Lunac

I found no documentation on this matter. Apparently the only way to generate a pid is to enter Win98SE setup (install/re-install). I think there might be a way to get Win98SE setup to generate pid without doing a complete install (and in process screwing-up the registry).

I concluded that it was USP 1.5 that was causing some of the Norton Utilities 2000 to crash. On fresh install of Win98SE none of the NU2000 utilities crash. Right now I am trying to pinpoint which update from USP 1.5 is causing this. Now in some of the threads about USP I noticed talk about USP patching kernel32.dll as well as shell32.dll. (for 256 color icons?) That pointless patch right there sounds like something that would cause instability. Also, I asked about explorer.exe because the explorer.exe in USP 1.5 crashes constantly, compared to one that comes with Win98SE that does not. Now I can't just replace explorer.exe (especially if shell32.dll was modified in any way) since I do not know which custom patches were applied and what was exactly patched, especially considering USP 1.5, or any other USP version for that matter comes with little or no documentation. Also, I can't uninstall the service pack not only because I do not know what was exactly installed/fixed/patched/updated, but because that would probably cause even more instability and problems.

Indeed LLXX. Windows XP requirements (actual ones, not MS twaddle) were ridiculously high. Vista requirements are simply surreal. (A 1GB of RAM?!) Also, you have to take into account that Microsoft has the tendency to put out lower system requirements than actual ones. Example: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 system requirements were 166mhz CPU, 16MB RAM and 4MB RAM Video card. In actuality you needed a minimum 450-500mhz processor and at least 128 MB of RAM to get the product running at mimimal frame rates. That is a big discrepancy, don't you think? I actually tried running that version of MS Flight Simulator on several old machines 166-233mhz, with ram ranging from 32-128MB, and several 3d accelerators that had much more than the required 4MB of video RAM. Results? It just didn't run. I mean, as in NOT AT ALL.

I have Unofficial Service Pack installed (old 1.5). I noticed that it replaces my old explorer.exe, as seen below. What are the real benefits of the new exe? Original Win98SE: ver. 4.72.3110.1 >> 176KB >> MD5 value: B22B28F61B1BB06723019307F0FAACFC USP 1.5 Version: ver. 4.72.3612.1700 >> 167KB >> MD5 value: FADD08BBDF703648F52F13D0A950BC35 What other files does this version of Unofficial Service Pack replace, patch, or modify? (Kernel32.dll?, Shell32.dll?). (Do I need to edit some registry keys after replacing with original files?)

LLXX, mine is an OEM as well. I contacted some family members and friends that were either using or dual booting with Win98SE. I got more PIDs: 17702-OEM-xxxxxxx-xxxxx 04004-OEM-xxxxxxx-xxxxx 50228-029-xxxxxxx-xxxxx Sure, I could write anything. Heck, the computer boots without PID, DPID, or ProdKey. (Which leads me to believe that actual values are not in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\" but somewhere else, encoded or encrypted.) But that's not the point. I need a valid PID and DPID, generated by pidgen.dll. As my question indicated. I already know I can generate new values if I re-install the OS. Trick here is how do I get Windows to generate new ones without reinstalling.

LLXX, I want to add. I just had some people who have Win98SE check their ProductIDs. The "aaaaa" part is NOT always 50578. Here are some others: 31300-OEM-xxxxxxx-xxxxx 50807-019-xxxxxxx-xxxxx 12000-OEM-xxxxxxx-xxxxx

LLXX, it didn't work. First I deleted the DigitalProductID, rebooted and nothing. So, I deleted ProductID as well. Nothing again. Any idea? On Edit: I did add the new OEM cd key. Maybe there is something else that triggers the pidgen.dll? BootCount key maybe?

Hello Dr. Mac. I tried NU 2000 on my Win98SE setup few hours ago. Installation was smooth, but several utilities do not function and crash when I attempt to start them. Sadly both WinDoctor and DiskDoctor are among those utilities that do crash. Those were the utilities I was looking forward to using. Utilities that didn't crash included SpeedDisk, SystemInfo and several others. I did not test them fully though.. I tried updating, but apparently there were no updates. If I understood the press release mumblings on official Symantec web page correctly, anything released before 2003 is not supported anymore. Although, I fail to understand why they had to disable version updates completely. Nevertheless, I tried installing several versions of LiveUpdate, including latest version 3.0 (October 2005), which reported I had no Symantec Products installed (?!), as well an older version (LiveUpdate 1.8, 2002), that reported all my Norton software properly, but updated none. LiveUpdate 1.8 reported all my software was already updated(?!) Hard to believe, considering I have the retail CD version of NU 2000 and most of the executables are dated June-August 1999. Right now I am trying to find updates which I am absolutely sure existed at one time. If anyone has any information I would appreciate any assistance.

