briton

The important part of that was "in real dos mode". The reason we suggest that you switch the file before Windows starts is that otherwise it is possible for file corruption to occur on the drive because Windows will be seeing the wrong size of drive and possibly write over important files. Therefore do NOT do the change of file from within Windows. It appears from the subsequent post that there are other reasons, but this is the primary reason - in DOS, the file system will remain intact and safe, whereas in Windows, until you change that file, your file system is in danger of corruption. Just stop Windows loading and go into the DOS prompt to do the switch. If you want to ensure that Windows installs with the new file, see earlier posts regarding inserting the replacement file into the CAB files on your installation disk. Hope that helps.

Didn't we already discuss that, in order to slipstream it, the file has to be written into the CAB file? Forgive my aged memory if I am wrong - I can't find the reference in the thread but perhaps some able-memoried person can refresh that for us please. And if you can't slipstream (or don't want to), as far as installing is concerned, if you stop at the first reboot and replace the file (with the correct version of course - 2226 only for the IBM portables) after that you are good to proceed as normal.

Sorry - I checked my own versions to see what I did. My oh my that sticky needs relabelling lol My mistake. Here is how I have them labelled for the boxes I use them on: 4102222F Older Desktop PC Win98SE.ZIP 4102225F Desktop PC Win98SE.ZIP 4102226F IBM laptop v4.10.2226 of PDR file only.ZIP 4903000F WinMe.ZIP If I remember correctly, the advice I was given on the board was that I should match the installed version number. Did you actually check what file version your installation disk installs? So you are correct - 26 is for IBM laptop. (As for the $10 - small price to pay for someone else to do the brainwork! Some go open, some ask for donations. It's up to the owner of the intellectual property rights!)

So you have an IBM laptop? Doesn't seem likely! You probably need 22, not 25. Check the original file version number. You might want to have a look at the thread for the Win98SE Autopatcher (under Unofficial Service Pack on this site). Have you tried manually setting BIOS hard drive info based on WD literature?

Sorry - I should have mentioned it. There are a number of utilities around. Search Engines are your friends! If you search, you may find the one I use - good old Microsoft: MakeCab.Exe You can get that from Microsoft (free as in free beer as opposed to free thinking lol) - see Knowldegebase Article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310618 which tells you how to use it and the link for downloading it. You need to do a little reading to work it, but don't worry - it isn't rocket surgery Sorry, I don't use Gapes. I now rely almost entirely on this Board's own "Auto-Patcher For Windows 98se". If you haven't tried it, you might like to! (It includes the option of switching the ESDI_506.PDR file and has the option to use the correct one but obviously only after Win98SE is installed and you are patching it.) Hope that helps!

The point about not applying it before using the disk is that if the system attempts to write even one byte to above the limit, it will be written at the start of the disk and possibly mess up something you can't fix. (If you are installing Win98 in a partition which starts above 137GB you won't have any trouble - the installation process won't reboot into Win98 so you HAVE to replace the file at/before the appropriate moment!) Two easy ways to get the file in place: One is to put it in the cab file in the Win98SE installation CD. It would be a good idea to make sure the original file exists there too in case it is needed later (rename it to ESDI_506.ORIG.PDR or something) and also to make sure there is a note in the readme file or on the CD itself. That's effectively a slipstream although you get no choice to avoid replacing it that way. (On my Win98SE CD it is in WIN98_51.CAB - I don't know if this varies for different versions.) The other is to replace it from DOS (not a DOS windows obviously). You can do this from a boot to DOS (from diskette, CD, USB stick etc), but it is also safe to do this by attending the Win98SE installation and stopping it rebooting into Win98SE the first time. At that stage, the Win98 OS has not accessed the disk. To do it from DOS, obviously you need to put the file somewhere where DOS can access it so that you can copy/move it into the ..\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS directory. Hope that helps!

