If you are re-installing Windows 98 from scratch, and need to erase the hard disk first, follow these steps.

1. Place the Windows 98 Setup Boot Disk into the floppy drive, and turn on the computer.
2. When the message "Starting Windows 98" appears, press F8.
3. A Windows 98 menu should appear. Select Safe Mode Command Prompt.
4. At the A:> prompt, type FDISK.
5. A FDISK menu should appear. Select 3 to choose Delete Partition.
6. Type 1 to choose to delete Primary Partition.
7. You will see a list of partitions on your hard disk. There should be only one (or two if there is a suspend-to-disk partition. Enter 1 (or 2 if there is a s2d partition) as the number of partition to be deleted.
8. Type in the Partition's Volume Label exactly as it appears in the partition listing. Then answer Y to confirm that you want to delete the partition.
9. After FDISK reports that the partition has been deleted, press ESC twice to exit to DOS prompt.

To install Windows 98, follow these steps.

1. Go to BIOS Setup, and change the primary boot device to CD-ROM.
2. Insert the Windows 98 CD into the CD-ROM drive.
3. When the system boots from the CD, you will see a Microsoft Windows 98 CD-ROM Startup menu. At this time, select Boot from CD-ROM.
4. From the next menu, select Start Windows 98 Setup from CD-ROM.
5. At the welcome screen, press Enter.
6. Select Configure unallocated disk space (recommended).
7. Select Yes, enable large disk support. This will enable FAT 32 file system.
8. Press Enter to restart.
9. When the system boots from the CD again, select Boot from CD-ROM, then Start Windows 98 Setup from CD-ROM.
10. Format will start automatically.
11. When formatting is finished, press Enter to continue with Scandisk.
12. After Scandisk, you should now be in Graphics mode.
13. Press Continue at the welcome screen.
14. At the Select Directory screen, choose C:\Windows and select Next.
15. At Setup Options, select Typical, and select Next.
16. Select Install Most Common Components, and select Next.
17. Enter your computer name and workgroup name, and select Next.
18. For Location, select United States (or wherever you may be in the world).
19. Press Next to start file copying.
20. After files are copied, the system will reboot.
21. In the Windows 98 Startup Wizard, enter your name and company name.
22. Read the Licensing agreement, and select to Accept the Agreement.
23. Enter your product key. You can find this number on the cover of the Windows 98 manual.
24. Select Finish.
25. PC Card (PCMCIA) wizard will start. Answer No to each questions, and press Finish.
26. You will now see the Date/Time Properties window. Select Close.
27. Finally, at the Windows Logon screen, enter your name and password (optional). Please note that setting this password will not prevent others from accessing your computer.