Guest mm Posted October 26, 2007 Posted October 26, 2007 OT, in that most of this is about winME, but you guys will know more than others will. I finally bought a laptop, and if I had had more time (it arrived today Thursday and I'm leaving Saturday) I might have bought something else, but it was only 92 dollars plus 30 shipping, and it does look nice, etc. And it's loaded with WinME, but he enclosed a Restore CD for win98. This isn't of much value is it? Not worth taking with me? OTOH, I already have an original install CD that a friend gave me for WinME. Won't that have all the advantages and more of a Restore CD? Should I use it and put all the .cab files on the laptop, so I will have all the drivers with me? Or is there a better idea? I should make a start-up floppy or CD, shouldn't I? Thanks. If you are inclined to email me for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)
Guest Mart Posted October 26, 2007 Posted October 26, 2007 Re: So I finally bought a laptop, but no restore CD As it's WinMe, then there *should be* a full (complete) set of the Installation files included in either the Windows/Options/Instal or CABS folder (depending whether installed from a MS retail copy or an OEM copy of WinMe) Assuming that you may need to do a clean install at some future date, take a look at (and print out) the "cleanhd.txt" file in the win9x folder on your WinMe CD. You can also view the "Windows Millennium Edition Cleanhd.txt File Contents" at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;271673 Study it carefully and be sure you have a note of your 'productid' code (the 25 digit code that is supplied with your CD - or use Belarc Advisor from http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html ) and - if your WinMe CD is an 'upgrade' version (rather than a 'full version') - some proof of a 'previous version' - e.g. your Win98 CD (N.B not required for OEM) You might also find the following KB article, "How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk" helpful. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;255867 Use your WinMe Startup (floppy) Disk to format your C: drive and remember that ALL data will all be erased when you format the disk. Boot from the floppy and select option 4) Minimal and at the A:\> prompt, type :- "format c:" (no quotes and note the space between t and c and the colon after the c) Then Press Return. If you require a start-up floppy, you can create one in Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs | System Disk or download a WinMe startup disk image utility onto your hard disk and create a floppy bootdisk. You can get the utility from http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm BE SURE TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS HTH and good luck Mart "mm" <NOPSAMmm2005@bigfoot.com> wrote in message news:blc2i315ie7ch0ec6bnm5e42rh6nrnbh53@4ax.com... > OT, in that most of this is about winME, but you guys will know more > than others will. > > I finally bought a laptop, and if I had had more time (it arrived > today Thursday and I'm leaving Saturday) I might have bought something > else, but it was only 92 dollars plus 30 shipping, and it does look > nice, etc. > > And it's loaded with WinME, but he enclosed a Restore CD for win98. > This isn't of much value is it? Not worth taking with me? > > OTOH, I already have an original install CD that a friend gave me for > WinME. Won't that have all the advantages and more of a Restore CD? > > Should I use it and put all the .cab files on the laptop, so I will > have all the drivers with me? Or is there a better idea? > > > I should make a start-up floppy or CD, shouldn't I? Thanks. > > > > If you are inclined to email me > for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)
Guest Ron Badour Posted October 30, 2007 Posted October 30, 2007 Re: So I finally bought a laptop, but no restore CD If the Restore CD is for the laptop (is the computer's brand name on it?), then it is indeed valuable since that indicates that the laptop was later upgraded to WinME. WinME almost always worked best when it upgraded a good working copy of W98 or it was an OEM version specifically tailored for a particular PC. Installing a retail version clean (ESPECIALLY to a laptop it was not specifically designed for) often was dicey. The original ME disk you were given probably won't even work well with the laptop. -- Regards Ron Badour MS MVP 1997 - 2008 "mm" <NOPSAMmm2005@bigfoot.com> wrote in message news:blc2i315ie7ch0ec6bnm5e42rh6nrnbh53@4ax.com... > OT, in that most of this is about winME, but you guys will know more > than others will. > > I finally bought a laptop, and if I had had more time (it arrived > today Thursday and I'm leaving Saturday) I might have bought something > else, but it was only 92 dollars plus 30 shipping, and it does look > nice, etc. > > And it's loaded with WinME, but he enclosed a Restore CD for win98. > This isn't of much value is it? Not worth taking with me? > > OTOH, I already have an original install CD that a friend gave me for > WinME. Won't that have all the advantages and more of a Restore CD? > > Should I use it and put all the .cab files on the laptop, so I will > have all the drivers with me? Or is there a better idea? > > > I should make a start-up floppy or CD, shouldn't I? Thanks. > > > > If you are inclined to email me > for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)
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