That doesn't help. The mechanism used to hide a partition is to set the 'hidden' bit in the partition descriptor. So W98 still has to parse the partitiontables to see if it should ignore the particular partition, which it already does, since W98 ignores all unknown partition types. OK, but that doesn't apply if you edit the partition table manually and actually DELETE all other partitions except the one on which you are going to install Win98. In that case, the partition table only includes that partition - the rest of the space is seen as unpartitioned EMPTY (or available) space by the Win98 installer and by Win98 when it boots. Once you have successfully installed Win98, you go back to the partition table and manually enter the partition information which was there before you "deleted" them. You don't lose data because the data in the partitions themselves still exists. It was a method by which some RPM users used to have more than 4 primary partitions - they simply deleted the partition table info for the ones they weren't using at the time. Of course, during the time that the partition table information has been deleted, you must NOT use any utilities which will try to use that space and of course you need to have recorded the partition table parameters so that you can put them back in the table. Just an idea to find out what was going wrong.

Whine a lot about how long and complicated everything is

Way to go Lecco. Glad you found it. But what exactly is that dialog in the screenshot showing us? Sorry to be ignorant, but I can't pick out the clue.

I agree - apply the patch. You might want to wipe the 98 partition and reinstall it afterwards in case. You are ensuring that you can't access the other partitions when you install Win98, right? One thing you might consider is using a boot manager which can hide everything else when you boot into 98 and ensuring that the other partitions simply don't exist when you install 98 (use Ranish Partition Manager or something similar to "remove" the partitions from the table and put them back after you have installed 98 then change the boot manager settings to ensure they are hidden whenever you boot into 98). Oh and you aren't using dynamic disks in XP, right? Hope you sort it out, DaveLH, and please come back and let us know when you do and how you did it!

Surely that would account for the slowdown? Compatibility mode is slow as cold molasses!

Are you talking about on compatibility mode?

If anyone is happy to use Compatibility Mode disk access, surely the whole question of Enable48bitLBA is a waste of reading? When I installed Win98SE in a partition starting above the 137GB barrier, I could only get it to boot if I tweaked it to work in compatibility mode. But oh that sucked! It was like going back to 8bit machines lol In compatibility mode, you can access whatever your BIOS can access, can't you? Slowly, but surely anyway! Oh and P.S. Thanks MDGx

I have been suggesting for some time that the sticky gets Moderated to show people which file to download because of that figure. etc... Perhaps atlasrune was refering to leet, to primarily describe the behavior or accomplishments of others in the community Well, I hope we all appreciate the accomplishments of the contributors. However, as one who was misled into thinking that I should download the "latest" version when I first visited this thread, I thought atlasrune was once again highlighting the fact that, comparing the download figures for each version, it would appear that the world has more IBM laptops running Win98SE with >137GB disks than there are desktop PCs doing the same. So unlikely that it seems obvious that most people are downloading the WRONG version. Version 2226 was specifically for IBM laptops with version 2226 of the original Windows file ONLY. The numbers suggest that most current downloads are by people who are simply grabbing the latest version even though it is the WRONG version. My advice to ANYONE not sure what to do is to download Autopatcher (this site, other thread) which includes both versions of the Enable48bit patch (IBM laptop and desktop PC) with options menu. If you use that, the only reason I can think of to install the patch individually ahead of autopatching would be either because your Win98SE partition is above the 137GB barrier so the installation fails on reboot (in which case you simply start in DOS and manually switch the file) or because you know that the Win98SE OS will write above the barrier before you can run Autopatcher (rare and requires you to have something else installed which will write there). My advice to the moderators is to add a note in the download sticky in this thread on each version so that people will see, for example, against 2226F "Only for IBM laptops with version 2226 installed" or similar.

Well, I boot with XOSL which allows setting which partitions are visible. But XP will see the Win98SE partitions anyway so you don't have to worry about it. That is unless you use Ranish Partition Manager and do the famous (infamous?) delete partition info from the table so that NOTHING can see it! I believe most boot managers allow hiding of partitions. XOSL just happens to be FREE