Want to change from W-95 or 95a To W-95b--also W-98 Info. Page:
So you have W-95a and what W-95b do you?
First, you normally can't do it, but can be tricked into it.
RENAME the file "WIN.COM" in the C:\WINDOWS directory. Then run setup on the
OSR2 CD from the DOS prompt. This will upgrade your current version of Win95 to OSR2. Tip:
Remove all entries from C:\windows\start menu\programs\startup before you upgrade. AGAIN,
you will need your BOOT CDROM drivers to read from your CDROM under DOS. Finally, once you
get OSR2 setup running, and you get to the screen where you specify which directory to
install to, the default will not be C:\WINDOWS\. Manually change the install directory to
C:\WINDOWS\ (or wherever your existing version of Win95 is) to upgrade your existing
installation. Your DONE.
The complete fdisk/format picture:
On a 1.2GB WDC drive, (Not Compressed) formatted as a single partition, before conversion
from W-95 FAT16 to W-95b FAT32, there was 58MB free space before. BUT AFTER conversion,
there was 211MB free space -- due to 4k clusters alone. Your results will vary, probably
MORE,Ha.
So How do we format a (Hard-Drive) with FAT32 that was FAT16 ??
NOTE: You have to use the 95b/OSR2 FDISK Utility ONLY----OR Partition Magic 3 OK.
Only the OSR2 FDISK Utility will allow you to put FAT32 on drives larger than 512MB.
Inside FDISK, you must enable "large disk support," to choose FAT32. After
exiting FDISK and rebooting, FORMAT (use the OSR2 version only) the drive. NOTE that you
must manually reboot after exiting the OSR2 version of FDISK, this is not automatic as in
previous versions of FDISK. If you do not reboot between FDISKing and FORMATing, you will
get FUNNY LOOKING error messages.
1.Do a full backup, feel uncertain, SEE My back-up pages or do a second full backup. Don't
mess around, because when you run FDISK you're old files/data on your hard disk are goner's.
2.Make sure you have a bootable floppy. To make a Boot disk (review page). Have your backup tape or disks and any restore software
handy.
Stick the Boot-disk in drive a:
3.Decide what partition sizes you want, NOTE, I should warn you about terminology. You
create one "primary DOS partition" and one "extended DOS partition"
and then you create N-1 "logical drives" on the extended DOS partition. So if
you're trying to partition your only hard disk into C:, D:, and E:, you'll create a
primary DOS partition which will automatically be C:, then an extended DOS partition, then
logical drives D: and E: AND on the extended partition.
4.Boot from the floppy, and then type FDISK. I'll try to explain the steps but some
versions of FDISK may have slightly different menu selections--so look for the proper KEY
WORDS in the menus that appear on your screen. Delete the existing partitions PERIOD. then
Create the primary DOS partition, which will be your C: drive if this is your first or
only hard disk. For partition size, specify the number of megabytes, remembering to use (
Megabytes ) (1024*1024 = 1,048,576 bytes). Set this partition active (repeat you
only have 1 drive--ok). Select "Create an extended DOS partition" in the FDISK
menu, and specify that it should occupy 100% of the available space. Select "Create
logical drives in the extended DOS partition". Specify the size in megabytes for each
additional logical drive. Exit from FDISK -- finally!
5.Type "FORMAT C: /S" to make it bootable again. Type "FORMAT D:",
"FORMAT E:", and so on for each of the logical drives. Don't use "/S"
with any of the later logical drives because you don't want to MAKE THEM bootable. If you
need it--FORMAT explained.
6. Exit out and Boot to where your CD setup is and install--then restore or copy the files
you backed up. (You don't need to restore them all to C. unless you plan on reinstalling
Windows from scratch, it's best to restore the Windows files to the same disk letter where
they were before you repartitioned.)
7.Your CD-ROM drive letter will now be different. You'll have to change the drive letter.
When you run across the wrong (letter) in any Windows that point to it (click on each
icon, then click File, click Properties, then edit the command line and possibly the
working directory, then OK).
8.If you have installed MS-Office from a CD-ROM, you'll also need to edit the directory
setting for it in setup\setup.stf under your MSOFFICE directory.
9.You don't need to make any changes in your CMOS settings. Even though DOS and Windows
now behave as if you have several hard disks, the CMOS will still correctly show the
actual hard disk(s).
You now have W-95b.
Windows-98 Features and
Installing....
Complete integration of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 means that the Windows desktop
itself will be a Web page, with HTML links and Active Desktop features based on
Microsoft's technology ActiveX. Dynamic HTML and a just-in-time Java compiler are other
Internet-focused features.
W98 also has several "under the hood" tuning and performance improvements. The
most noticeable is support for OnNow power management, which is designed to provide both
instant access to the operating system--with no waiting during boot-up--and better power
management. It also includes native support for USB (Universal Serial Bus), 1394, and DVD
(digital versatile disk); it also supports Direct X 5.0 for speeding up graphics and
ActiveMovie for playback of audio and video files (.AVI, MPEG, QuickTime, and .WAV
formats). It also has built-in support for Intel's MMX processor technology, which speeds
up multimedia functions, and support for the file system FAT32 (File Allocation Table 32),
which lets you format hard disks containing over 2GB as a single drive.
In the area of manageability, W98 has a series of new features. It incorporates the Win32
Driver Model, which Windows NT also incorporates, to create driver consistency between the
two operating systems. A feature called Windows Internet Update lets you download
Microsoft's newest drivers, patches, and service packs and incorporate them into the OS
automatically.
W98 has a new "Tune-Up Wizard"--which automates system maintenance tasks such as
disk defragmentation--and a series of new utilities, including System Troubleshooter,
Backup, and System Information Utility.It monitors the registry and files in the
background, detects and fixes problems if anything goes wierd.
Windows 98 has moved toward a Web-centric computing model, where Web content will meld
seamlessly with the desktop and built-in applications and is also notable for its focus on
broadcast services, signalling Microsoft's growing commitment to the worlds of media and
entertainment. With the addition of a tuner board, a Memphis-based machine will be capable
of receiving video and digital data that has been "injected" into traditional
broadcast services. The operating system also includes a TV Guide-like module called
Channel Finder for searching for television content.
Tips to make room if you don't have enough disk space:
You can recover disk space by completing any or all of the following steps:
* Right-click Recycle Bin, and then click Empty Recycle Bin.
* Delete the contents of your Internet browser cache folder.
* Delete files with the extensions .bak and .tmp.
* Delete unused program folders (be sure to back up data first).
* Delete the old MS-DOS folder, unless you intend to configure your computer to run both
Windows 98 and MS-DOS. (Be sure you have a start disk that supports access to the CD-ROM
first.)
* Delete the hidden file Winundo.dat from the previous installation of Windows 95.
* Delete the old Windows 3.1 folder, unless you intend to configure your computer to run
both Windows 3.1 and Windows 98.
Partition Magic 3: Didn't want to
bore you with it twice so (if after re-viewing the link) and
you have questions--send mail.
