Basic Windows Reinstall Procedures
The Ultimate Boot Disk
Bud Allen's Windows Troubleshooting site, great documentation on most subjects
I DON'T WANT TO FORMAT! - the best way to install Windows on top of itself
FDISK - what is it? do I have to do this?
FORMAT - what is it? do I have to do this too?
DOS CD-ROM support, what's up with that?
Ye Old Norton Disk Doctor & Unerase
Ghost
index
The Ultimate Boot Disk
download boot disk files here
A boot disk is a very simple, and essential item for any tech who gets called upon to troubleshoot a W9x computer. You can use it to boot the machine into DOS if the hard drive has failed. You can use it to boot into DOS and format the hard drive (the primary purpose of this boot disk, although if you get a bad hard drive it comes in handy too).
What's so special about this bootdisk?
If you've ever formatted your hard drive, and forgot to have a copy of MSCDEX.EXE laying around on a floppy, then you could be in trouble. The MSCDEX.EXE file is a Microsoft file, used to access a CD-ROM drive in a DOS session. The only problem is, since MS makes the file, they don't usually allow the CD-ROM manufacturer's to distribute it on their driver disks...so, if you format and don't have a copy of it before hand, you may find yourself with a freshly wiped disk and no CD-ROM to reinstall Windows. In which case you go down to the local Best Buy and copy the file off one of their Windows machines while they're not looking (I had to do that once, never again).
So, this boot disk is pretty cool. It's got all the basic files you need to check the disk, FDISK it, format it, install necessary DOS CD-ROM support, etc. And it's really easy too. There's even a batch file to install DOS CD-ROM support. It's called GO.BAT. What could be easier than that? (And if you're thinking 'why don't you just extract the MSCDEX.EXE file from the Windows CABs?' Well, that's really helpful but what if you don't have local CD-ROM support? Such is the purpose of this boot disk.)
Included with the boot disk is a 'readme' file. If you're new to W9x computing, then you should know it's usually a good idea to always read the readme file, hence the name in the first place. The readme file here includes important instructions, particularly note the section about the new extract command. Very handy and easy to use, you don't even have to know which particular CAB file to look for, just the directory of all CAB files and this utility will search for the file you need, scanning each CAB. (By the way, if you're wondering what a CAB file is, well, it's very similar to a ZIP [or compressed] file.)
SO HOW DO I MAKE THE BOOT DISK?
Okay, so let's assume you're formatting your W9x hard drive for the first time.
First, you need a bootable floppy. A bootable floppy is one that has all the necessary files to boot the computer into a DOS state. These files are:
IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS
COMMAND.COM
DRVSPACE.BIN (usually in most cases this file is created as well)
There are two easy ways to make a bootable floppy:
In the Windows Explorer, highlight the floppy drive (with the disk in the target drive of course).
Right click on the floppy drive.
Choose "Format."
Format type is "full."
"Copy system files" option is checked.
This operation will create a bootable floppy for your system.
If you have to do this in DOS for some reason...
At the DOS prompt, type:
format a: /s
This will create a bootable floppy as well.
Now you can download the boot disk files I have here on my site, and copy them to your bootable floppy.
Get the boot disk files HERE...
When you copy the boot disk files to your new bootable disk, you will be asked to overwrite the "COMMAND.COM" file. I recommend overwriting it. Because of the different versions of Windows available, a previous "COMMAND.COM" file may not work correctly with these boot disk files on my site.
NOW WHAT DO I DO WITH THE BOOT DISK?
Put the disk into your floppy drive, turn the computer on. It will boot into a DOS mode state. You can then use the disk to FDISK, then FORMAT, then install DOS CD-ROM support so that you may reinstall Windows.
FDISK? what is it?
FORMAT? what is it?
CD-ROM SUPPORT? how do I install this?
I DON'T WANT TO FORMAT!
Okay, then reinstall Windows on top of itself. Sometimes it helps (but not always).
The Windows 9x platform uses a binary file called "the registry" to store all local settings. In many cases the registry can become corrupted (meaning certain vital settings have been somehow changed or damaged on the disk). Usually after you've been troubleshooting for a bit, you'll determine that FORMATTING the hard drive is the best next step. But, there are many people who are very uneasy about formatting. So what do you do? Last resort option before you format is reinstall Windows on top of itself. There are many ways to do this, so far here is the best way that I've found (using this method in most cases will help to repair or rewrite damaged or corrupted sections of the registry, and also keep intact most local software registry entries, so you won't have to reinstall all your programs).
The method is pretty simple:
Boot into DOS mode. At the command line change the extension of the WIN.COM file to WIN.OLD by typing:
(get into your Windows directory first) cd c:\windows
ren win.com win.old
Now insert your Windows 9x CD-ROM disk and reinstall Windows.
Early in the installation process Windows will ask you to re-install in a seperate directory (other than the c:\windows directory). It is very important that you tell Windows that you want to install in the original 'c:\windows' directory. Otherwise Windows will install a completely new copy of itself into a new directory, with a new registry, and you will have to reinstall all of your programs again.
