Microcomputer Services

Reinstalling Microsoft Windows

Warning

This procedure is complicated. Set aside at least two hours to complete these steps.

Because we cannot anticipate all the possible variations in the procedure, we cannot guarantee success. Furthermore, following this procedure will erase all of your data. Microservices is not responsible for lost data or time.

If you do not feel comfortable with this process, do not proceed. Contact our Help Desk or your computer's manufacturer for help.

Introduction
In some cases, especially on older equipment, you may find the complexity of troubleshooting problems that have arisen over time more work than simply starting over with a clean slate. This document describes the procedure of reinstalling Windows from scratch (deleting all data) and assumes you already have important documents backed up. This document is for adventurous users with at least some Windows computing experience. Look over the steps described here, if you don't understand them, then you should not proceed. In some cases, you might be better off hiring professionals to help you accomplish this task rather than go it alone.

Requirements

Steps

  1. Put the boot floppy into drive A: and turn on the computer.
  2. Choose "Boot without CD-ROM support"
  3. Type "fdisk" and press enter. - WARNING: The following steps delete *all* of your data!
  4. Type "Y" if asked to support large volumes.
  5. Select Option "3" to Delete Partitions.
  6. Select "Delete Primary Partition" and press enter.
  7. When prompted to enter the volume label, type it in. In many cases it is blank so you just press enter.
  8. Type "Y" to confirm that you wish to delete the partition.
  9. At the main fdisk menu, select option 4 to display partition information to verify you got them all. If more partitions exist, delete them with option 3 as in step 5 above. You should see "No Partitions Defined" once complete.
  10. Select option 1 to create a partition.
  11. Select Primary DOS
  12. Select Maximum size = [Y] for Yes.
  13. Hit escape to exit.
  14. Reboot by holding down control+alternate+delete, then release the keys.
  15. Choose "Boot with CD-ROM support" this time.
  16. type "FORMAT C:" and press enter. Select 'Y' when asked if you are sure. Note this can take awhile if the disk is large.
  17. Type "C:" to switch to drive C:
  18. At the "C:\>" prompt type "MD WIN98" (or WIN98, or WINME)
  19. Type "COPY D:\WIN98\*.* C:\WIN98" (Note that the CD-ROM may be E: instead) if you get an error, substitute E: for the D:
  20. Reboot the computer (control+alternate+delete).
  21. Select "Without CD-ROM support"
  22. Type "C:" and press enter.
  23. Type "cd win98" and press enter.
  24. Type "setup" and press enter. (This begins the Windows Install).

Expert Notes:

If you have a laptop with a single replacible bay (so you either have floppy or CD but not at the same time) then you need to do a little "fancy footwork". You would need to format the C: with the /s option ("format c: /s" in step 16. You then need to boot the floppy "with cd-rom support" and "copy OAK*.* C:\" which gets you the oakcdrom.sys CDROM driver, and sunsequently "copy D:\MSCDEX* C:\" which gets you the Microsoft CD-ROM extensions. Create a Config.sys file with "DEVICE=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:M" and an AUTOEXEC.BAT file with "MSCDEX /D:M" and then reboot to get the CD-ROM mounted from the newly formatted hard disk. During the install of Windows 98, create a 98 boot floppy. Boot the 98 boot floppy and type "SYS C:" to transfer the 98 system files over the 98 system files you used during installation.