Installing Windows 98 (Lab)

Windows 9x/Me Installation Requirements

Features of Windows 9x Versions:

Feature

98 SE

98

95 OSR2 (95b/OEM)

95a (Retail)

ACPI support

Y

Y

N

N

Active Desktop

Y

Y

N

N

Backup utility

Y

Y

N

N

Dial-Up Networking

Y

Y

Y

Y

Disk management

Y

Y

N

N

DVD support

Y

N

N

N

FAT32

Y

Y

Y

N

FAT32 conversion

Y

Y

N

N

Internet Connection Sharing

Y

N

N

N

Multiple monitors

Y

Y

N

N

OnNow support

Y

Y

N

N

Task Scheduler

Y

Y

N

N

USB support

Y

Y

Y

N

Windows Update Utility

Y

Y

N

N

Windows 98 and Windows Me offer two choices for file systems: FAT16 and FAT32. (The number listed after the letters indicates the number of bits that are used to address files on the drive.)

FAT16 is supported by all Windows versions (including 3.x, 9x, NT, Me, 2000, and XP) and DOS, as indicated in Table 20-2.

DOS and Windows 3.x users knew FAT16 simply as FAT, which means File Allocation Table.

FAT32 is supported by Windows 9x, Me, 2000, and XP. In fact, of the later Windows versions, only Windows NT doesn't support FAT32.

Microsoft has two sets of minimum hardware requirements for the Windows 9x and Me systems: a bare minimum on which the system can run (but who knows how well?) and a recommended minimum on which the system can smoothly run

Minimum and Recommended System Requirements for Windows 98:

Component

Minimum

Recommended

Processor

486DX/66

Pentium

Memory

16MB

24MB

Hard drive

180MB

295MB

Video card

VGA

SVGA

CD-ROM drive

Required (2X)

Required (2X)

Mouse

Required

Required

Minimum and Recommended System Requirements for Windows Me:

Component

Minimum

Recommended

Processor

Pentium/150 MHz

Pentium/150 MHz

Memory

32MB

32MB

Hard drive

480MB

645MB

Video card

VGA

SVGA

CD-ROM drive

Required (2X)

Required (2X)

Mouse

Required

Required

Windows 98 Installation

The process that is used to install Windows 98 involves the following five major steps:

  • System check: SETUP.EXE verifies that the minimum hardware requirements are met and that antivirus software is not running, and it runs SCANDISK to check the integrity of the hard drive.
  • Information collection: Windows 98 collects the information that it needs to complete the installation. The information may come from the user, a script, or an existing Windows 9x version that is being updated. This information includes the type of installation (Typical, Compact, Portable, or Custom), the user's name, the PC's name, and more.
  • Copying files: The Windows 98 files are copied to the hard drive.
  • System restart: The PC is restarted into Windows 98. The OS then makes its modifications to the system files (WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, and the Registry) and adjusts the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, if present.
  • Hardware setup: Windows 98 searches for any Plug and Play and legacy devices on the system and configures them. The system is restarted once again after this step.

During the installation process, the Windows 9x and Me systems create a variety of log files that can be used to recover from installation crashes. For the most part, the log files are written to the root directory of the destination disk (the disk on which Windows is being installed). However, some of the log files are written to the Windows directory on the destination disk. These log files are as follows:

  • BOOTLOG.TXT: The results of the initial boot of the Windows system.
  • DETLOG.TXT: The results of the hardware-detection steps.
  • DETCRASH.LOG: An internal file that is used by Windows 9x to recover from a crash during installation.
  • MODEMDET.TXT: This file, which is found in the WINDOWS directory, contains the results of autodetecting a modem on the PC.
  • NETLOG.TXT: The results of the network software startup.
  • SETUPLOG.TXT: A log of the Setup program's actions before and after hardware detection. It is a hidden file