Upgrading Windows 98

M

mdiemer

I have an old desktop computer, my very first, which came with W95, which I upgraded to W98. It's from the days when you got tons of software with it. A big old Gateway, which could be upgraded very nicely as it has a large case. I have a spare 500GB hard drive I could put in. I would need to replace the mobo and CPU. I have 4GB RAM lying around somewhere. So I would need to make some purchases, but other stuff I have.

I could make it a Linux machine, except then I couldn't use any of the software that came with it. I also want to preserve the documents and pictures. So, what would be the cheapest Windows OS upgrade I could make? I hold licences for Vista (OEM) and W7 (as an upgrade to the Vista), but I know I can't use them on another machine. XP would seem to be the most logical choice, but of course it's not supported anymore, and I don't know if you can even get a valid copy anymore. But if I could get a valid copy, maybe I could upgrade it to XP, and then perhaps to a cheap W7 from the web? Or even keep it on XP, but not go online with it?

I hate to just throw it away. Does this sound like it could work?

Thanks, Michael
 

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System One

Doing it for fun to see if you can make it work, yes. Other than that I'd say toss it and start over or buy a new computer.

You would end up replacing just about everything but the case:

Power supply
Mother board
CPU
Ram
Hard Drive
Optical drive(s)
Video card (unless onboard is okay)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo IdeaCenter K450
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 4 Core(s)
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750, Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 27" C27F398 Curved Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080 (HDMI)
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB
    Seagate ST2000NM001 2TB
    Seagate ST31500341AS 1.5TB
    PSU
    500W
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Lenovo USB
    Internet Speed
    50MB Down, 10MB Up
  • Operating System
    Windows 7 Pro X64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP xw4400 Workstation
    CPU
    Intel Pentium D Dual 3.4Ghz
    Motherboard
    HP 0A68h
    Memory
    5GB
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI FireGL V3300
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer KN242HYL 24" (KVMS)
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST3120026As 120GB SATA (boot)
    Toshiba DT01ACA200 2TB SATA
    Mouse
    Logitech via KVMS switch
    Keyboard
    Dell USB via KVMS switch
    Internet Speed
    50 Down, 10 Up
    Other Info
    Apache Web Server since 2001
Anything other than windows 8 will be hard to get. You might want to wait until 10 comes out. Vista OEM can't be used and a 7 upgrade will have to be installed over Vista or it won't activate. In my experience Microsoft might or might not help you activate a clean install of a 7 upgrade key. As for a new motherboard you will have to make sure that you get the correct form factor for your case.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 8.1 Industry Pro x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion Elite HPE-250f
    CPU
    Intel i7 860 Quad core 2.8 ghz
    Memory
    8 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 gb ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Alienware 25 AW2521HF
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 &1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-elite-hpe-250f/
  • Operating System
    Windows 2012 R2 Data center/Linux Mint
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Poweredge T140
    CPU
    i3 9100 3.6GHz, 8M cache, 4C/4T
    Memory
    8GB 2666MT/s DDR4 ECC UDIMM
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB & 360 GB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/productdetailstxn/poweredge-t140?~ck=bt
You might consider making an image of the currently installed OS and running it as a VM. In fact since the max HD size for Win9x is so small you could make a VM using only a few GB of file for the virtual hd.

I know some time back I installed Win98 from CD into a VM. Then I realized how small the file system was and took it off. But it did work. I forget if I used Virtual Box or VMWare Player. You might talk with some gamers who do similar things to get old Dos and Windows games to run.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G
    2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
Thanks for the feedback! The idea about running 98 as a virtual OS is intriguing. Then I could do the upgrade as a Linux system, and run 98 on it, no worries over getting an old Windows OS. I've never done the virtual thing, but it might be fun over the next long Maine winter.
 

My Computer

System One

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