Update!

The retro computer refused to boot from the disk. Sadly I dont know the condition of the CD rom drive so I opened it up and cleaned it a little and gave it some nice well earned lubrication. I sadly dont have a music CD disk to try the actual disk. Maybe it is ok, it might not be able to recognize 700 mb CD-R, I guess?

It might also be something wrong with the iso on archive.org for the Swedish version of windows 98 SE according to a comment on the site. The disk I burned is not recognized by Windows 10, its just ejected, so it seems a little fishy.

I am trying the English version. Luckily I am not on a 56bit line so its almost finshed downloading...

Joakim wrote on 2021-04-03, 18:27:

Will the buffer run out or is my iso of windows 98SE (swedish edition) just a dump of someones late 90s porn collection?

You are aware that there are multitudinous methods for opening an ISO without burning it first, right?

The most straightforward way would be to use Virtual CloneDrive or something similar, but even 7-Zip will do in a pinch.

Most Win98 discs are not bootable. But if Win10 doesn't recognize the format sounds like something is wrong with the iso or the way you burned it.

Shagittarius wrote on 2021-04-03, 20:31:

Most Win98 discs are not bootable. But if Win10 doesn't recognize the format sounds like something is wrong with the iso or the way you burned it.

My official 98 SE disks are bootable. I think you're confusing it with 95, which almost exclusively needed a boot floppy.

OK. Thanks for the replies, it really makes me feel less alone in my adventure.

It seems like the first Windows 98SE (Swedish) was corrupted. The English one seems to work (and it boots), but I am having trouble installing it on my SD card through the SD->CF card reader. The boot of windows 98 from CD comes to a stop saying that a lot of files are missing..

There are some things going on with this build that I really can't understand, for instance if a reboot the machine wihout a hard reset (after a hang up), there is no signal on the computer monitor. If I turn off the power for a while it boots fine..

I will attempt to install DOS 6.22 through a virtual machine and see how that works out.

I believe only 3rd party versions of Win98 are bootable.

For the record I attempted to use this image: https://archive.org/details/win98se_201801

What brand of CD-R disks? What color is the dye side - that light green, blue-green, or dark blue?
Juts curious - I have often thought of a cd-r collection
Spent a LOT of time om CD Freaks 😉

Hp invent. 700 mb. Picked up 100 for a few bucks. They seem to writ and read very well in all my readers. I use an external IBM cd dvd recorder CA 10 years old because I usually write them from my modern laptop.

To me they have a golden colour.

Joakim wrote on 2021-04-03, 21:13:

OK. Thanks for the replies, it really makes me feel less alone in my adventure. […]
Show full quote

OK. Thanks for the replies, it really makes me feel less alone in my adventure.

It seems like the first Windows 98SE (Swedish) was corrupted. The English one seems to work (and it boots), but I am having trouble installing it on my SD card through the SD->CF card reader. The boot of windows 98 from CD comes to a stop saying that a lot of files are missing..

There are some things going on with this build that I really can't understand, for instance if a reboot the machine wihout a hard reset (after a hang up), there is no signal on the computer monitor. If I turn off the power for a while it boots fine..

I will attempt to install DOS 6.22 through a virtual machine and see how that works out.

Never run Windows 98/NT setup off the CD-ROM..
At some point, it will loose access to the CD-ROM/miss the CD-ROM driver.

Instead, copy the files/directories to the HDD.
You can use XCOPY or a DOS shell/file manager for that.

Win98SE:
DRIVERS, WIN98
In WIN98 directory, run SETUP /NM

NT/XP:
WINNT or i386
In i386 directory, run NTSETUP?

In case the setup doesn't allow an existing MS-DOS installation (retail copy/full version of Windows) ,
you can run FORMAT /B to format the HDD without copying system files.

Good luck! 😀

Oh but this topic is old. I have installed Windows 98 several times since then. 😁

To be honest I totally failed to copy the windows cd to my laptops HDD. I used windows 98 boot disk to which I copied the xcopy files (I can't remember what modifiers I used for xcopy) but when I typed setup it just did not start, no error message or what ever. I guess it just did not copy some files..

Usually I just remove the hard drive and copy the files on a different computer but I don't have a converter to 2.5 ide.

What method do you use to copy from cd to HDD?

This should work, assuming one had just formatted the HDD (C:\) with bootable CD or boot floppy with CD-ROM support (D:\)

1C:\> mkdir MYCD
2C:\> xcopy /S /E D:\WIN98 C:\MYCD
3C:\> cd MYCD
4C:\MYCD> setup /nm /pj

Replace "/pj" with "/pi" for older system without ACPI BIOS support.

Jo22 wrote on 2021-07-11, 17:42:

Never run Windows 98/NT setup off the CD-ROM.. At some point, it will loose access to the CD-ROM/miss the CD-ROM driver. […]
Show full quote

Joakim wrote on 2021-04-03, 21:13:

OK. Thanks for the replies, it really makes me feel less alone in my adventure. […]
Show full quote

OK. Thanks for the replies, it really makes me feel less alone in my adventure.

It seems like the first Windows 98SE (Swedish) was corrupted. The English one seems to work (and it boots), but I am having trouble installing it on my SD card through the SD->CF card reader. The boot of windows 98 from CD comes to a stop saying that a lot of files are missing..

There are some things going on with this build that I really can't understand, for instance if a reboot the machine wihout a hard reset (after a hang up), there is no signal on the computer monitor. If I turn off the power for a while it boots fine..

I will attempt to install DOS 6.22 through a virtual machine and see how that works out.

Never run Windows 98/NT setup off the CD-ROM..
At some point, it will loose access to the CD-ROM/miss the CD-ROM driver.

Instead, copy the files/directories to the HDD.
You can use XCOPY or a DOS shell/file manager for that.

Win98SE:
DRIVERS, WIN98
In WIN98 directory, run SETUP /NM

NT/XP:
WINNT or i386
In i386 directory, run NTSETUP?

In case the setup doesn't allow an existing MS-DOS installation (retail copy/full version of Windows) ,
you can run FORMAT /B to format the HDD without copying system files.

Good luck! 😀

That's certainly good advice. I haven't had too many fails from Win9x or NT pressed CDs at all though, maybe a couple. Absolutely non installing Win 2k up iirc. I found early OS/2 v3 to be more prone to that behavior because of lack of current IDE drivers on the original installation disks..The White Box OEM Win9.x packs needed the computer assembeters to supply the cd driver s as the installation disks that come with the OEM CDRoms never had CDRom drivers on them. N4 up on the other hen had installation disks had CDRom drivers include as well as the CDroms being able to boot dIrectly on system start up if the bios was set to do that. The first MS Windows to do that iirc.

You could also get White Box OEM Win9.x 3.25" disk packs at least up to OSR 2.0. I acquired a pack some how and its disks seemed far more reliable at installing the OS than any OS/ 2 3.5" disk sets I've tried. Sold them to a chap that had a '90x Toshiba laptop with a CDRom. He seemed quite grateful.

Thanks for the batch file saves me looking it up in the manual for DOS 6 I just saved from the trash of my parents.... (Sadly I can't find the original disks or box.)