upgrade from win95 to win98se

[timsalom]

Have pc running Win95 and wish to upgrade to Win98SE
using the full version, not just the upgrade. Have tried to
use 98boot disk and then load new OS but pc refuses to accept new OS.
I assume that the answer to my problem is to format c:
and start from scratch. Is this a difficult proceedure ?
Would appreciate a guide to carry out this process and are
there any problems to be confronted ?
Regard Tim

[Redo40]

Welcome to PCMech Tim,

Clean install, you can download a bootdisk here.

[GaryRouth]

Hi Roger, Welcome Tim -

Nice links - lots of good info there.

I suppose some things to be careful about before you start would be to check to see if your hard drive has either hidden or proprietary partitions on it (that might be necessary for the machine to boot if it's an older Compaq), or any "drive-translation" software running to allow a large hard disk to work with an older motherboard. Both of these conditions usually show if you use the program fdisk to view partition information. You boot the computer with a floppy, and type the command fdisk from the A: prompt. Use option 4, which will only view partition information (not change or format anything, just view) = if you see "Non-Dos" partitions, you probably have one of the two conditions I spoke of. If you see one "Non-Dos" and one (or more) Dos partitions, then you should be OK as long as you leave the Non-Dos partiton alone. If you decide to clean install, only reformat the Dos partition. --->If you only see one Non-Dos partition, and no other partitions exist, you probably are using a "drive-overlay" program such as EZ-Bios to help the large disk work with the older bios on the older motherboard. If this is the case, your choices are to 1) try an "over-the-top" upgrade, 2) use an upgrade disk and perform the normal upgrade, or 3) clean install, using the format command to reformat, not fdisk [you don't want to reformat the "mbr" = "Master Boot Record", you want to keep the EZ-Bios in the mbr so your hard drive will be 'seen' in it's entirety] . . . I believe when you are done viewing your partition information in fdisk, you can use the ESC key to exit the program. If you don't see any non-Dos partitions, you can follow the instructions in Roger's link to do a clean install.

To run Windows 98 2nd Edition, a Pentium class processor is best (preferably over 133mhz), and if you have 64mb of memory or better - that can help the older machine perform better. At 32mb or lower, performance can be awfully darn slow (but 32mb is fine for Win95).

Have fun with the upgrade.
. . . Gary

[hmm....looks like I forgot to give you the info on an "over-the-top" install (which is what I think you mention you were trying at first go). Here's a cut-and-paste howto:

If you've got a lot of old programs that are still mostly working but would be a pain to hunt down the old installation disks for, you can also try an "over-the-top" reinstall of Win98, which would leave those oldies intact.
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Over-the Top ReInstall of Windows 98

To try an "over the top" reinstall, which if successful won't destroy all your data: boot with a bootable floppy or CD - "with CD-rom support", and from DOS rename the win.com file to win.bak. Like this

C:
cd \Windows
rename win.com win.bak

Then switch to the drive letter of your CD drive [often drive D:], and start setup (by simply type the command: setup) When Windows asks if you want to use the directory C:\Windows.000, instead choose “Other” and type in C:\Windows [without the .000 following]. You'll need your CD-key handy.

If you've lost your CD-key: before you start the reinstall look for it by starting regedit from the Start/Run box, then navigate to the key (you navigate in regedit like you do in Windows Explorer) HKEY_Local_Machine/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion . . . if you click on "Current Version", you should see a list of keys and values in the box displaying on your right. One of these will read "ProductKey" and will consist of 5 sets of 5 alphanumeric characters = your CD key. Be careful when in regedit just to look at things and not make accidental changes.
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[timsalom]

Many thanks for your help.
Redo40 for your links
and GaryRouth for the advise.
Have printed same out to study as I
work on the computer.
Regards timsalom