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Windows 98 / ME: Installing Windows

Before installing Windows, you need to check that the BIOS has disabled the Virus Boot Sector (Virus), otherwise the installation might just hang.

It is not recommended to install Windows over an old installation (it does not matter, the same version or older one). In this case, the registry is stored - one of the main sources of errors, and can appear as errors that were the previous version due to incorrect entries in the registry, and new ones that appeared due to incomplete compatibility. It is best to install on a completely clean, newly formatted disk.

If you still can not format the disk, you can delete the SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT files (they contain the Windows registry) before installation.

If there is enough disk space, it is better to copy the Windows installation files to the hard disk first, and install from the hard disk. (This advice applies only to Windows 9X, especially Windows 95, which does not detect a CD-ROM when it first starts, as a result of which part of the device drivers may not be installed).

Install Windows best of all from the "clean" boot, i.e. Not loading into the excess programs. You can do this if you press F8 during boot and select Safe Mode Command Prompt only. Then only HIMEM.SYS is loaded.

Before installation, to accelerate it, you can run SmartDrive, preferably with a large cache size, and one that is in the directory with the installation of Windows. If SmartDrive reports that XMS memory is not found, run xmsmgr.com, and then SmartDrive.

Run the installation program preferably with the / is switch, (especially Windows 95 OSR2, which contains a bad ScanDisk). This key disables ScanDisk scan of the disk during the initial installation phase, which sometimes results in a hangup, but the disk will still be tested with a 32-bit version of ScanDisk, which makes it faster and more stable.

The directory for installation is most convenient to do C: \ WIN95 or C: \ WIN98, (depending on the version), or C: \ WIN, C: \ W - for brevity. You do not have to do too complicated a name or extension in the directory - this will cause a lot of inconvenience in subsequent work.

Type of installation - it is better to specify "selective" wherever possible. Set only the minimum, do not put what you will not use - so you will save space, in addition, in some cases this will increase the stability of the system.

In Windows 95, during installation, you can manually specify the type of equipment. But specify only the mouse, ports, and the SVGA PCI graphics card (or simply VGA). This will not waste time checking the system completely, and after the installation is completed you will be able to install the drivers that come with your hardware (they are generally better than those built into Windows).