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Walkthrough a Clean Install of Windows 9x using 98lite

by LitePC

1) Make or obtain a win98 boot disk.

2) put the 98lite distribution file (98pro46.exe) onto a floppy and put it aside.

3) Insert the boot disk and boot your system choosing to load your CDROM drivers.

4) To format the hard drive at the A:> dos prompt type "format c:" and press 

5) After the format completes, insert the floppy with the 98lite archive on it and at the A:> dos prompt type "98pro46" this will start the installer up.

6) select "install" and type in your key code to allow the installer to decompress

7) use the default path for the files if you want, namely "c:\98setup"

..at this point the installer should decompress and dump a few files onto the clean hard disk in the c:\98setup folder.

8) at the A:> dos prompt type "C:" and press to change to the C:> dos prompt.

9) at the C:> dos prompt type "cd 98setup"  to change to the 98setup folder. The dos prompt should now be C:\98setup>

10) at the C:\98setup> dos prompt type "dir" and you should see all the 98lite files in the folder. Namely you should see something like this:

C:98SETUP>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 8882-41E3
Directory of C:98SETUP
13/06/2002 09:46 AM .

13/06/2002 09:46 AM ..
02/06/2002 05:59 PM 26,630 98FEATUR.TXT
02/06/2002 05:59 PM 3,872 98LICENS.TXT
04/06/2002 09:22 PM 106,827 98LITE.DAT
01/10/2001 10:12 PM 47,164 98LITE.EXE
28/01/2000 07:29 AM 4,710 98LITE.ICO
01/06/2002 04:55 PM 348,494 98LITE.LIB
06/10/2001 04:13 PM 967 98LITE.PIF
17/09/1999 01:49 AM 77 98LITE.URL
02/06/2002 05:59 PM 27,644 98MANUAL.TXT
02/06/2002 06:00 PM 1,851 98README.TXT
02/06/2002 05:58 PM 4,177 98SUPPRT.TXT
02/06/2002 05:58 PM 3,538 BRANDING.TXT
08/05/2000 04:09 PM 5,463 OPTIONAL.INI
19/10/2000 06:28 AM 99 README.URL
04/06/2002 08:13 PM 0 SYSTEM.DAT
15 File(s) 581,513 bytes
2 Dir(s) 14,911,102,976 bytes free

11) at the C:\98SETUP dos prompt type "98lite"  to start 98lite - it should fire up and show you a couple of screens of disclaimers etc and then stop with a menu of options with the first option being "1. Clean Install"

12) press the "1" key to choose the clean install

13) 98lite will then ask you to insert your win98 CDROM and it will copy all of the windows setup files from the CDROM to the c:98setup folder

14) 98lite will then ask if you want to copy the win95 explorer files to the hard disk in case you want to use the MICRO or SLEEK desktop option. This is an optional step - but if you insert your 95 CDROM or tell the installer where the files are (e.g. you may have them on a floppy or another hard disk) the files will also be copied to the C:\98setup folder

... at this point you should now have a C:\98setup folder that contains:

  1. the 98lite program files
  2. the win98 installation files, and optionally,
  3. the win95 explorer files

... 98lite is now ready to install windows for you and it will start the process itself - you can also stop here if you want and come back later. If you run "98lite" from the C:98setup> dos prompt it scans to see if the CAB files and the win95 files are in position ready for it to work with - if they are it goes to the next step, if not it will ask for the CD again and try to copy all the CAB files into the C:\98setup folder.

98lite will now proceed to modify the installation files and start the windows install. If you get an "out of memory" error you can stop. Reboot from the boot floppy again, and this time dont choose the CDROM drivers - choose the menu option to boot WITHOUT the cdrom as we dont need the cdrom now (all the files are on the hard disk already) and we can save a chunk of memory this way and use it for the file extraction process (which is very memory intensive thanks to the Microsoft "extract" program).

From this point everything should continue just fine and you'll install your 98lite version of windows - ending at the desktop. The C:\98SETUP folder will remain on the hard disk unless you remove it - if ever windows needs a driver or a windows file it knows to look at this folder so its often best to leave it there if space is not needed (you can always delete it later if you need the space).

Happy Installing!



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