Windows 98SE on my netbook

[Morellino13]

Hi guys,

for my work I need to install the old o.s. Windows 98 SE on my Netbook HP Mini with Win 7 Starter.

How I can do it if the netbook haven't a cd player ?

Is possible to install a o.s. through the usb port ?

It's most important for me to resolve this question!

Thank you in advance!!!

Daniele

[WAWood]

@Morellino13 

You simply might NOT be able to do that. Why? Because with old MBR/BIOS PCs, the maximum number of partitions you can have on the drive is 4 -- 3 primary and an Extended -- and OEM PCs with Win7 already come with all 4 of those in use.

If there is an HP_TOOLS partition, you could remove that and create another partition in its place, but that is usually very small and would require you to boot from a media containing partitioning software to resize the partitions.

Then, there is the issue of how to install the OS, and you have to be able to boot from the OS install media to do that.  If you bought an external CD reader, you MIGHT be able to boot from that, but there is no guarantee it will work.

And, we don't have the resources here to walk you through installing something as old as 98 SE.

[Morellino13]

Thank you WAWood for your quickly answer, but unfortunately you didn't help me enough.

Please let me know if I can install a S.O. by usb port, not only for Win98 but if I want to format everything and reinstall WinXp.

I think usb port is my only way for reinstall a S.O. after formatting, true?

Thank you in advance!

Daniele

[WAWood]

@Morellino13 

You say this PC came with Win7 preloaded, then it will probably boot from USB port.

I'm not able to help you with booting Win98SE because you have to make Boot Media with that, and that's going to be very difficult, because it was designed to be installed from CD or from Diskettes.  You would have to do some online searching to see if anyone has figured out how to make boot media for that.  The current tools out there are designed to work with Win10, or at the oldest, Win7.

With WinXP, you would need to use CD media as those are already bootable -- but you can't just copy it to a USB stick.  Once again, you would have to search online so see if anyone has a way to make a bootable USB stick from WinXP media on CD.

[Morellino13]

Ok clear WAWood,
but maybe I have not explained myself well, the main problem is that I cannot start the netbook from USB and to do this I have to access the advanced BIOS settings (InsideH20), how can I do it?

Thank you for your support!

Daniele

[WAWood]

@Morellino13 

You can't get to the advanced BIOS settings as HP has locked them out.

[Morellino13]

Dear WAWood,

I thank you very much but you are not helping me!

In short, what should I do to reinstall an s.o. on my netbook???

Not Win98 ok......but if I  want WinXP or Win7 how do I go about reinstalling it???

I could buy an external usb CD/DVD player, but how I can boot from usb if the BIOS doesn't allow me to do???

I'm desperate!

Because I thought to solve a work problem by installing Win98 instead I have problems with all s.o.

It's possibile???

I can't believe!

[WAWood]

@Morellino13 

Since you apparently can NOT boot the PC from a USB stick, then you can NOT install Windows that way. Period.

You have to be able to boot from SOMETHING to install Windows, so either is has to be a built-in CD/DVD driver or it has to be diskettes.  The latter have not been used for many years, so it's doubtful you can even find diskettes for anything newer than Win98 SE. So that leaves the CD-DVD route as the only thing left.

You would have to look online to see if there is anywhere you can purchase either WinXp or Win7 in DVD form.  These both used to be available in that form, so they are the only ones you will have any luck locating.  Microsoft does not sell either of these anymore, so you can't go to them.

[Morellino13]

Thank you for your patience WAWood!

Sure I have DVD with WinXP but as I wrote any msg before, my netbook haven't a CD/DVD player.

Could buy it as external by usb, but how do I get CD/DVD player recognized by usb to boot and install the new s.o.???

Daniele

[WAWood]

@Morellino13 

Since your PC does not have a built-in CD/DVD reader you MIGHT be able to use an external, but there is no guarantee that will work -- so if you buy such a drive, get it from somewhere that will give you a full refund if it does not work.

To try this out, do the following:

1) Plug the external drive into your PC and turn it on

2) Open the drive bay and insert the DVD and close it

3) Turn on your PC, pressing the Esc key repeatedly while it boots

4) When you see the HP Startup Menu appear, select the option to show the Boot Devices menu, usually F9

5) If the disk drive shows in the Boot Devices list then scroll down and select it; if it does not, then your model PC does not support booting from external CD/DVD drive and you are out of luck.