how to win 98 to XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter p.mc
  • Start date Start date
P

p.mc

Hi

A mates PC with Win98 OS, has a boot virus on it.

I want to do a fresh install with WinXP SP2. How do I format his HDD under
Win98? I tried holding down CTRL Key whilst booting it up to access a prompt
but had no joy.
I'm about to try and DL something to make a WIN98 boot disk now, I'm sure
I'll need it??
Anyway if anyone could give us a step guide I'd be very greatfull.
 
p.mc said:
Hi

A mates PC with Win98 OS, has a boot virus on it.

I want to do a fresh install with WinXP SP2. How do I format his HDD under
Win98? I tried holding down CTRL Key whilst booting it up to access a
prompt
but had no joy.
I'm about to try and DL something to make a WIN98 boot disk now, I'm sure
I'll need it??
Anyway if anyone could give us a step guide I'd be very greatfull.
Click to expand...

Fairly easy. Go to http://www.bootdisk.com/ and d/l the relevant disk -
write it to floppy - boot off it and you're there.
 
windows xp boots direct from the cd, set your bios to boot from cd and follow
the setup instructions
 
Cheers mate I've just D/Loaded that from there funilly enough. I'm hoping
that when I've made the floppy boot disc, there won't be any probs
especially since the 98 OS has a boot sector virus.
 
In
p.mc said:
Hi

A mates PC with Win98 OS, has a boot virus on it.

I want to do a fresh install with WinXP SP2. How do I format his HDD
under Win98? I tried holding down CTRL Key whilst booting it up to
access a prompt but had no joy.
I'm about to try and DL something to make a WIN98 boot disk now, I'm
sure I'll need it??
Anyway if anyone could give us a step guide I'd be very greatfull.
Click to expand...

Does your mate understand there will be a substantial cost associated with
the proposed fresh install of XP? Do they realize that they will need to
upgrade applications and hardware that is not compatible with XP to a new
Windows versions? ( larger hard drives 20 + gig, memory 256 meg as a
realistic minimum) CD burning and virus software most likely will need
upgrading.
System will be noticeably slower, even if you turn off the XP eye candy and
enable classic mode.
I have never experienced a 98/Me spec system upgraded to XP being a better
value than purchasing an entry level XP system for close to the same cost.
You will have features on the new entry level system that would require add
on cards or updated software that would most likely cost much more than the
new system. The results of the upgraded system would be a computer that
costs more or close to the same as a much better featured entry level
system. Your upgraded 98/Me to XP system would most likely be an obsolete
system barely able to run XP and take advantage of any futures the entry
level system would deliver for the same price.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
In
p.mc said:
Cheers mate I've just D/Loaded that from there funilly enough. I'm
hoping that when I've made the floppy boot disc, there won't be any
probs especially since the 98 OS has a boot sector virus.
Click to expand...

I really hope you read my reply, because upgrading a system that was
originally supplied with 98 is a very bad investment for an upgrade.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
I really hope you read my reply, because upgrading a system that was
originally supplied with 98 is a very bad investment for an upgrade.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
Click to expand...

Hi Micheal

I'm not sure exactly what you mean, by upgrade do you mean applying WinXP
over 98/

but here's some info and my intention;

It's a system he bought from a workmate years back, it already had Win98
installed and he hasn't any drivers or even a Win98 system disk. He doesn't
have any peripherals like scanner,printer...etc.etc And he mainly uses it
for word processing. But he did buy a WinXP Pro disc some time ago because
of the problems he was having (we all make mistakes),of course I could
probably try and remove the boot sector virus, but he asked me to install
the XP Pro disc instead, so what I want to do is completely remove "Win 98
O/S" from the HDD and hopefully that will remove the boot sector virus
aswell??? Then do a fresh install with his XP pro disc.

If you could enlighten me further, of the pitfalls and wether or not this is
a no! no!, I'd be much obliged.
I'll await your response.

