# how to flatten your harddrive and install a new operating system



## woobear (Oct 10, 2001)

I am trying to up date my operating system to win98 second edition and my win95 operating system wont let me. I originally had a spanish 95 operating system on it and it let me change most of the componets to a win95 english. But I figure it would be easyer in the long run just to start from the beginning. 
Could you send me a link with step by step instrucions.


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## Jeckler (Jun 1, 2001)

Is your Win 98SE CD an upgrade or full version?
There are subtle differences each way, but it can be done from scratch even if it's an upgrade CD. You'll need your Win95 CD, or Win 3.1 on floppies (most, if not all of them).
Let us know and we'll continue....


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## Guest (Feb 14, 2002)

from what i recall, if you are using win 3.1 floppys you only need the setup disk.


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## DudleyDoRite (Dec 13, 2000)

This probably isnt' the right way to do it, but I go into DOS, rename c:\windows to c:\windows1 then rename the file c:\windows1\win.com to anything else Then you can do a fresh install into a brand new directory called c\windows
It will be fresh brand new with nothing left from the old OS. If I had to, I can go back and get the "old" windows working again this way too.


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## woobear (Oct 10, 2001)

the cd that I have is the Microsoft Window 98 second edition updated and improved for PCs without windows..

i am getting a 98 boot disk and a 95 cd. now what

I need step by step instructions.

thank you


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## hottesttotty (Dec 12, 2001)

Hey woobear! I'm not the one who can give you complete instructions, but don't worry, there are PLENTY here who will step in!! 

I just wanted to mention to you, that BEFORE you do any of this, you should MAKE SURE you don't have anything that you really want to keep on your system and make copies of all your personal documents, etc... There will undoubtedly be things you discover afterwards that you WISH you hadn't lost, if you don't plan long and hard before dumping it all!

Also, VERY IMPORTANT!! Make sure you have all your hardware drivers handy. It never fails after a clean install there will be some things not recognized by your pc. I would go to control panel/system/device manager and make note of everything in there. Most often sound cards, video cards and display adapters like to mess up with a new install. I learned all this THE HARD WAY the first time I re-installed Windows on my old pc. It took me two days of hair pulling to get all the sounds and display back to normal!

Hope I can save you some of those headaches!! 

Good luck!!

TT


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