Windows 95/98

Installation of Windows 9X

Introduction to Windows 9x Installation

The Windows 95/98  installations are designed to be easy and informative. There are a number of considerations to be made prior to the installation . Some of the installation considerations include being aware of the operating system  hardware requirement, finding out if your system meets the hardware compatibility list  (HCL ) of Microsoft, and deciding on what needs to be backed up before the installation begins.

Windows 95 and 98 both have common steps in their installation  process such as running scandisk at the beginning of the installation, choosing the installation type, inputting user and system setting etc.

The installation  experience has been made easier for the user in windows 98 by the process asking all the required installation questions at the beginning of the installation, and the system presenting more accurate information  about the installation.

 

Key Topics

 

Installation of Windows 9X Installation Consideration Hardware  Requirements Dual Boot Systems Installation Type Pre-installation  Checks

Setup Switches Windows 98 Installation Information  Bar Cab Files Antivirus Check Uninstall Options

Installation Consideration

• Whether you are upgrading or installing you must decide on certain installation  issues prior to the installation of windows 9x .

• Being aware of the Hardware  requirements of windows 95/98 operating system  must be compared with your system hardware.

• Checking the Hardware  Compatibility List of Microsoft

• If you want your system to be dual boot  with another operating system

• Choose the installation  type

• Selecting important unrecoverable information  that you want to backup prior to installation .

Hardware  Requirement for Windows 95

• You can view the minimum and the recommended hardware requirements for installing windows 95/98.

 

 

 

Hardware  Requirement for Windows 98

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dual Boot System

• If upgrading you must decide on retaining your current windows 95 or 3.1 setting or opt for a new installation . If upgrading you should also decide on a dual boot  environment or just windows 9x .

• Remember primary partition  must be 2GB or less in DOS  but windows 98 supports FAT32  that can increase the primary partition size to terabytes.

Hardware  Compatibility

• Find  out if your hardware meets the Microsoft Hardware  Compatibility List (HCL ) requirements. You might try Microsoft.com for help.

• For Windows 98 installation  make sure all TSR have been disabled, except essential component TSR’s  such as hard drive /CD -ROM  and network  controllers.

• If the TSR’s  have not been disabled the installation  could fail because anti-virus  TSR’s could be blocking the system boot sector from being changed and upgraded to Windows 98.

Installation Type

• The installation  type must be decided on for Windows 9x from a choice which include Typical , Compact , Custom  and portable  installation.

• Typical : Minimal user interaction, default option, requires about 50MB of disk space for Windows 95 and 200MB for Windows 98.

• Compact : Minimal files  are installed for windows to operate, least disk space used that is about 30MB for Windows 95 and 165MB for Windows98.

• Custom : Advanced user can make selections of all installed components and customize the installation . Undefined disk space used depends upon user selection.

• Portable: designed for Laptop/Notebook  systems with special components installed including briefcase. About 40MB of disk space is used for installation  in Windows 95 and 180MB is used for installing Windows 98.

Pre-installation  Scandisk  checks

• Make sure scandisk is run prior to installing windows 98 to prepare for the installation  and ensure no data is stored on bad sectors  or on a fragmented drive.

Pre-installation  Backups

• It is always prudent to make your own personal backup of all the important data prior to the installation .

• The data that should be backed up are usually

• All personal files

• All initialization INI  files  from windows directory  

• All registry  DAT files  from windows directory

• All password  PWL files  in windows directory  for network  connections

• Any important driver  for legacy  or proprietary devices

• Autoexec.bat  and Config.sys  files

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Setup Switches

 

Windows 95 Installation Steps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are 11 stages in the installation  of Windows 95 that can be divided in to two major portions, real mode  and protected mode . The real modes portion the DOS  mode of the installation and the protected mode is the GUI mode  of the interface .

Windows 98 Installation

• Windows 98 has improved its installation  performance  by making the process more automated, informative and has reduces the interaction of the user throughout the installation.

• Windows 98 has reduced the number of steps for installation  from 11 steps to 5 steps.

• The information  required from the user is gathered at the beginning of the installation  and the rest of the installation is fully automated.

Windows 98 Installation Improvements

Windows 98 has made a number of installation  improvements that are:

• Installation steps have been reduced to 5 steps

• An anti-virus  program checker has been added before installation  begins.

• The CAB  source files  have been better organized .