--


Regards
p.mc
 
p.mc said:
Hi Micheal

I'm not sure exactly what you mean, by upgrade do you mean applying
WinXP over 98/

but here's some info and my intention;

It's a system he bought from a workmate years back, it already had
Win98 installed and he hasn't any drivers or even a Win98 system
disk. He doesn't have any peripherals like scanner,printer...etc.etc
And he mainly uses it for word processing. But he did buy a WinXP Pro
disc some time ago because of the problems he was having (we all make
mistakes),of course I could probably try and remove the boot sector
virus, but he asked me to install the XP Pro disc instead, so what I
want to do is completely remove "Win 98 O/S" from the HDD and
hopefully that will remove the boot sector virus aswell??? Then do a
fresh install with his XP pro disc.

If you could enlighten me further, of the pitfalls and wether or not
this is a no! no!, I'd be much obliged.
I'll await your response.
Click to expand...

See my other reply to you original post. I pretty much detail my take on
upgrading 98 to XP.
but since you missed it before as referenced in your reply, I wll paste the
reply below.
<pasted reply>
Does your mate understand there will be a substantial cost beyond the
purchase of the XP install media associated with
the proposed fresh install of XP? Do they realize that they will need to
upgrade applications and hardware that is not compatible with XP to a new
Windows versions? ( larger hard drives 20 + gig, memory 256 meg as a
realistic minimum) CD burning and virus software most likely will need
upgrading.
System will be noticeably slower, even if you turn off the XP eye candy and
enable classic mode.
I have never experienced a 98/Me spec system upgraded to XP being a better
value than purchasing an entry level XP system for close to the same cost.
You will have features on the new entry level system that would require add
on cards or updated software that would most likely cost much more than the
new system. The results of the upgraded system would be a computer that
costs more or close to the same as a much better featured entry level
system. Your upgraded 98/Me to XP system would most likely be an obsolete
system barely able to run XP and take advantage of any futures the entry
level system would deliver for the same price.
<end>
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm



--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
If you could enlighten me further, of the pitfalls and wether or not this is
a no! no!, I'd be much obliged.
I'll await your response.
Click to expand...

I've just noticed as well that his HDD is only 5.98GB in size, would that be
a problem (how much space does XP Pro use anyway?) He told me it was 80GB
(wishfull thinking)

Regards p.mc
 
p.mc said:
I've just noticed as well that his HDD is only 5.98GB in size, would
that be a problem (how much space does XP Pro use anyway?) He told me
it was 80GB (wishfull thinking)
Click to expand...

You should not put XP on that machine. A clean install of XPSP2 with
nothing else installed will take about 2.5GB. You then need to leave at
least a couple of GBs for the pagefile. There will be no room
whatsoever for applications.

To repeat what Michael Stevens said (and you should read his
well-thought-out post completely): do not attempt to upgrade this very
old machine to XP. Either have your client get a Win98SE disk from eBay
and do a clean install, or - better - tell him it's time to move on.
Buy a basic computer for $400-600 running XPSP2.

Malke
 
p.mc said:
Hi

A mates PC with Win98 OS, has a boot virus on it.

I want to do a fresh install with WinXP SP2. How do I format his HDD under
Win98?
Click to expand...


If you're planning to perform a clean installation of WinXP, why would
you want to waste time doing this first?

I tried holding down CTRL Key whilst booting it up to access a prompt
but had no joy.
Click to expand...


What did you expect to happen? Such an action certainly shouldn't
format the hard drive.

I'm about to try and DL something to make a WIN98 boot disk now, I'm sure
I'll need it??
Click to expand...


No, not at all.

Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
 
BTW there is no harm in trying to upgrade this system as nothing seriously
damaging will happen to it. It might take you a lot of time and effort which
may not be worth the effort but in the long run you'll learn a few things
about installing XP on older systems. And yes you can install XP on a 5GB
hard drive.
 
Windows XP on a 5 GB hard drive?

I certainly would not do that.

By the time you get XP and all the updates installed you are going to be
severely restricted as to which applications you can install and how much
storage space and room for expansion -- given the nature of bloatware --
will remain.

In fact a 5 GB hard drive is as obsolete as a Model T Ford.

DSH
 
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