Reinstalling Win9X without reformatting
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Windows in general, and Win9X in particular, tends to deteriorate over time - getting slower and developing problems. The definite solution for such problems is to reinstall from scratch. Many people achieve that by reformatting their HD, or at least their C: partition. This approach works, but at the cost of losing all the information on drive C.
Some suggest using deltree c:\windows and deltree c:\progra~1 instead. That usually works, but still loses some information: Outlook Express email, IE favorites, ICQ list, Netscape profiles... In order to avoid that (or the hassle of backup/restore), I've devised a method to reinstall without reformatting or losing anything!
1. While in Windows, copy the Windows installation files from the CD to your HD.
Win95: They are in \win95 (~35MB)
Win98: They are in \win98 (~100MB). You don't have to copy the subdirectories (OLS, channels...)
To international users: There are usually 2 versions: language-Enabled at \win9x\ena, and Localized at \win9x\loc. You can choose either.
I recommend creating a directory named "\install", preferably in a partition other than C:, and having under it the win9x directory. You could also keep other installation files there (DirectX, drivers...)
2. If your CD is an upgrade version, you'll need a copy of an older OS (Win3.x for Win95upgrage, Win3.x or Win95 for Win98upgrade). If you have it on CDROM, you should copy its installation set as well.
3. Reboot your machine, press F8, and choose "Safe mode command prompt only".
4. Remove any DOS drivers:
del autoexec.*
del config.*
5. Make sure the new installation won't see the old one. In order to do that, type:
cd windows
ren win.com win.co-
cd \
ren windows windows.old
ren progra~1 progra~1.old
6. Install!
D: (if it's on D:)
cd \install\win98 (Or whichever is appropriate)
setup
Now, you'll have a fresh Win9x installation. All the files from the old installation will be in c:\windows.old and c:\progra~1.old, from which you can recover whatever information you want. After you're done, you can remove these directories to save space.
Notes:
* I recommend leaving the Win9X installation on the HD. That way, if you ever need anything from it, you won't need to insert the Win9x CD. Remove it only if you're extremely short on free space.
* This procedure requires a lot of free space on C: - I recommend 500MB.
* If you have any DOS-based programs that rely on specific Autoexec, Config or "Boot to previous version of MSDOS" configurations, this procedure may render them inoperational.
* This procedure can work even if you can't start Windows at all. In most cases, you'll still be able to boot to "Safe mode command prompt only", and perform the above procedure. However, if you haven't copied the Windows installation beforehand, you'll need to have a DOS CDROM driver installed. For more information on this, read my article on the subject.
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