• The hardware detection  process caters for more modern hardware and a wider range of hardware.

• An accurate information  bar has been added for user

Windows Installation

Information  Bar

• This information  bar on the left side of the screen provides the user with information on the installation  step at hand and a fairly accurate estimation of the time required to finish the installation of windows

Windows CAB  files

• Windows uses compressed  files  that are referred to as CAB  or cabinet files for installation . The cabinet files in windows 98 are organized according to function in different folders  making the installation process faster.

Expanded Hardware  Capability in Windows98

• Windows 98 has enhanced its hardware features by expanding it capability of recognizing and using more modern hardware such as USB  devices  and having a more comprehensive range of device drivers  for the standardized devices such as processors, hard drive  modems  etc.

• To reduce errors  in the middle of the installation , the inventory  of the hardware component of installation has been shifted to the beginning of the installation.

Checking for Anti-Virus Programs

• An anti-virus  program contains TSR’s  (Terminate and Stay Resident) components designed to protect the boot sector against any changes. This feature of anti-virus programs  could cause your installation  to fail in mid process since installation would inevitably result in boot sector changes.

• The Anti-Virus checker  checks for active anti virus  programs  at the beginning of the installation  and informs you that the TSR needs to be disabled before the installation can proceed.

Windows 98 Uninstall option

• During the windows 98 installation  you will be prompted to save the previous system files . This option should be selected in order to be able to recover  the old windows 95 operating system  should any problems occur during installation or otherwise.

• The undo files  are WINUNDO.DAT  and WINUNDO.INI  that are saved in the root directory .

• In order to recover  your previous Windows 95 operating system  you must ensure that your hard drive  has not been compressed  or converted  to FAT 32 after the completion of the Windows 98 installation .

 

Installation Steps Comparison

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercise (Windows 98 Installation)

You must use the FDISK.EXE  utility to partition your hard drive . If you computer supports booting from the CDROM  drive the installation  can begin immediately after your system prompts you for the installation to begin. You could alternatively type the command setup in from the DOS  prompt. The system will run the scandisk program and begin the installation  process. The system now switches to a protected mode , which shows the windows installation  wizard. You must click on continue to move to the next stage. You must now choose the directory  for the installation  of windows, which is C:\Windows The installation  process will now check for previous installed components. You must now choose the setup options that can be Typical , Portable, Compact , and Custom . You should follow the default typical installation  process and click on the next button. Now windows will detect all hardware including a network  card that needs to be configured. The configuration involves you adding setting up the card resources , the computer name , and the workgroup  the computer belongs to. Select your country and click on next When windows prompt you to create a startup  disk, click on next to start the process and then click on cancel. This will save time in the installation  process and you will be generation  a startup disk later from the add/remove programs  icon. Once you click on next, the copying of the windows files  will begin and the system will eventually reboot prompting you to click on Restart now You will now be prompted to type your name and the company name after the reboot and then click on the next button. The licensing should now be agreed on and then click on next Now you must enter the product key and click on next. After clicking on Finish, your system will initialize the hardware database and configure all plug and play devices . And eventually restart itself. The installation  is completed with you entering the current date and time into the system and then clicking on OK You will now need to login in to windows if a network  card was detected on windows and receive the welcome screen of windows.

Questions

1. What is the minimum RAM  requirement for Windows 95

1. 24KB

2. 64KB

3. 4MB

4. 40MB

5. 150MB

2. What is the minimum RAM  requirement for Windows 98

1. 24KB

2. 64KB

3. 4MB

4. 40MB

5. 150MB

3. What is the minimum hard drive  space requirement for Windows 95

1. 24KB

2. 64KB

3. 4MB

4. 40MB

5. 150MB

4. What is the minimum hard drive  space requirement for Windows 98

1. 24KB

2. 64KB

3. 4MB

4. 40MB

5. 150MB

5. What are the installation  improvements of Windows 98? (Choose all that apply)

1. Accurate information  bar

2. Organized CAB  files

3. Anti virus  check program

4. Less space used on hard drive

5. Faster installation

6. Reduced number of steps

6. What is the name of the windows 98 uninstall files? (Choose all that apply)

1. WINUNDO.DAT

2. WINUNDO.BAT

3. WINUNDO.INI

4. WINUNDO.COM

Answers

1.      C

2.      A

3.      D

4.      E

5.      A,B,C,F

6.      A,C