Hi everyone, I'm currently using Windows 98 SE, and wish to upgrade to Windows ME. I have with me the Windows ME setup CD, but it is the full OEM CD and not the upgrade CD. Is there anyway that I can upgrade my Windows 98 installation to Windows ME without having to reformat my drive and reinstall, and also without having to delete my current C:\WINDOWS folder (to keep the registry and all settings). I do not want to lose all the software I have installed and have to reinstall them since there's so many of them and quite frankly, it wil be a pain in the .... to dig up all of my many software installation CDs and their serial/CD key codes. Also I want to keep all my current Windows settings (e.g. file associations). Also about the system requirements for performance, I have a Pentium 233 MMX, 96 Mb RAM. According to Microsoft's website, this system will be adequate for running Windows ME, but I'd also like to hear your opinins too to make sure that it will run OK. I have checked all of the hardware that Windows ME supports (from Microsoft's website) and (thankfully) all of my hardware is listed, so there is no problem regarding hardware compatibility. And finally there's the hard drive space to consider. I have a 3.2 Gb (C:\) hard disk with 400 Mb to spare, and a 2.5 Gb (D:\) hard disk that is completely empty. How much space should I have freed up (i.e. moved to the D:\) from the C:\ before I can install Windows ME to it? I know there's lots of requests here, and I'll be very grateful to receive solutions. Thanks in advance.

How about getting a program called GHOST from Norton. It can image your hard drive exactly onto another drive (your old 98 to your new Win ME) and using 2 drives on PC or dual booting them.

For your problem installing your OEM copy of ME as an upgrade, see my post here: Subject: Windows ME Full? You need to rename win.com (and maybe winver.exe). For your system specs and running ME... Windows ME will be quite a bit slower on your machine than Windows 98, but it should run ok. Sue may be better qualified to answer your questions here as she ran ME on a similar machine for about a year(she just upgraded her computer). She liked it a lot, but hung out here a lot too. You will need more disk space to run ME if you want system restore to run and you do not want to be faced with Out of Memory error messages every 5 minutes. ME requires: 480MB to 645MB free hard-disk space Just to get installed. You will need more if you plan on using it. You could uninstall some of your programs, then reinstall them later to the D:\ drive. This should clear up some space for you. Also cleaning up your temp files etc... will help a bit. Before upgrading, uninstall all antivirus and firewall software to ensure that they do not interfere with the upgrade. It will make the upgrade a little smoother.

Good luck with the installation following newgrl's advice, and then tune up with this post to make the best use of the system you have: http://www.computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/18106.html

hello i would allso add anther stick of ram i was running m.e with only 64 megs of ram it runs much better with 320 i now have by adding 256 more. put the bigest stick of ram n the slot your ram is now in.witch most likely is the no1 slot.some mother boards are backwards compatale most likely yours is not too old. have a nice day

my suggestion would be to NOT upgrade to ME. it is, in my opinion, very unstable and very buggy. I would at least go to XP, if not win2k