FDISK - what is it? do I have to do this?
FDISK is the Microsoft DOS tool to create usable partitions and logical DOS drives. You can use this tool to create the Primary DOS partition (the main partition of the drive, and the one which can be made "active" or bootable) and Extended DOS partitions, which are secondary partitions, and will contain Logical DOS drives.
For example:
I have a 1GB hard drive. I use FDISK to create a 500MB Primary DOS partition. I make this partition Active (or bootable). This drive letter will be "C" when used as the boot drive. I then create an Extended partition of 500MB. I then create a Logical DOS drive on this partition. This drive will be assigned as "D."
So how do you do it? Here's the (very) basic instructions:
Insert your boot disk (that you have made using the instructions on this page) into the floppy drive and turn on the computer. You won't need CD-ROM support for now. Once fully booted you'll be at the 'a:\' prompt.
Type at the command line:
fdisk
You will then be given the option to enable "large disk (32-bit FAT) support," in most cases (for W9x) you will want to say "Y" for yes.
Assuming you are formatting the "C" partition, then using the menu, delete the Primary DOS partition.
If you have multiple partitions on one drive please be careful as to which partition you are deleting. You may view the specific partition information from the FDISK menu, as well as change drive letters to delete another (extended) partition (if you wish). In most cases the FDISK program will default to the "C" drive upon starting the program.
After you have deleted the "C" partition, then use FDISK to create a new primary partition. Say "yes" when FDISK asks if you want this partition to be bootable (or active). If you have a very large hard drive (say in excess of 2GB or more) and you want to create multiple partitions, then only use the percentage of the drive you want for the main (primary) partition. You can then create separate Extended DOS partitions for other Logical DOS drives (letters).
You MUST restart the system for the changes you have made to take affect. Please do so now, then you can FORMAT the drive.
FORMAT - what is it? do I have to do this too?
After performing the FDISK operation, you are ready to format. Formatting prepares the drive with the proper DOS information such as the boot sector and the FAT (File Allocation Table). Please remember that you must restart the computer AFTER FDISK for changes to take effect (with your bootdisk in the A:\ drive). Now, at the DOS command line, to format the primary "C" drive, type:
format c: /s
Answer "yes" when the warning message appears. This command will format the "C" drive and make the partition bootable with the addition of the 'system' files. After the "C" drive has been formatted, you may also format any Logical DOS drives (drives you have created on an Extended DOS partition) by typing the same command, with the proper drive letter (but you won't give the Extended DOS drives the system files however):
format ?: (?: being the drive letter of the assigned Logical DOS drive you want to format.)
After finished formatting, restart again, and then install CD-ROM support.
DOS CD-ROM support, what's up with that?
Now, after performing the FDISK and FORMAT operations, you are ready to install DOS CD-ROM support and then reboot to install Windows. Using the BOOT DISK which I have outlined how to create on this page, this is a relatively easy and painless operation. At the command line (after restarting with the boot disk in the "A" drive), just type:
go
That's it! Now reboot, and reinstall Windows on a new, freshly formatted hard drive :O)
NOTE: the oakcdrom.sys driver file will not work with all CD-ROM drives, especially if it is above 40X speed. You may need to copy your particular CD-ROM driver file from your manufacturer's driver disk to the hard drive, and use that same name in the 'config.sys' file INSTEAD of the named 'oakcdrom.sys' file. You may use the "edit" command at the dos prompt to edit the config.sys file, this command will be available after booting up with the boot disk you have made using my boot disk files here on this page.
Ye Old Norton Disk Doctor & Unerase
Norton Disk Doctor has been around since the DOS days. One of the handy things about using such a program is its ability to check out your hard drive for various problems in an emergency (on the road) situation (since the program is small enough to fit onto a floppy).
Norton Unerase comes in handy if you've deleted something you didn't want to. You can then boot into DOS and use this program to "unerase" it. (This works because in a DOS partition only the first letter of the file name is actually deleted from the FAT, Unerase will scan for such files and allow you to put that letter back in, thus restoring the file. You have to do this quickly though! Erased files will be randomly overwritten, once overwritten you will not be able to restore it.)
Download Ye Old Norton Disk Doctor & Unerase HERE...
Ghost V5.1c
Ghost is a small program (it will fit onto a floppy for travel) that is used to transfer the complete contents of a DOS (16 and 32-bit FAT) hard drive to another hard drive on a seperate IDE channel. Transfer the Ghost files to a bootable floppy and boot with the disk, access program by typing "ghost" at the command line. Follow onscreen instructions to transfer. Be wary of copying drives in excess of 6GB. Test target drive after transfer (including DOS scandisk) before being completely sure of accurate transfer in this case. This program comes in very handy if you want to copy a hard drive *before* formatting it and are dubious or concerned that you may need to restore the drive at a later time. Please note that the *target* drive does not need to be formatted, as the Ghost program will copy the partition data and FAT along with the data files.
Download the Ghost files HERE...
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