How to install Windows 95/98 on a laptop?

I've got this old 14" laptop lying around. It’s running a P133 processor with 24 MB of RAM... basically a little piece of junk, but honestly, it gets the job done for what I need to do.

So, quick question: how can I install Windows 95, or maybe Windows 98, without using a startup disk? Here's the catch—on this laptop, I can only use either the floppy drive OR the CD-ROM at one time. Only one device works at once.

To get into DOS, I need the floppy for the startup disk, but then how am I supposed to actually run the installation if I can't have the CD-ROM plugged in too? You know? I tried swapping them out while in DOS—pulling the floppy and popping in the CD-ROM—but nothing happens.

When I first got the laptop, it had Windows 98 on it, but my uncle told me it wouldn't boot because the hard drive might be corrupted. I went ahead and formatted the drive (FAT16), so now I want to try installing Windows 95 again, but I'm stuck. It's possible the drive really is damaged, though, because when he gave it to me, I'd turn it on and it would just drop straight into DOS. It recognizes Windows is on the HDD, but it just won't launch.

Just copy the installation files from the CD over to the hard drive, boot up using a floppy, and you’re good to go. Honestly, though—running Windows 98 on a machine with only 24 MB of RAM? That’s a recipe for disaster—you'd be much better off just sticking with Windows 95.

Benjamin King2 said:Just copy the installation files from the CD straight onto the hard drive, then boot up using a floppy disk and you should be good to go. Honestly though, running Windows 98 with only 24 MB of RAM isn't exactly a great idea, you'd probably have a much smoother experience if you just stuck with Windows 95 instead...

See, the thing is, I can plug in the CD-ROM and eject the floppy, but could you walk me through how I'm actually supposed to get into DOS? Because if you don't have a startup disk handy, you can't even get into DOS to begin with... I already tried swapping the floppy out for the CD-ROM while I was sitting in DOS, but nothing happened at all...

First off, go ahead and grab a utility to run a diagnostic on that hard drive. My vote is SeaTools. It’s a tiny little thing you can pull from a boot CD to check the drive's health. It's small enough that you could probably download it on a dial-up connection if you had to. If the drive comes back clean, just stick with Windows 95; it should run perfectly fine on that setup. Honestly, forget about Windows 98—just don't bother, for the exact reasons Benjamin King2 laid out.

As far as 95 goes, you can find a "final" version on any torrent site that includes the boot CD and the product key. You won't even need a floppy disk or any other junk. Just get it running and go.

If you just want to drop into MS-DOS and mess around with a CD, take a look at Bootable USB drives.

These are the files you need for a bootable drive. Basically, just burn them to a disc using ImgBurn, or whatever else you have lying around, and you're good to go.

Thanks man, I'll grab that download and let you know how it goes...

Look, here's the deal... you’re going to need a bootable USB drive with Windows 98 on it. I’ve got one sitting right here. Once you boot the system from that drive, you type `sys c:` to move the OS over to the C: drive. Then, run `copy a*.* c:` to migrate everything else. You have to copy every single file, otherwise the CD-ROM driver won't load properly. After that's done, type `copycon startup script` and manually edit the commands in that file. You need to point everything to the C: drive instead of looking for files on the A: drive—which you'll be disabling anyway. Once you've tweaked that, shut down the laptop, plug in the external CD-ROM, and power back up so the system boots straight from the C: drive. If it recognizes the CD-ROM, you're golden. Right at startup, it'll tell you which drive letter it assigned to the CD-ROM. If it says D:, just type `d:` (hit enter), then `setup` (hit enter). If there aren't any subdirectories before the setup file, the installation kicks off immediately. If the Windows setup files are tucked away in a folder, just type `dir/p` (hit enter) to find where they're hiding, then `cd win98` (or whatever the directory is called) to get in there, and finally just type `setup`. That's how you do it. Works the exact same way if you're trying to install Windows 95 too.

That’s just what happens when you try to rip a neighbor's original Windows disc without really knowing the technicalities...

Here is what I would suggest:

Find someone who can burn a Windows 98 disc using ImgBurn—but make sure they specifically mark it as bootable and pull the boot image directly from a Windows 98 floppy disk...

That way, you'll actually end up with a properly bootable version of Windows on the CD-ROM.

urbangardener said:Look, I plug in the CD-ROM and pull the floppy drive, but how am I supposed to actually get into MS-DOS? You know—if you don't have a bootable USB drive ready to go, you can't even enter MS-DOS in the first place... I tried swapping them out while I was already in MS-DOS, pulling the floppy and plugging in the CD-ROM, but yeah, nothing happens...

Just hook up the CD-ROM, copy the Windows 95 installation files onto your hard drive, then plug the floppy back in. Boot from the floppy, navigate to the folder where you dumped those Windows 95 files, and run setup. Simple as that.

I honestly don't get why everyone's making such a massive deal out of floppy disks when we have bootable CD-ROMs right at our fingertips. 🤔

Joseph Gomez24 said:I mean, look... you really need to have a Windows 98 bootable USB drive ready, I’ve got mine right here, and once you get the system running from that, you just type sys c:, which moves the operating system over to the C: drive, then you run copy a*.* c: to copy everything else over, and you basically have to copy everything so that the CD-ROM driver actually works when you reboot, and once that's done, you type copycon startup script, and then you'll need to tweak the commands in that file so it looks for programs on the C: drive instead of searching on the A: drive, which you're just going to disable anyway! After you've handled all that, just shut down the laptop, plug in the CD-ROM, turn it back on, and let the system boot straight from the C: drive... if it recognizes the CD-ROM, you can finally jump into the installation... right when the system starts up, it should tell you which drive letter the CD-ROM is assigned to! If it shows up as D:, then you just type D: (enter), then setup (enter), and if there aren't any extra directories before the setup file, the installation will kick off immediately! But if the Windows setup files are tucked away in a folder, you'll need to type dir/p (enter) to find out which directory they're in, then type cd win98 (if that's the one), and once you're inside, just type setup! And that's how it's gotta go... you can use the same trick to install Windows 95 too!

