Windows Me Upgrade Process

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The full installation and upgrade processes aren’t all that dissimilar from other Windows 9.x installations (e.g., Windows 98).

If you are performing an upgrade from an older version of Windows, simply place the Windows Me upgrade CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive while in the current version of Windows. You will be presented with the Windows Me installation prompt: “This CD-ROM contains a newer version of Windows than the one you are presently using. Would you like to upgrade your computer to this new version of Windows Millennium now?”

Note 

If you are using a version of Windows 3.x or have Auto Insert Notification turned off, you will not be prompted with this query box. You can browse to the setup.exe using the file manager; or if you are using Windows 9.x, you can go to Start > Run > then type (if D: is the correct drive letter for the CD-ROM that the upgrade CD-ROM is in) D:\win9x\setup.

After you choose to upgrade, your system will check to ensure that no programs are running (and if they are, prompt you to close them). After that, a routine check will run to determine if your disk has any errors and corrects them as necessary. You’ll be greeted by the Windows Millennium Setup Wizard screen followed by the license agreement and finally the Product key entry screen. (Make sure to enter it excluding any dashes.) From here, Windows Me will determine what hardware you currently have installed and will initialize the system’s Registry file. A check will determine if you have enough disk space for the upgrade, and you will be prompted to save your system files. This is important, as should you choose not to save your system files, you will be unable to revert to your current operating system should Windows Me not completely fit your needs. It is recommended that you always choose to backup system files at this point, as you can always remove them later. (Should you run out of disk space, removing the files will free up 50–100MB.)

Note 

Should the installation determine that backing up your files would leave too little space, you will be alerted and prompted with the option of skipping the backup in order to free up disk space.

You will now be prompted to create an Emergency Startup Disk that can be used should the hard drive be damaged or system files are lost or corrupted. Since these things happen to the best of us, it is highly recommended that you have Windows create this disk, and have it handy—at all times. Also, should this installation fail, this disk is necessary to uninstall Windows Me. Click on Finish, and you’ll go on to the meat of the installation, the file copy process. A status bar lets you know just how much progress has been made in copying files from the CD-ROM to your hard drive. After the copying is complete, your PC will need to reboot. Remove the floppy disk from the drive (you did make the Emergency Startup Disk, right?) and reboot. Once rebooted, your system will begin installing drivers for various devices and reboot as necessary. This process is completely automated; you should be ready to go in about 30 minutes.

If you want a little more control over what exactly Windows Me installs and where, you can choose to do the install from the command prompt. Using a boot disk (refer to the Windows 9.x installation section to review components necessary for boot disk), boot up your PC to the command prompt. Type “D:” (or whichever drive letter represents the CD-ROM where your Windows Me disk is being installed from), then type “Setup” to start the Setup program.

Note 

If you have previously copied the Windows Me installation files to your hard drive, you enter the address of the folder to where you copied the files.

Once the Startup program has started, an instance of ScanDisk checks out the hard drive for errors; and after a few moments, you will be greeted by the familiar GUI mode (with mouse support). You will be taken from the license agreement through the Product key entry, just as in the upgrade. Next, you will be prompted to enter the installation directory where you want Windows Me to be installed (the default is C:\Windows). Following this, provided that you are installing on a formatted hard drive, you will be prompted to save existing system files. Moving through familiar paces, you will be prompted for creation of a boot disk, which is highly recommended. If you are installing to a previously unused Windows folder (or if you changed the default installation directory) you will be prompted to pick the type of installation: Typical, Portable, Component, or Custom.

You will then be prompted for your Name/Company Name, select the components you wish to install, followed by the various network options (IDs, workgroups, etc.). Much like the 9.x family, it is highly recommended that you wait until your computer is finished with the OS installation to configure network options (a choice made that much easier with the ease of Home Network Wizard). After choosing country, time, and date, you should be all but finished.

The installation process really doesn’t differ too much between an upgrade and a full install. The same basic differences existed in Windows 9.x (e.g., making sure the hard drive is formatted for the particular operating system you are trying to install, creation of a boot disk, etc.); so while the command prompt portion of the installation section focuses on a full installation, rest assured it is the same for the upgrade installation.

