Hi All. I am sure this question has been asked a lot of times before but here I go again. I am asking this on behalf of my daughter as I am useless. Would someone please give me a step by step proceedure which she can follow (new to the world of computers), on how to format and install windows 98 on an OEM system. Regards

Is the Computer a Manufacters (Compact,Dell,HP) if so most come with recovery disks all you do is put the CD in and reboot and it will give options to format and do a complete fresh reinstall to factory setup. If not post some specs.

If you do have the recovery disk, put it in like said above and follow the directions. If you are installing a FULL edition of Windows, put the Floppy Startup disk in the floppy drive and start the computer. You will want to start the computer with CDROM support (an option you will be given) Use these links

Hmm, don't know why the rest of my post didn't post, but here are the links to sites that can help with how to format and partition the hard drive. FDISK and Windows Support Hope this helps.

A few things I reccommend before you format. 1. Ensure you have a copy of all the drivers for your hardware. At a minimum have the drivers for your Modem or NIC. You could then download the others off the internet. 2. Get a list of all the hardware in your Computer so if you have to find the drivers you will know which ones to get. You could manually search through the Device Manager for these or download a very small program that will do it for you call Belarc. BELARC ADVISOR If you have a problem finding drivers you will then be able to post with exactly what you need and someone will be able to help you out. 3. Make a backup of your Bookmarks, Address Book and any other documents you do not want to lose. 4. Make sure your boot disk works with CD-ROM support. Insert your boot disk and restart the computer. When asked Start the Computer With CD ROM Support. Insert a CD into the PC. At the A:\>type D: and Enter. At the D:\>type dir and Enter. If you see a listing of directories and files it works. If you get an error then try the above with E: If you do not have the bootdisk you can download one here. BOOTDISK 5. Ensure you have the Product Key Code for Windows. D@ve's link above has a very good step by step procedure for formatting. I would reccommend it also. HTH Good Day! Mesich

http://www.btinternet.com/~robert.bale1/formatinstall.htm Also: http://www.windowsreinstall.com/oem.htm which is part of: http://www.windowsreinstall.com/indexwin98.htm

Hi Guys. Great, the response is damn good, if there is any more, please keep it comming. I forgot to mention that my daughter has litterly destroyed her hard drive as far as saving or backing anything up. It is a start for scratch. Regretabley she does not have a recovery disk, it is a hard slog from scratch. Regards