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Installing Win98 on a laptop with no floppy!

wearewolves_2
wearewolves_2 Posts: 52 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
For the reason of playing old DOS games I want to install a legitimate copy of Windows 98 onto a Sony Vaio laptop I have that currently has XP on it. Unfortunately it has no floppy drive and I can't seem to work out how to do it even by fiddling with the BIOS. Any ideas?

Comments

  • DatabaseError
    DatabaseError Posts: 4,161 Forumite
    pretty sure my win98se disk was bootable, but its a long time since i used it so not too sure.
    Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant.
  • weegie.geek
    weegie.geek Posts: 3,432 Forumite
    old dos games? dosbox!
    They say it's genetic, they say he can't help it, they say you can catch it - but sometimes you're born with it
  • fwor
    fwor Posts: 6,944 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    tonyhague wrote: »
    pretty sure my win98se disk was bootable, but its a long time since i used it so not too sure.

    Yes - just tried with an original Win98 (not SE) and that's bootable, so the OP just needs to check the BIOS boot order and make sure the CD drive appears before the HDD.
  • DatabaseError
    DatabaseError Posts: 4,161 Forumite
    cheers, weegie, forgot all about dosbox, who need crysis?
    elltefr9.th.jpgthpix.gif
    Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant.
  • wearewolves_2
    wearewolves_2 Posts: 52 Forumite
    It could be the problem is that I've got Win98SE as I have adjusted the boot order in the BIOS but with no joy. Does anyone know if I can just wipe the Hard drive with FDisk or would that leave the computer unable to boot up at all?
  • gaming_guy
    gaming_guy Posts: 6,128 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    the 98 cd is bootable, i installed it in a virtual machine last night.
  • wearewolves_2
    wearewolves_2 Posts: 52 Forumite
    That's another thing I tried - a virtual PC but I couldn't get Win98 to install. I reckon that the SE version is the problem (along with my brain).
  • Nex0
    Nex0 Posts: 913 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    98se should boot straight from cd no problem.

    While I haven't used my copy for a while I can definitely remember it booting straight from cd.

    If I was you id give dosbox a try as recommend above.

    I suspect you will have a lot of issues running 98se on a much newer laptop such as drivers for your sound and video.
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