BOOT SOFTWARE

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Maybe Canada got different CD's. I tried two more generic OEM CD's, one 98
and one 98SE. They both booted. I can't find a retail CD to try it. I did
try a "not for sale" 98SE CD that I got from a Microsoft event years ago. It
booted. I don't know if was a retail or OEM version.
Click to expand...

The first one I recall being bootable was one of those W95c discs (the
ones with USB drivers crammed in there) but it was OEM not retail. We had
fun finding a machine which could actually be set to boot from the CD. :)
 
I have a Windows 98 Second Edition CD that I assumed was bootable, but when
I tried it just now, it didn't boot.

Todd
 
Not For Sale cd's are always full editions capable of doing upgrades.
Something OEM cd's are not.
 
That's exactly the problem. Ten years ago few computers could boot from cd.
It was the same situation usb drives are in today.
 
Retail or OEM? Just curious.

Some OEM's modified the cd to provide the Setup floppy functions on the cd
because they knew their BIOS's and drives supported booting.
 
I suspect this point of Colin's is exactly what happened. Next time I see
some 98 OEM's hanging at a computer show, I'll grab one or see if I can't
borrow a couple somewhere. I'm not sure what it will prove scientifically,
since different OEMs could have had different approaches. The ones I have
that are ME are OEM bootable CDs, and I'm sorry that I wasn't smart enough
to leave them alone. As soon as I could get my hands on an XP beta I got
rid of ME and it was much better.

I know that the setup for 98 and 98SE often included a floppy to make it
bootable, and I'm not sure if ME had that situation since I only have the
Dell ME CDs to draw from.

CH
 
Colin:
I have OEM copies of Windows 95 and 98 from long retired computers that are
the genuine Microsoft disks due the holograms and printing that they are
only to be installed on a new Windows PC and all support is supplied by the
PC manufacturer. Both disks have the start-up floppies, Windows 95 doesn't
boot but Windows 98 does. I can't find the Windows 98SE disk that I know is
around here somewhere.
 
The bottom line is to give the user the standard setup instructions since
the question only comes up when the user is complaining that the virtual
machine is indicating that no boot device is found. I suspect that we
simply don't get any questions if the user happens to have a bootable cd.
 
Note: Those of you following this discussion should be sure to visit
bootdisk.com and see the fantastic library of boot disks and other DOS and
windows tools kept there.
 
That's funny- I was just there. I was looking around for some
definitive answer about what was bootable and what wasn't.

Yes, it is a very useful site.

-Michael
 
Colin:
I have OEM copies of Windows 95 and 98 from long retired computers that are
the genuine Microsoft disks due the holograms and printing that they are
only to be installed on a new Windows PC and all support is supplied by the
PC manufacturer. Both disks have the start-up floppies, Windows 95 doesn't
boot but Windows 98 does. I can't find the Windows 98SE disk that I know is
around here somewhere.
Click to expand...


Retail MS versions of 95, 98, and ME are not bootable. The first
reatil version of Windows that was bootable is XP.
 
Windows 95 retail and later are bootable from CD. Your computer had to
support it, as other posts suggested.

Windows ME had a quirk (copy protection). The original is bootable, but
any copies of it were not.

I remember waiting for midnight to roll around so we could be the first
to buy Windows 95.

-Luke
 
Wow. I was almost dying to have Windows 95, but couldn't afford a new
computer that would run it. I would drooled up the pages of Computer Shopper
[and in those days the pages were quite big] dreaming about a new computer
and reading about the "Wizards" of Windows 95. I had to wait until the
autumn before I could get my hot little hands on an AMD DX4-100 with 8MB
RAM - it was like I had discovered God's will.
 
| Luke Fitzwater wrote:
|
| >> I remember waiting for midnight to roll around so we could be the
| >> first to buy Windows 95.
|
|
| Wow. I was almost dying to have Windows 95, but couldn't afford a new
| computer that would run it. I would drooled up the pages of Computer
Shopper
| [and in those days the pages were quite big] dreaming about a new computer
| and reading about the "Wizards" of Windows 95. I had to wait until the
| autumn before I could get my hot little hands on an AMD DX4-100 with 8MB
| RAM - it was like I had discovered God's will.

You know...

You never here anyone talking about how great Windows 3.11 was over the
originals. Doesn't anyone remember Windows v1? When I got to v3, things
had changed so much it was a completely different OS. Then again, I
remember the "OS" of the old commodores. I always feel old when I say that.
My LFWPT is 20, and doesn't even remember these things. It seems so long
ago, but it actually isn't all that much time, considering.
 
I remember running Win1.0 on an 8088 - talk about slow :-)

Win 3.1 was the first that was decent and 3.11 was great.

Larry
 
It sure doesn't make sense that a retail ME would not be "bootable" because
I have two ME discs and I can boot them into setup everytime. I followed my
practice of insisting to the "300 OEM Named Partner" that if I pay them over
a dollar for their hardware they would send me a full version of the OS. My
lack of understanding of the trainwreck that would happen when the memory
leaking 16 bit 32 bit piece of crap that was Win ME got on a box is a whole
other issue.

Also earlier I posted the Win 98 MSKBs that revealed they are bootable using
the adjunct boot floppy that has been mentioned in this thread.

It seems strangely paradoxical and against the grain of my frustration with
the crap that OEM usually ships people that OEM "recovery disc" that an OEM
CD would be bootable but a retail wouldn't. Ususally the experience is the
other way around unless you have a rare OEM full OS--and that's what I have
with ME.

These ME discs go right into setup and also even though it gets posted all
the time, if you're not doing a "repair install" you don't have to set CD in
the bios setup.

Not that it matters that much, but Dell has painted on them Operating system
CD.

Here's what they look like for 98 and ME respectively. They are bootable:

98SE Bootable Dell OS CD
http://support.dell.com/support/kb/images/103450015.gif

Windows XP OS CD
http://auctions.audilis.com/xpblue.jpg

Bootable CD
http://dsnimg.dell.com/images/kb/103450015.gif

Non Bootable Recovery CD
http://dsnimg.dell.com/images/kb/103450017.gif

CH
 
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