Is there a way when running setup on a formatted hard drive to copy "everything" off of the oem win.98se version so that a person does not always have to re-insert the win. disk when installing new hardware such as printers,scanners & other such devices? If this is possible, could you please show me how, by what I must type in at the time of setup.....in (exact) letters, dots, spaces, slashes, etc. I am quite illiteret when it comes to typing in commands. For any help, I will be most grateful!

Ok boot from a floopy with the CD in .We'll assume your Cd is in drive D you should be at an a: prompt type md c:temp (press enter)type copy D:*.* c:temp (press enter)That will copy all the files from the CD to you temp directory you can run installation from there or from the CD.use can use another name for the folder than temp.

You bet, although I don't do it the way the "factory" computers do. On most of these, the .cab files end up in C:\Windows\Options\Cabs. The way I do it works for me, Whambox always knows--after the first install--to look there, and "I" know where they are. On your install cd, the directory/folder is called "Win98". Everything you need is right there, so on a clean, formatted hdd, I just boot to the CD (if possible) or a floppy, and type C:\md Win98 (ENTER) this "makes directory" named "Win98" then, copyX:\Win98*.* C:\Win98 this copies all files from "X" is your cd drive letter and in the \Win98 folder, to the hdd in C:\Win98. NOTE THAT this does not copy any sub folders or files in the sub folders. You don't need them unless you want the Whambox tutorial to run, and you can copy THEM after you've done the install. Then, "change directory" to the hdd, and run setup. from wherever you are (your cd?) type C: (ENTER) C:\ (will appear) type cd Win98 (ENTER) setup (ENTER) There are other ways and shortcuts you can use, but I've laid out the simplest I know of. You really, really, should do a search on Google for something similar to "dos help" or "dos commands" to see what these are. MOST DOS commands, like for example, format, can display a "help" screen by typing format/? or whatever the name of the command is, type /? after the command, and most will show a screen with the options and so on. copy *.* just tells "copy" to copy files with all names (*) and to copy these all file names ALSO WITH all extensions (.*) For example, if you had a whole bunch of files in a folder, and you wanted to copy ALL files out of the folder that ended in .txt, you would use "copy*.txt" instead of *.*

Doesn't setup automagically copy the CAB files etc to the HDD (space permitting)? I suspect Harvey wants to know if the additional driver files can or should be copied over to the HDD Also (at least, on my 95 CD) there are some pretty large (useless) files for for various ISPs flogged by M$ A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend.

no, setup does not do that. It may on some proprietary OEM restore cd's, but not on a "generic" install.

Thanks to ea. one for your assistance! You are greatly appreciated!!! Harvey

Ah, gotcha - don't do a whole lot of OS installing, most of mine come already setup. From M$ "If Windows 95 was preinstalled on your computer, there may be Windows\Options and Windows\Options\Cabs folders on the hard disk." .. and I'd imagine the same holds true for '98 - and, a reiteration of name's instructions here A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend.