It is the crap unofficial service pack.

If it were me, I would do a clean install and then:
1. Install chipset and video drivers
2. install the Microsoft official updates from the 2004 update CD - available on vogonsdrivers.com
3. Install NUSB 3.6.
3. install the rest of the drivers.

Ok thanks I will perform a clean install.

There was a thread about this the other day. It is apparently due to the NUSB drivers using Windows ME files (and not something else in the unofficial service pack).
Win98SE reads as Windows ME!!! WHY???

Jorpho wrote on 2021-04-21, 18:34:

There was a thread about this the other day. It is apparently due to the NUSB drivers using Windows ME files (and not something else in the unofficial service pack).
Win98SE reads as Windows ME!!! WHY???

I'm going to have to double check this because I always install via my steps above and haven't had issues installing other drivers afterwards.

Edit: looked at the other thread... I would still install without the unofficial service pack. There isn't anything in the unofficial service pack that will do anything at all to help with gaming and is very prone to cause issues.

I think I installed nusb first or second cause I had no better way of moving files.. Chipset drivers i installed just the other day so it might be some conflict.

Yeah, I usually have the chipset drivers on a CD with some other stuff though I kinda doubt that installing NUSB first would cause a conflict.

Damn after installing nusb it went back to being windows me. Only thing I cheated on was installing Daemon tools to install the windows security update. Windows Me... Yuck!

Will it let you install that driver that it wouldn't before?

Nope.

What network card is it?

Are you running the install from an executable? If so, you may be able to extract it with 7-Zip and just install the driver manually.

If that doesn't work, you can probably find a driver that you can install manually with the .inf file.

Correction, it was only the installer that didn't work. The drivers did install manually I didn't test this before as I was flabbergasted from the whole Me situation.

Use nusb 3.3 instead of 3.6.

No WinME with that version.

Or use original but updated sysdm.cpl (4.10.2224), user.exe and user32.dll (4.10.2231) for Win98 SE from here: Re: Win9x Quick Slipstreaming Utility

I installed nusb 3.3 instead. Me is finally gone!

Also there seems to be some issue with the realtech NIC installation, because even now without the windows Me flag, the installation halts. So I kinda wasted 4 hours on making the system show the correct OS. Time we'll spent! 😁

This kind fellow patched a file so 3.6 works...

Re: Win98SE reads as Windows ME!!! WHY???