I've already tried copying everything from the floppy over to the hard drive, but it's just not happening... it keeps telling me it can't find the specific file I'm trying to move, like "fdisk" for example.
You know, I'll type copy fdisk c:, and it just tells me "file not found"... then I'll try to make some random dummy document, try to copy that, and it works fine... but all those essential startup files on the floppy just won't budge...

I guess I'll give it a shot with a bootable USB drive, assuming it even recognizes it... because even when I plug in the CD-ROM, the startup screen just shows the hard drive and completely ignores the CD-ROM...

urbangardener said:I tried copying stuff from the floppy to the hard drive, but it’s just not happening... it keeps saying the file I want to copy doesn't exist, like "fdisk".
So, I type copy fdisk c:, and it tells me "file not found"

That’s impossible, unless you messed up typing the filenames when you tried to copy them.
Did you actually type
Code:

Or was it just a typo? The filename is usually fdisk.exe.

Try running dir on the floppy to see what's actually there and what the files are named exactly.

Or, here's another thing: bootable floppies keep their files compressed. During the boot process, it creates a RAM disk—it'll actually tell you which drive letter it assigned on the screen—and once it's loaded, you'll find the uncompressed boot files sitting right there. It should be clearly stated on the screen, unless you weren't really paying attention?

If the floppy is acting as your startup script for Windows 98—which I remember trying back in my college dorm days—then those files really ought to be sitting on your D: or E: drive instead. 😬

John Cook72 said:No way, man, unless you totally messed up when typing out those filenames to copy over...
did you actually type
Code:

copy fdisk c:

or was that just a slip of the finger, because the file is actually named fdisk.exe

just check the floppy using dir to see what's actually on there and get the exact filenames down...

or, there's another thing: bootable USB drives keep the files compressed, and during the boot process it creates a RAM disk [it'll tell you which drive letter it assigned] and you'll find the unzipped boot files right there. but the screen should have made that pretty obvious, I don't know how you missed it...

oh wait, now that I think about it, I just remembered you're supposed to unpack it to a different drive letter, but that doesn't usually happen for me... so maybe the startup script is just bunk... it's possible...

it's really not a big deal
The startup floppy has a startup script on it, so you can easily see exactly what needs to happen and just run the commands manually if you want. You've got a .cab archive and expand.exe to handle the decompression, but honestly, you can find those files pretty much anywhere on the internet.

What on earth are you even trying to copy to the C: drive, let alone an entire OS? 😕 Did everyone just collectively forget that if there’s anything sitting on the C: drive besides the Windows 95 startup script and MS-DOS, the installation won't even trigger? I dealt with this exact headache just last week. Quick tip: the C: drive needs to be DEAD EMPTY. Nothing on there before you start the install.

@urbangardener

Grab a Windows 95 CD that's actually bootable, or just burn your own Windows 95 boot CD. (The link is up there).

1) Boot from the CD (you don't need a floppy or anything else, just that CD)

2) Format the C: drive

3) Navigate to the CD-ROM (if there's only one partition on the drive, the CD-ROM will show up as D: )

4) Run Setup.exe

If the drive doesn't have any partitions yet, you'll create them during the first boot from the CD using FDISK. (That tool has to be on the CD). Once you're done with FDISK, you'll have to reboot the rig. Boot back into MS-DOS and check if the C: drive shows up as an existing drive. If it does, run FORMAT C:

Once the formatting finishes, just pick up where you left off at steps 3) and 4)

urbanotter4 said:Why on earth would you even want to copy anything onto the C: drive—let alone an entire OS? 😕 I think everyone has forgotten that if there’s anything sitting on the C: drive besides the Windows 95 startup MS-DOS files, the installation just won't trigger. I actually ran into some real trouble with this last week myself—so here is a quick tip—that C: drive needs to be completely empty! Nothing else should be on there before you start the install.

where I'm from, we'd say, "For Jesus Christ's sake," 🙏 🙏 🤣

You might think it's funny, but I wasn't laughing when my PC rejected a Windows 95 install ten times just because it spotted another OS on the C drive. On top of that, my CD-ROM was acting up, so I had to deal with the nightmare of using floppies—messing with the C drive, then the boot sequence, then this, then that.

In the end, the fix was exactly what I said. Clean C drive, boot from the media, and a direct installation from the CD-ROM. No floppies, no messing with an existing system on the C drive, nothing.

So, I grabbed that startup disk for CDs from the link up above—you know, for Windows 95, but specifically the boot CD version... so I burn it, pop it into my laptop, and absolutely nothing happens... just nothing at all... it keeps throwing that "invalid system disk" error right at me (even though I went into the BIOS and made sure it was set to boot from the CD drive first)... I can't believe my CD-ROM is actually busted, because this guy told me it was fine and suggested maybe my hard drive is the real culprit... I already wiped the partition and rebuilt it using FDISK, but the thing is, even when I try booting from a floppy, once the floppy actually loads, it won't assign a new drive letter for the installation files (like D: or E: or whatever)... man, I have no clue what the hell is going on with this thing...