|
|
Fdisk and
Format Procedure
This procedure is for Windows 98, Windows 98SE, or Windows ME.
Do you have a Windows 98 startup disk? This is all you need.
Dos (versions 7.0) will be installed automatically with Windows.
You don't want to install Dos by itself, because it will limit it you
to Fat16, which you need Fat32 to use Windows 98. Fat32 will
allow you to install a larger hard drive, like 20-30 Gigabyte, and Dos
will only recognize 1.99GB, because of Fat16.
How
to Partition the Hard Disk
-
After you decide
which file system you want to use, run the Fdisk tool:
Insert the Windows 98 Startup disk in the floppy disk drive, and then
restart your computer.
When the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed, choose the
Start computer without CD-ROM support option, and then press ENTER.
-
At a command
prompt, type fdisk, and then press ENTER. If the hard disk is
larger than 512 MB, you receive the following prompt:
Your computer has a disk larger than 512 MB. This version of Windows
includes improved support for large disks, resulting in more efficient
use
of disk space on large drives, and allowing disks over 2 GB to be
formatted as a single drive.
IMPORTANT: If you enable large disk support and create any new drives on
this disk, you will not be able to access the new drive(s) using other
operating systems, including some versions of Windows 95 and Windows NT,
as well as earlier versions of Windows and MS-DOS. In addition, disk
utilities that were not designated explicitly for the FAT32 file system
will not be able to work with this disk. If you need to access this disk
with other operating systems or older disk utilities, do no enable large
drive support.
Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N)?, press Y and press
enter.
-
After you press
ENTER, the Fdisk Options menu is displayed. Press 1 to select the Create
DOS partition and then press ENTER.
Press 1 to select the Create Primary DOS Partition option, and then
press ENTER.
After you press ENTER, you receive the following prompt: Do you
wish to use the maximum available size for primary DOS partition?
FAT32 File System:
If you chose the FAT32 file system and you want all of the space on the
hard disk to be assigned to drive C (and I recommend this option), press
Y, and then press ENTER. Press ESC, and then press ESC to quit the
Fdisk tool and return to a command prompt.
-
After you create
the partition, restart you computer with the Windows 98 Startup disk in
the floppy disk drive. When the Windows 98 Startup menu is
displayed, choose the Start computer
without CD-ROM support option, and then press ENTER. When a
command prompt is displayed, type format c: /s (put a space between
c: and /s) and press enter.
When you successfully run the Format.com utility, you receive the
following prompt:
WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST!
Proceed with Format (Y/N)?
Press Y, and then press ENTER to format drive C and install the system
files at the same time.
-
After the format
procedure is finished, you receive the following prompt:
Volume label (11 characters, ENTER for none)?
Leave it blank, and then press ENTER.
-
-
Now, restart your
computer with the floppy
startup disk still in and start "with cdrom support"
this time. When you get to a dos prompt A:, type
in the drive letter of your cdrom drive, example D:, and click enter.
Insert the Windows 98 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive, type the following
command
at a command prompt, and then press ENTER
X:\setup (where X is the drive letter that is assigned to your CD-ROM
drive)
When you receive the following message, press ENTER, and then follow the
instructions on the screen to complete the Setup procedure:
Please wait while the Setup initializes. Setup is now going to perform a
routine check on your system. To continue press Enter. Then go through
the windows 98 or ME installation. That's it!
This guy has a nice web page with lots of references to many websites
that explain it, too.
http://www.fdisk.com/fdisk/
|
|
