Loading a Windows CD

I have been given a computer consisting of a tower complete with floppy drive, combined CDR-W disc drive, USB and modem accompanied by a mouse, keyboard, twin speakers and 17†monitor but without any CDs. The computer is loaded with W98 plus a few other programs of no special significance to me. Unfortunately all are in French. An expert told me there is no way to “turn†it into English, suggesting I load a bootdisk, reformat the hard disc then re-load with an English version of Windows. To make a bootdisk he told me to load a floppy, press F5 and type “A:\sys.aâ€. Assuming I do this I am in uncharted waters, never before having loaded a Windows program, so could someone possibly suggest a web-site containing an article “How to load a Windows Program from scratchâ€; preferably interspersed with brief details explaining the logic (reason) for each sequential action.

Additionally it occurred to me to check what drivers I may need for all the existing hardware (ie. floppy drive, combined CDR-W disc drive, USB, mouse, keyboard, twin speakers and 17†monitor) because I assume the hard disc will be wiped clean after running the bootdisk! The existing French version Control panel reveals all their names. Can these driver programs be saved at this stage (assuming it is legal to do so) and where would I find them; or might I just as well junk the whole lot?

Kind regards,
Pat

 

Hi Pat, I don't think your expert is advising you correctly on this one.
Just purchase a Win98SE CD (English version) and run the Setup from it.
This will overwrite and update the French Win98 but leave your specific HW drivers intact. You can then later decide which other apps to uninstall.
regards

 

There's always many ways to do things, of course.

Generally, Windows 98 has been out long enough so that drivers for nearly anything are pretty easy to find. But if you're unfamiliar with the search process, it can be pretty intimidating. This program will back up all your current drivers into a folder that you can save onto a CD-RW or Zip disk for later:

ftp://ftp.zcu.cz/pub/win/simtelnet/winxp/fileback/wdrvbck1.exe

Unfortunately, that installation program doesn't put any shortcuts in the Start menu on some machines, so you may need to make one manually or start the program from its folder, usually

"C:\Program Files\JerMar Software Corp\WinDriversBackup\wdrvbck.exe "

You can make a 98 boot disk easily by downloading this program, putting in a floppy, and running it:

http://www.24by7.ca/files/boot98se.exe

To install 98, boot from the floppy, choose installation with CD-ROM support when asked, type: format C: at the prompt.

Then, switch to your CD-ROM drive in which you have inserted the Win98 CD by just typing E:

Then, type: setup

When asked about large drive support, always answer "yes ".

It is really pretty easy, but the good thing about this stage of installation is that if something does go wrong, it's very easy to start over. Just come back here if you have any problems.

 

Pat Alley:
I'm just wondering if your problem isn't similar to one I had recently and I solved by (98se) going to: start/control panel/keyboard/language/properties/keyboard layout. At this point there are several languages to choose from.

 

Unfortuantely, JerMar sold off the WinBackUp to someone else. But the new company offers a two day free trial, which is all you need to grab your drivers. Go to the JerMar site to link to the new owner.

Copy the folder to disk for your drivers. Only take the NON MICROSFT drivers. But the French may still give you problems.

 

Loading Windows

Thankyou Merlin and Abraxas for your replies. After reading http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=221829 which describes the loading (and pitfalls) of loading Windows from scratch, I decided that Merlin’s method was much simpler but knowing my luck and the vagaries of loading programs I decided to play it safe and take Abraxas's advice to get a copy of all the driver programs by means of the “Window Drive Backups†program which ultimately led to a program data file of 63MB. But how to get it off the “French†computer was a problem. It had a chopped down version of Easy Creator (I use Nero) and I could not find out how to put it onto a CD in a bootable form (what is the French word or phrase for “bootable�??). So I loaded my Nero program onto the French computer (Nero specifically asks if you want a data file in bootable form) but it all went terribly wrong and I had to finish up uninstalling it (which of course is what might happen with Merlin’s method when loading Windows. Not with Merlin it wouldn’t but with me it could!). So getting that Driver file onto a CD is important!

Thankyou also to Wetcoast. I have already tried the method you suggest but all that did was to make the keyboard "English ".

Thankyou also to RayH but I found no problems at all in downloading the program suggested by Abraxas and when run it gathered together all the Drive files as related above!

Kind regards to all,
Pat

 

I didn't expect any problems downloading. The former version was free and good forever. The new version has a two day trial. But it's all you need. Actually, you only need 15 minutes to grab the drivers.

I am just hoping that the English Win 98 recognizes the driver file names that got backed. That's what I thought might be a kink in the action.

But good luck.

 

Loading Windows

Thankyou RayH. Sometimes I can be a bit thick and it is only at this point I fully appreciate the two points you were making in your first post. Thus on further reflection perhaps Merlin's suggestion is not only simpler but the safer of the two. However two questions:
1. Using Merlin's method could I substitute a Windows ME CD (full not upgrade) with the same results?
2. If the worst happened (and for future reference) I also downloaded the "Belarc Advisor" program which is not as comprehensive as the "Jer-mar" in so far as it simply gives a report on all the software/hardware specifications of 'unknown' computers. Would this be helpful in tracking down a driver program should the computer not recognise a Jer-mar driver program?

Kind regards,
Pat

 

Loading Windows

Hi All.

My recent action has overtaken events. I settled on replacing the French version W98SE with Win ME because a friend gave me a full version when he moved up to XP.. I finally got the translation for the word "bootable" which is "amorcation" and got the driver files onto a CD (not that I needed it eventually). After studying the instructions accompanying ME plus those from MS Knowledge Centre and influenced by Merlin's original advice, it seemed the easiest course was to disable the antivirus and screensaver then load the ME CD which I did and half-an-hour after it loaded the Start-up disk, the CD finally signalled it had loaded ME.. As to be expected all the legacy programs were still in French and I later uninstalled most of them. However two problems viz:

1. Six of the programs are the French edition of MS Word 2000, Excel, Publisher, Photodraw, Outlook and Small Business which cannot be uninstalled without the original CD. I prefer MS Office97 myself because of my familiarity with it and I do have the original CD.. No doubt a more update CD would overwrite the 2000 edition. Do you think the 97 version would, and if not how might I uninstall the French 2000 edition ?

2. Regarding Windows Explorer, the Menu “Help – About Windows†specifies it is the Millenium edition and the 'Help' Topics are all in English so one would imagine it had overwriitten the French version. However this cannot be so because the rest of the menus (File = Fichier etc) together with their drop-down windows and the tools are all in French!! Incidentally under ‘Accessories’ all including Notepad and Paint are in English except for Wordpad where the Menu, drop-down windows and tools (like Word and Explorer) are also in French. Do you think re-installing the ME CD and clicking “Setup†once more may correct this?

Kind regards,
Pat