There are several methods of re-installing /repairing Windows 98. a) over the top of itself from within windows. b) over the top of itself from MSDOS c) using the so-called system file checker SFC d) re-installing into a new folder. Each re-installation has its advantages and disadvantages. If you can get into Windows 98 then try re-installing over the top of itself by inserting the Windows 98 CD into the CD drive and clicking install. If this fails to solve your problem or if Windows has fallen over totally and you can not start it even in safemode then use the method described below to install windows over the top of itself by installing into the same folder as it is already installed. This gives a cleaner install that installing from windows itself and fixes more system issues. If you canot get into windows or you do not want to get into windows then follow the method described below to re-install into a different folder.
No it is NOT dead, it is still alive and kicking and is one of the best systems for the user as far as ease of use is concerned. Firstly, make sure your pc can boot from the CD drive or failing that head over to www.bootdisk.com and download the file boot98sc.exe. Save this file to your hard drive (the desktop would be a good place as its easy to find afterwards) Once it is downloaded, put a floppy disk in the drive and double click that file boot98sc.exe It will self extract to the floppy drive (formatting the floppy as it goes along so anything on that floppy disk will be gone) Insert this floppy disk into the PC that has the problem. Restart that PC. Choose Start PC with CD Rom support. You will be left with a black screen and a flashing cursor at A:\>
This is MS-DOS command prompt. Type smartdrv and press enter. Insert the Windows 98 CD into the CD drive. You will be returned immediately back to the A:\> Now type "XCOPY R:\win98\*.* C:\Win\Options\Cabs\*.* /S /E " without the quotation marks and press enter. This will now copy the Windows 98 installation files to your hard drive. This is for two reasons. 1. So you can run the windows installation from the hard drive and thereby cut the installation time in half 2. If in the future you wish to add or remove any parts of windows your windows will not ask you to insert the cd as it has all the files it needs to complete its task on the hard drive already. If you have an OEM computer such as Compaq, HP or another make of PC you will probably already have these files in the folder C:\Windows\Options\Cabs on your hard drive. Next type C: and press enter. You will now be at the C:\> drive. Type "REN Progra~1 progs" without the quotation marks and press enter. Then type "REN WINDOWS WIN98" without quotation marks (assuming your windows folder is called windows).
Now for the fun stuff.
If you already have the cab files on your PC in the Windows\Options\Cabs folder then do the following.
If you do NOT have the cabs files on your PC then where it tells you to type CD\WIN98\OPTIONS\CABS type CD\WIN\OPTIONS\CABS as that is where we copied the files to in the paragraph above :)
Type "SCANDISK C: /AUTOFIX /NOSAVE /NOSUMMARY /SURFACE /TIME" and press enter and go and make a coffee. This will scan your drive for any errors and attempt to fix them. When this has finished you can exit the scandisk program by pressing X. Now you will be back at the C:\> prompt again. Now to reinstal Windows. Type "CD\WIN98\OPTIONS\CABS" without the quotation marks and press enter. Type "SETUP /IS /ID /IM" without the quotation marks and press enter. This will start the Windows 98 installation without checking the drive (we did this in scandisk earlier, nor does it check the memory or drive space) Choose and alternative folder to install windows into. I would suggest the name WIN. Then follow the prompts until windows has installed itself into the folder called Win. It will restart several times during the installation. When Windows 98 has finished installing you may need to install the drivers for various bits of hardware, such as your video card and sound card. Insert the CD's that came with the pc to do this and follow the onscreen prompts.
When Windows has finished installing, you can now do whatever it is you wanted to do in the first place as you will now have a pefectly good working installation of windows. If this is to copy your files to CD before formatting or to run anti virus or to start all over again with a good working copy of windows 98 then you are nearly there. You will need to reinstall ALL of your applications and programmes now that you have Windows reinstalled if you wish to use this copy of windows as your operating system. Once you have copied all of your info and reinstalled all of your programmes you can delete the folders Progs and Win98 if you no longer require any files from there. These are the old folders to your original windows and program files folders.
If you are planning on keeping this version of Windows then there are several things you can do to optimise it and get the most out of your working environment. Go here http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/catalog/en/default.asp and download the updates for Windows 98 to your PC. This will save the updates to your PC and not update the windows software. The advantage of this is that in future you will have the updates available. I would suggest burning them to a CD along with the Windows installation files so that you have them all to hand if you have to reinstall windows again. Also do not forget to defrag your hard drive once you have installed all your application. Several websites already tell you how you can optimise your system varying from setting a permanent swap file and adjusting the cache to changing the speed that the menus appear. Use your favourite search engine to find tips and trick on optimising your system.
This page is available as a text file so that you can print it out and use it s a guideline whilst you are doing what is described.
The other method of using the SFC (system file checker) has not been touched upon because i feel it is a waste of time unless you have updated the database prior to having the problem and after having updated Windows 98 from the microsoft website. Running this without having updated the database will only re-install all the windows files that get installed with some form of installation and therefore overwrite any updated files. You may as well re-install using the method above and save youself the time.