upgrading windows 98 to windows 2000

[harpmanjt]

I am about to upgrade from windows 98 to windows 2000. Do I need to delete any of what I have now or will it automaticaly do everything with the new instalation.

[Alfons]

You can Upgrade from 98 to 2000, install 2000 separately alongside 98 (do this in a separate partition-it gets too messy if you install it in the same one), or wipe 98 off the disk & install only Windows 2000. I don't recommend the first option, but the second or third is fine - my personal preference is always to have one clean installation per disk set, but many people like multi-boot configurations.

Post what you'd like and advise will be forthcoming.

[harpmanjt]

Maybe I should have mentioned that novice would be a good description of my computer abilities. I am pretty good at following instructions and would like to be able to do this myself instead of asking someone else to do it for me. The reason I am doing this upgrade is this is my work computer and our company is asking all of us to upgrade. The instructions you gave went flying over my head.

[Murf]

If the cd you have for Windows 2000 says UPGRADE on it, then just put it in, it should autostart and follow the screens, it will upgrade 98 to 2000.

Now having said that, depending how old the computer is, windows 2000 may not be compatible with some of your hardware i.e., video card, sound card etc.

When W2K starts the upgrade it will run a compatibility test and tell you what is not compatible, then you have to make a choice go ahead and upgrade, then try and find drivers for the hardware that W2K says is incompatible.

What this means is W2K searches you computer and finds all the hardware it has on it, floppy drive, hard drive, modem, sound card, video card etc. If the drivers are on the W2K cd then you good to go, if not then you will have to find them yourself. As you said NOVICE could be difficult, but we can help.

Idd this is a store bought name brand computer then post the name and model number here and maybe we can find out for you.

If it is a home built type system, then it will be more difficult.

Before we go further answer these questions above.

If the W2K CD says FULL version, then thats a whole new ball of wax as they say.

[GretaP]

Hi harpmanjt,
When you ask if you need to delete any of what you have now or if it would automatically be done with the new installation, I am not certain if you think that you have to delete everything or if you are wanting to delete everything prior to the new install.

If you perform an "upgrade" from WIN98 to WIN2K, it should retain all your saved files, settings and software currently installed (provided that the software is compatible with WIN2K). What this means is that you would NOT remove the previous operating system (WIN98) prior to performing the upgrade to WIN2K.

If you perform a "clean" install of WIN2K, you would have to format the partition on the hard drive prior to installing the operating system. During the formatting process, you would lose all saved data, settings, software, etc.

[Alfons]

The reason I am doing this upgrade is this is my work computer and our company is asking all of us to upgrade.

In this case, it would be nice to know what the exact instructions are for the task in front of you, as well as what you were given to do it with.

The following are not instructions but comments on Upgrade & Full Install versions:

Upgrade
1. Will allow you to "over-write" the older OS with the newer one and theoretically save all your settings including integration with applications etc.
2. Practically, this does not work all that well and especially since you're moving to a totally different architecture, you'll have problems with the applications as well as the drivers.
3. You can perform a Full Clean Installation with the Upgrade Version as long as you can show it what you're upgrading from. This usually means that you have to show it the Full Installation CD for the old OS.

Full Install
With this CD you'll be able to make a dual or multi-boot system or a single boot clean installation. Dual-Boot to the user means that you'll have the opportunity to use either W98 or W2K. For either multi or single boot installations, you'll still be required to install all the device drivers pretaining to your computer and W2K as well as all the applications. To do this, you'll need a whole stack of CD's or an equivalent list of paths so that you'll be able to map to another computer that will have the installation Media - that's why I asked what you were given to perform this task.

Each installation requires different instructions, which is why I originally asked you to choose a method. The Upgrade is by far the most volitile, and either approach described under full installation is equally solid as long as you have an "empty" partition to use if you wish to dual-boot. If you don't, then you may lose everything in the process of making one.

If this is a work related computer, the management shouldn't be asking the users to configure their own machines, especially if they want to maintain any control over what the final outcome is to be. If you really intend to do this, you should back up all your important data before you start - options on this would vary depending on what your computer and LAN configurations are.

[harpmanjt]

when it gets to be my turn with the disc I will let you know the specifics if I need more help.

[Alfons]

Sounds good. I'd be interested in hearing what the other people did, if you have the time to let us know.