Installing Win98 on a System with no OS

Make sure you have a boot disk that can run your cd, and then find the Win98 folder on your cd and run setup.

Get any working windows computer with CD-ROM support and insert your Windows disk.
Go to:
[Drive Letter]:\TOOLS\MTSUTIL\FAT32EBD\FAT32EBD.EXE
and have a blank 3.5 floppy handy. This will boot your machine, give you CD-ROM access, and you should be able to type:
[Drive letter]:\setup

And don't forget to copy those cab files to your hard drive so you won't have to do all this again.

First you got to have a bootable floppydisk with MS-DOS CD-ROM driver installed. From another Windows 98 you can create a Windows Start disk (go to controlpanel, add/remove programs, create start disk).

If you don't have access to a Windows 98, but have access to a Windows 95, you can create it by running this program on your Win98 CD-ROM:
\tools\mtsutil\fat32ebd\fat32ebd.exe.

Boot on you floppydisk, FDISK the harddisk (if you haven't already), format it with 'FORMAT C:'. Then create thedirectory WIN98 on your harddisk with the command 'MD WIN98'. Copy all files from the CDROM \WIN98 to your harddisk C:\WIN98. Remove the floppydisk and the CDROM, and run the following program C:\WIN98\Setup.exe.

That is the best way to install Windows 98, it assures you have all neccessary files for installation and later use on your harddisk, so you don't need to put in the CD-ROM everytime you install a new printer, modem etc.

Good luck.

If you have FDISK'd your drive properly, you should next format it to it's full capacity. Check to be sure (view ythe partition with FDISK again) that you have formated the drive to 32 bits. Next change to your Win98 CD drive and the Win98 directoryand run SETUP.EXE Follow the online instructions.

After you have completed your installation go to the device manager and check that everything has set up properly (no question marks or exclamation points). If you have problems, remove the offending device and reboot to let Win98 re-detect and re-install the device. This will usually fix most problems.

To run the win98 cd you need to creat a boot disk that will have cd support. The best way to get help for this is go to www.bootdisk.com. It is great site with lots of links to further help you after you instal windows. As you boot up with the boot disk watch to see what drive letter is asigned to the cdrom. You are on the wright track. Keep hacking away at it. It gets very easy after you do it a few times.
butlerchuck@hotmail.com

If you have a newer PC you should be able to boot off your cd. To enable it you will have to enter the BIOS at startup, hit or usually to get in.

Check you boot up section, under devices you should have 3 or 4 options. Set CD first, then A:, then C:

Insert your Win98 Cd into the CD ROM and it will ask you to hit any key to boot from CD. Then go to you cd drive letter and the
\win98
folder, run setup from here.

If you computer does not support booting from CD you will have to use a boot like the other guys suggested, if you don't have a boot disk this is the easier.

Good luck.

Restart your computer in setup mode. Find your startup options and set bootable drive to your CD drive. Restart with the WIN98 CD in the drive, it should start from the CD and step you through the installation

Assuming you have a big enough hard drive (Hopefully 4 or more GB)...After creating your primary DOS partition, format your entire hard drive (you will need to add format.com to your bootable floppy. No, it's not a website, it's a dos executable youwill find on any DOS or higher computer). After that, copy the entire contents of the Win98 cd to your hard drive within a directory called Win98. After copying (It'll take a while) run setup.exe from the directory you just created. Thiu is the bestway because you will never need your cd again. It's a little complicated and you have to be familiar with some DOS, but if you need any more info, just let me know. Good luck.

If you have a 'boot' disk, with cd-rom drivers & format and sys files on the 'boot' disk, then boot to a: drive format c:, Then find the cd-rom and go to it then type setup
and follow the yellow brick road of bill gates

John..you're on the right track, after creating the DOS partition and then formatting, you have to reboot again for the changes to take effect. Or the error message "Wrong Media Type" will keep occuring.
Keeping the boot disk in your A:\ drive, youwill have an option to run setup from your CDROM. Just cancel that. First off lets transfer your Win98 CAB files. You will have to change directories from A:\ to C:In the DOS screen, type this exactly how i'm typing:
MKDIR C:\Temp
now what ever your drive letter is for the CDROM that the boot disk assigned it as is the next line:
Ex: Copy D:\win98 C:\Temp
Your PC will then start copying all the Cab files.
Switch back to your A:\ and type "Setup"
the A:\ will then kick in the Win98 CD. If it doesn't then get a Win98 Boot disk from someone who has Win98 or Email me and I'll send it to you via ICQ or Email. It's not all that big. (From Someone elses PC of course, I.e. your neighbor) All the files will fit on a 1.44meg floppy.
Here is the reason why we copied the CAB files. Along the way WIN98 will look towards the CDROM to load drivers for certain peripherals you may have. But you wont have a CDROM listed (With some PC's) This was a common thing also with Win95. Note: We can loada CDROM bat file but how many new users know how to do that? So we are going to do it this way like I have already typed up above. Amazing when you look for help online everyone assumes the users to be PC savy when they aren't. If that was the case,why would they be online looking for help? Get the point? So when it does look for the CAB file containing the driver, it will be located in your C:\temp
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at home or work.
WK# 1-813-288-4461 8-5 EST.
or email:Angel.Rivera@gxs.ge.com
ICQ:13088697
hm email addy:res070fo@gte.com

You guys have to remember one thing when giving advice to people seeking help. Bring your advice down to a level they will be able to understand and use. Telling an individual to make a bootable disk is like driving 55mph in downtown Manhattan, NYC during rush hour.
Be concise, go step by step, and offer your email so the individual can contact you if more help is needed. The help i've seen so far here, has probably left this guy out in the winds. Remember, if someone is on here asking for help, rest assure he/she is not PC Savvy. And another thing....have all your answers put together before you finish the discussiion. Adding another discussion because you left out a step will only jar the individual more. I.e. "Oh and one more thing." (Part2 of discussion.)
Show your professionalism, not your arrogance. Give advice along with options. Enough said?

Place Both Win98 Boot Floppy AND CD-ROM in their drives and switch the machine on.
I SHOULD boot from one of the two, if not enter the BIOS(usually hit DEL while counting RAM) and change you boot sequence to include A: and CD-ROM before IDE/SCSI/?
Reboot your Machine and away you go...
...Hopefully

Hope this help a little
Wayne

Well, basically once you have created the partition(s) using the Fdisk program. You can use the win98 boot disk to boot up with CD support. That's the simples way but it does not always work. Sometimes you need the original CDROM device driver, for the CDROM that you are working with. Once you have the CD loaded is pretty simple to install Win98.
Usually I copy the Win98 folder from the original CD into my C: drive, that way I don't need the CD anymore. But be aware that all this cab files areabout 110 mb's. This is something to keep in mind for smaller hard drives.