I have Windows NT installed, how do I install Windows 98?

A. A. As with the installation of Windows 95, the system partition (theactive partition, c:) must be FAT and not NTFS as Windows 98 cannot read orwrite to an NTFS partition. Windows 98 places COMMAND.COM on the activepartition (along with a blank autoexec.bat).

If you system partition is not FAT then you should back up your data,reformat the partition as FAT and restore the backup.

Windows 98 is normally NT boot menu friendly which means it will not replacethe boot loader code of the disk and instead automatically adds an option tothe boot menu (boot.ini) of the format

C:="Microsoft Windows 98"

This means upon booting the machine Windows 98 or NT can be chosen.

To be on the safe side before installing Windows 98 create a new EmergencyRepair Disk for NT using RDISK.EXE

Windows 98 cannot be installed from within Windows NT so if you have DOSalso installed, boot from DOS (its boot menu item will be replaced after theWindows 98 installation with the Windows 98 name) and run the setup.exe on theWindows 98 installation disk.

If you do not have DOS installed you should boot off of a DOS boot disk witha driver for your CD-ROM and again run SETUP.EXE.

Once installation has started you will be able to choose the installationdrive and directory (only FAT partitions will be allowed). If there are NTFSpartitions on the system a warning will be given that the contents will not beviewable under Windows 98.

Once installation has completed no user action is needed and you may bootoff of either installation.

If you find you DON'T have the NT boot menu and the machine boots straightinto 98 perform the following:

Ensure once you have completed the Windows 98 installation you do NOTupgrade the active partition to FAT32. Windows NT 4.0 cannot read FAT32 andconverting the active partition to FAT32 will render the NT boot menu unusableand unbootable.