Dual Booting

It is possible for Windows 9.x (as well as Windows Me) to be set up in a dual-boot situation with another operating system from the Windows NT/2000 family on the same hard drive. There will be a few complications that you can expect, due to the fact that Windows 9.x wants to be the only operating system, and will often overwrite system files. If Windows NT/2000, for example, is installed on a FAT16-partitioned drive, you will receive an error when installing Windows Me that Windows NT system files are present. If Windows NT is installed on an NTFS partition, Windows Me will report that it is damaged and will not let you continue the installation (as interactive reparation is not allowed during Setup). Should you have a Windows NT/2000 installation on a FAT16-partitioned drive and choose to install Windows Me anyway, the Windows NT/2000 boot files will be overwritten with the Windows Me files. Windows NT and Windows 2000 do come with repair tools to correct the problem, though, so there’s a solution to the problem. Before you get started, you should realize that you will need to make or have a copy of the boot disk for Windows Me (or Windows 95/98, should you be trying to dual-boot with those).

Note 

Do not attempt to use a boot disk for another operating system; that is, if you are trying to set up Windows Me in a dual-boot situation, do not try and use a Windows 98 boot disk. Boot disks are fairly regimented in terms of revision control and their own particular internal files and utilities.

To install Windows Me (or any of the Windows 9.x family, for that matter):

1. Ensure that your Windows NT installation is up to date. Make sure that you have all the latest service packs and any hot fixes that are pertinent to your system. Windows 2000 comes ready out of the box to be able to see Windows 9.x. (Windows 95/98/Me), but you should be updated to at least Service Pack 1 for other reasons.

2. Create a Repair Disk for either Windows NT or Windows 2000. This disk contains copies of key Registry entries, along with a description of the partition geometry of the disk.

   • To build a Repair Disk(s) in Windows NT, use the RDISK.EXE command line and follow the prompts.

   • To build a Repair Disk(s) in Windows 2000, run the Backup utility and click the Emergency Repair Disk option on the Welcome tab.

3. Create a FAT32 partition for the Windows Me installation. It does not have to be the boot partition, but it does have to be a DOS-accessible partition for the installation to succeed.

   Note 

   Windows NT can recognize FAT16 partitions, but not FAT32 partitions. If no such partition exists, use a third-party tool like Partition Magic to create one.

4. Using Windows NT/2000, insert your Windows Me CD-ROM and copy the SETUP folder to your FAT32 partition. You should use the same folder name to copy installation files, but should SETUP already exist, try using NEW SETUP or something similar.

5. It is time to restart your computer and boot from your Windows Me boot disk. At the command prompt, type: SYS C: to transfer the boot files. This should return the command line SYSTEM TRANSFERRED.

6. Switch to the folder where you installed the Setup files (remember the syntax: drive name:\folder name), and type Setup.exe to start the Setup process.

7. You will receive the aforementioned warning about Windows NT system files being present (or possibly files from another operating system, depending on what else you have installed). In any event, ignore these messages for now. Otherwise, the installation process shouldn’t be all that different from a normal Windows Me installation. The only difference is that the location of the Windows installation cannot be on the same partition as your Windows NT installation (which can cause inconsistencies in your Programs folder).

8. Once the installation finishes, you need to ensure that your system boots to Windows Me normally. If it does not boot normally, unrepaired disk problems may have occurred during installation.

9. We are now ready to repair the NT boot files, which will allow you to use the NT boot loader so you can choose between Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows Me. Boot the computer using your Windows NT/2000 setup disks or CD-ROM (if you can boot from a CD-ROM), and choose “R” for Repair. Choose to Repair only the Windows NT boot sector, nothing else.

   Note 

   If your Windows NT/2000 installation is not found, you can use the Repair Disk made in step 2 to correct the problem.

10. Once the Repair operation is finished, boot the computer, and you should see the Windows NT/2000 boot menu option menu with Windows Me at the bottom.

    Note 

    Should you not receive the boot option, you will have to edit your BOOT.INI (should be a read-only file in the root directory of your boot drive). You’ll need to modify the permissions so that you can edit the file. Add the line: C:\Windows Me, and reboot. (Actually, you can add whatever you like in the description after C:\, as long as it is different from the other menu choices.

Using DOS

As stated earlier, no real-mode DOS comes included with Windows Me. You can boot to a command prompt, though, and you may find it easy to troubleshoot and add/delete certain files from here. To boot into DOS, you will need a start-up disk. Here is how you can create a start-up disk:

• Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel

• Double-click Add/Remove Programs

• Click the Start-Up Disk tab, then choose to Create Disk (you will need a formatted floppy disk)

Restart your PC with the disk in the floppy drive. Make sure that your BIOS is set to boot from the floppy drive first, or you will just be taken back into Windows Me. If all goes well, you will be taken to the Microsoft Windows Millennium Startup Menu. From here, you can press Shift+F5 to go to the command prompt.

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