Hello. I was wondering if this was doable. I have several OEM Win98SE COA Booklets with OEM CD keys. I know you can change the registry "ProductKey" easily. But "DigitalProductID", and "ProductID" stay the same. It seems they are generated only once at setup time by PIDGEN.DLL and are based on the "ProductKey". Can they be generated again manually without re-installing Win98SE? Also, there are a lot of registry keys and their values that are undocumented, such as "ProductType" and "InstallType". Anyone know their purpose? Anyone any ideas?

How do I upgrade to future versions? (I have Unofficial SP 1.5). Is it safe, registry wise, and system-stability wise, to upgrade with every SP release?

alrichey, I appreciate your input. Anyone else have more recent or more detailed experiences they could share? Anyone have any ideas?

Hi everybody. I was wondering if there were any Norton Utilities 2000 users out there? Symantec added support for drives over 20 GB in NU 2000. I have a 160GB hard drive (all partitions are under 80GB and are FAT32) and was wondering if disk utilities bundled in NU 2000 (DiskDoctor, SpeedDisk) worked properly on such a setup. Also, I know that Windows 98SE was released in June 1999, and NU 2000 was released in August 1999, so it reasonable to think NU 2000 supports it. But, NU 2000 technical specs don't mention Win98SE, just Win98. (I know that NU 2000 dosent support WinME/Win2000/XP, or NTFS) Anyone have any experience with this type of setup, or any ideas?

I bought a $12 PCI SATA/PATA RAID controller card, after exhausting all other options. Best thing I ever did. Not only do my large drives work just fine under Windows 98, my system has added features of RAID, and SATA. Although, I have no plans for either. I just needed my plain PATA drives to work under Win98. One thing worth mentioning, I had loads of trouble getting Windows 2000 to recognize and then work properly with the controller card. That's NT for ya. Windows 98 on the other hand had no difficulties. The card manual actually has a special section for Win2000/XP OS. Very LONG section. Installation instructions for 98 were simple: 1. insert the PCI card into empty slot, 2. connect drives to the new controller, 3. install drivers upon boot up.

I just wanted to say, this is some great stuff Gape. You single-handedly revitalized Windows 98 user community. I think you deserve all the praise possible. Good job. I have recommended your pack to all Windows 98 users I know, and installed it myself on many systems during the past year or so. I noticed some of the other "contributors" seem like, well, disruptors and malcontents. With their constant complaints that are primarily baseless and ultimately pointless. In fact, from what I have seen, they plague this forum like the devil, and I would have "dealt" with these disruptor types long ago. I guess in that regard you are a better man than me. Good luck with this project. It's really a miracle.

Couldn't this take care of any and all problems? $17 with free shipping at acortech. http://www.acortech.com/.sc/ms/........ Creative I/O SY-SIL-133R Silicon Image ATA133 IDE RAID CARD According to the manual it supports hard drives with sizes up to 131,072 TB. That's TB as in TeraByte.

Is installing 2.0.1 over 1.5, doable/recommended? Any issues I should be aware of? I was thinking of uninstalling the old 1.5 and then installing the new release, but I see uninstalling is not recommended. What is the correct way to update?

I had to say this. This Rudolph R. Loew has spammed and hit every techie and support board out there. Its usually one or two posts about his patch, and a obligatory link to his site where it can be purchased. I have never seen such shameless self promotion. Its not $10, either. Boot manager is additional $5, which brings up to $15. For that money you could buy a ATA133 PCI IDE controller card. Which would solve any problems with device drivers, lack of BIOS support, and in a general way improve your system performance. No really, check out pricewatch.com, controller cards going for around $15 with free shipping. I bet Petr talking about creating a free patch got him antsy. Nice scare tactics. I found the part about copyright issues particularly hilarious. I just wonder how many copyright laws "dear" Rudolph R. Loew broke, while working on his little hack. Heck, what about the patch as is? He's making profit from a hacked piece of software. One thing industry has demonstrated in the past is that they come down hard on profiteers. You make any money, in any way, from their product, you get hit.