardly any RAM to speak of, so fixing this by putting the HDD into an external enclosure or into another PC as secondary disk might be an alternative to put that file in the right folder.
Or, even easier, maybe: while booted into DOS copy it from a diskette. That’s a nice way of restoring it once you found it.

That would be CONFIG.SYS

In reply to HIMEM.SYS Is missing in Windows 98 SE

Open CONFIG.SYS and look at the HIMEM.SYS line. Fix that!
I can’t tell you what it should read since few Windows machines are alike but in short, the CONFIG.SYS and the HIMEM.SYS line has to point to where the HIMEM.SYS file is on the boot drive.

I don’t see a line concerning HIMEM.SYS

In reply to HIMEM.SYS Is missing in Windows 98 SE

I have opened CONFIG.SYS but I couldn’t see a line saying HIMEM.SYS.

Remember I don’t know your skill level or what you know.

In reply to I don’t see a line concerning HIMEM.SYS

But there are plenty of tutorials about CONFIG.SYS on the web.

Also, you may be booting from floppy, CD or HDD or even a Virtual Machine so I can’t tell you exactly what should be in this PC’s CONFIG.SYS

BUT, you found the cause of the issue or at least half of it.

For many Windows 98 PCs with the old IDE HDD the line in CONFIG.SYS would be:
DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS

Yes there can be other variations but that is sufficient for most systems. The HIMEM.SYS file would be in the root folder of the floppy or HDD.

About reinstalling. I find many today are not going to be able to work with this archaic OS. But at least there are many web pages about it. I can’t possible hold court on this OS but used it a lot long ago.

Details about my pc:

In reply to HIMEM.SYS Is missing in Windows 98 SE

Hard Disk Drive: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80GB ATA/133 IDE HDD
Software: Windows 98 Second Edition
Ram: 2GB DDR Ram
DDR 1: 1024MB/166MHz (DDR333)
DDR 2: 1024MB/166MHz (DDR333)
L1 Cache Size: 128 KB
L2 Cache Size: 64 KB
Total Memory: 2048 With 64 MB Shared Memory
Processor/CPU: AMD Duron
Processor Speed: 1350MHz (1.350GHz)
BIOS Version: K7S41GX BIOS P1.70

My Experience is Alright. I know a few commands in DOS and I’m very knowledgeable about Microsoft Windows Softwares.

In this case.

In reply to Details about my pc:

It’s about the Windows 3 to 98 knowledge. That knowledge is still out there on the web so dig in.

We already know you can fix this but another issue may be too much RAM.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/715641/windows-98-and-too-much-ram/#:~:text=Windows%2098%20will%20never%20make,use%20around%20256MB%20in%20gaming.

That’s way too much RAM!

ok then,

In reply to HIMEM.SYS Is missing in Windows 98 SE

Would 256MB do?

Recorrection

In reply to HIMEM.SYS Is missing in Windows 98 SE

I think 1GB would work…???

From memory it errors out with over 512MB

In reply to Recorrection

But there’s that and other discussions on the web on what to try.

I fixed it!

In reply to HIMEM.SYS Is missing in Windows 98 SE

It turned out I was using a different piece of ram and there was one that came with it. And surprisingly it was the piece of ram that worked! After this, HIMEM.SYS showed up saying it was loading. And it brought me to the desktop! Thank you for everyone’s suggestions!

[Author]

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