win98 reinstall

[kbit]

Hi folks , haven't been here in a while due to many reasons but up and running again! Anyways I was browsing thru some old posts and found one where I pointed out that the win98 cd was bootable. Original win98 4.10 cd. Others disputed and said win98 was not. Well I have the original cd and the book and it does boot from cd. I found a web page that might come in handy for those reinstalling 98 and he provides instructions and screen shots and boots from cd. These screens are exactly what happens when I install win98 without the use of a floppy.

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/win98/install98cd/indexfullpage.htm#.URSqhR2Pavs

[Cityscape]

I have one Windows 98 (SE) disc that works just like yours, and I have another Windows 98 (SE) disc that requires a boot floppy. My Windows ME also needs a boot floppy if I remember correctly.

So maybe there were 2 kinds?  Wikipedia also seems to say that 98 was bootable without a boot diskette.

[BC_Programmer]

Anyways I was browsing thru some old posts and found one where I pointed out that the win98 cd was bootable. Original win98 4.10 cd. Others disputed and said win98 was not.

In the thread you are probably referring too, Quaxo said that Windows 98 FE CDs were not Bootable.

You replied by saying that All Windows 98 Discs were bootable. That is patently false. I've never seen a Windows 98FE disc that was bootable; So, even if we allow for the case where retail Windows 98FE discs exist that are bootable, they aren't all bootable, so what you said wasn't any more correct.

Assuming, of course, There are Windows 4.10.1998 Discs that do boot from the CD-ROM. Maybe they exist. I've never seen one. Quaxo evidently hasn't either.

However, that said, I'm not saying your lying. OEM's often released separate packaged releases of the OS, which included the retail product as well as, if needed, extra drivers on the disc for Windows 98 to use to install Devices when it was installed. Since they were designed to install from nothing (sort of like a factory restore disc today, only- you know- it was an Actual OS CD...), they could boot directly from the CD-ROM. Windows 98 OEM(4.10.1998) discs are probably very hard to come by, since they only ever came with new PCs and people generally lost them, or they got scratched, etc.

[Cityscape]

You replied by saying that All Windows 98 Discs were bootable. That is patently false. I've never seen a Windows 98FE disc that was bootable; So, even if we allow for the case where retail Windows 98FE discs exist that are bootable, they aren't all bootable, so what you said wasn't any more correct.

That sounds right to me. I've seen bootable 98SE discs but never a bootable 98FE disc.

OEM's often released separate packaged releases of the OS, which included the retail product as well as, if needed, extra drivers on the disc for Windows 98 to use to install Devices when it was installed. Since they were designed to install from nothing (sort of like a factory restore disc today, only- you know- it was an Actual OS CD...), they could boot directly from the CD-ROM.

And I'm sure there are other modified 98 FE discs as well that are bootable, meaning discs the people customized/modified themselves or downloaded illegally from torrent sites etc.

[BC_Programmer]

And I'm sure there are other modified 98 FE discs as well that are bootable, meaning discs the people customized/modified themselves or downloaded illegally from torrent sites etc.

Yes, definitely, Win98 was about where CD-Burners were starting to become affordable, if still rather high-end, peripherals, so OS customization was still around. I did a few *ahem* searches and couldn't find any customized versions available now, but I don't doubt many people made them in the day, long before Internet speeds made it reasonable to download an entire CD of Data.

[Cityscape]

Yes, definitely, Win98 was about where CD-Burners were starting to become affordable, if still rather high-end, peripherals, so OS customization was still around. I did a few *ahem* searches and couldn't find any customized versions available now, but I don't doubt many people made them in the day, long before Internet speeds made it reasonable to download an entire CD of Data.

Right, and people could have made their customized versions bootable. One of the simpler ways to do this would be to put the contents of a DOS bootdisk onto the CD along with Windows 98 and have it boot to the DOS prompt and all they'd have to do would be to type setup.exe

[kbit]

dug out the disk and it is oem , must be bad ram in my head , thought it was retail, here is pic

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]

[Cityscape]

dug out the disk and it is oem , must be bad ram in my head , thought it was retail, here is pic

Yes, that is an OEM disc. Which explains why it might have been bootable. 

[Camron70]

handy for those reinstalling 98 and he provides instructions and screen shots and boots from cd. These screens are exactly what happens when I install win98 without the use of a floppy.