Ok, I've installed Windows 98 and SE many times now, yet there is one thing I can never figure out.

I know you can copy the Win98 folder on the CD to the HDD, and direct the "insert disk" prompt to that HDD folder instead of inserting the CD... but is there a way to make it so windows automatically goes to that folder and doesn't prompt to insert the CD?

On some installs I've done, there is a PREINSTALL folder that you can copy Win98 to... others, there is an I386 folder that does the same... but sometimes there is neither.

Of course, I may be confusing some things, but hopefully someone gets what I'm saying.

i think its %windir%\OPTIONS\CABS that you copy the files to

Nope, that didn't work.... unless I did something wrong.

Actually, that's only the first half of the instructions.

What you need is to copy all the .cab files in the \Win98 folder of the CD to an empty directory of your choice. For example, It could be C:\CABS or C:\windows\CABS.

You just need to copy the .cab files from this directory of the install CD, not any of the other files.

Now, you need to inform the computer that you've changed the path where it thinks the setup files are. This was your CD drive where you originally installed Windows from.

To change this, you need to go into the Registry. Go to start, run and in the box type 'regedit'. The Registry editor opens up. Now go to HKey_Local_Machine\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\setup

In the setup file, you will find an entry titled Souce Path. Click on that and a window will open up. In the bottom field called 'Value data' you will see the current path that your Windows is using to find the setup files. It should be showing the path to your CD drive, which is where Windows is currently looking. Change that path to the one above where you put the .cab files from the Windows CD. (For example: C:\Windows\CABS)

Don't change anything in the other field (Value name).

When the new path is correct, close the Registry editor and your computer should now be able to find the setup files in the new directory.

Once you try it, you'll wonder how you ever put up with the old way.

also when u do a new windows install its easiest to copy the cabs to eg C:\win98 and run the install from there so that 98 always looks there for the cab files