Installing Windows 9x/Me

I do not have a copy of Windows 9x/Me and I don't know anyone that has a copy of this ancient operating system, so obviously I won't be able to install a copy of it on my computer. Instead, I'm going to go through the installation steps in the book and detail how one would go about installing Windows 9x/Me and the choices that must be made along the way.

First, you must verify that the minimum and recommended hardware requirements are met. The software packages and programs also need to be checked for compatibility, which can be done via documentation or through the manufacturer's website.

You need to decide if you are installing Windows 9x/Me as a clean install or as an upgrade. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, but for this example I am going to describe an upgrade. An upgrade is much faster than a clean install and you won't have to reinstall all the hardware and software as you would have to with a clean install.

The two file systems you have to choose from are FAT16 and FAT32. FAT32 is the recommended file system to use, unless your PC will also be running Windows NT. FAT16 has the possibility of wasting too much space through "slack", which is when the file system doesn't use all of the available space at the end of clusters.

In the case of an upgrade, make sure that your computer is ready for the upgrade by checking your hard drive space, deleting unnecessary files, running scandisk, and running an antivirus program. It's also a good idea to create a rescue disk to have on hand in the event that the installation fails. Also be sure that your drive is not compressed, as Windows 9x/Me will not install on a compressed drive.

During the installation you will have four different setup options: typical, portable, compact, or custom. "Typical" is the usual choice, obviously from the name it's given, but "Portable" is good option if you are installing on a notebook. "Compact" is a good option if you don't want every component installed with Windows. You can always add wanted components at a later date through the Add/Remove Programs applet.

During setup, there are several possible errors that could occur. If an error message about BIOS appears during installation, this is most likely caused by BIOS not allowing changes to the boot sector to protect it from viruses and can be disabled in the CMOS setup. If Windows 9x/Me stalls during the first restart after installation, the probable cause of this is that legacy hardware is not configured correctly. This can be remedied by remarking out all the entries in Config.sys Autoexec.bat or by disabling the ISA enumerator by commenting out the "device=ISAPNP.386 line in System.ini. If during the first restart an error message pops up about a bad or missing file, try renaming the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files so that they aren't executed. You might also get an error message about a missing or damaged VxD file. Try running Windows setup again and select the option to verify or simply replace the file, which is a virtual device driver.