Windows 98 setup, no PS/2, no USB working,only serial mouse, how to inject Computer name and Windows serial

[ruthan]

Hi,
im trying to install Windows 98 on machine without PS/2 ports, only with serial mouse working, im stuck on computer name screen, where is empty computer name and i have to put some name in it. There is not any USB legacy setting in the bios.

I have tried Windows 98 quick install, but disk controller is not found, but stock install is see disk fine. I already reported Quick install bug.
https://github.com/oerg866/win98-quickinstall
bug - https://github.com/oerg866/win98-quickinstall/issues/41#issuecomment-2912779878

I also now there is unattended install options, but im afraid that it will mess with disk partitioning. 

 Have USB keyboard working in DOS - have tried USBDDOS driver:
https://github.com/crazii/USBDDOS
, but its not working for second part of the install, only mouse does.

So question is can somehow edit some install setup files or half installed registry add insert needed strings like Computer name and later Windows serial Key.
Maybe i can just one only part of unattended install script.. 
   
  Tried to google this problem, im not first one with it, but i had to found right keywords..

[deomsh]

Search for MSBATCH.INF + use https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions//cc768165(v=technet.10)

[ruthan]

Well question is i can use it in the middle already started installation, or i need to start whole installation again?

I have found some unattended script here, it seems that it could be possible to replicate the steps manually.. 

Im only not know if every small step would be saved by installation progress or not.. because it would make it much more complicated.

I also struggle to find some GUI regedit compatible with Windows 98 to use it from Live Windows CD, registry they have different structure and and the most of Registry editors are for NT4 or Win2000+.
  I tired to find some GUI WIndows registry editor for Linux, but it does seems to exist, there is only CMD line one chntpw use like this:
sudo chntpw -e /media/mint/WinNT4-System/WINNT/system32/config/system  // You need different patch based where you Windows install is located and how that partition is mounted inside Linux and its annoyingly CaseSenSitiVe 
    It works fine for WIndows NT, but not for Win9x, not recognize is structure when i point it into system.dat , or user.dat

  There are Registry reditors, which are running fine on the live Windows 9x settion like Registry Workshop 2.x, but load registry hive from the other partition seems to be problem. Windows XP inbuild registry editor is not compatible with Win9x hive, or im doing something wrong.

   
  

[deomsh]

1 hour ago, ruthan said:

Well question is i can use it in the middle already started installation, or i need to start whole installation again?

I have no idea, try Setup without the switch /nr - Setup should ask if you want to process existing Registry (if I remember well). Better backup first, if possible.

[ruthan]

Ok i have created whole new script, with all parameters, now its running, im will let you know and upload the script, in link above are parameters without description i found and added a bit more explanations to the script.
   I run it this way:
  setup RUnatend.INF /ie /im /is /iv /nr   ; name of batch has to be before parameters, also it took quite a lot of time to start, after initial progress bar reach 100%

There was only problem with warning messages about first NTFS partition, its SU0012 abd SU0015.. 
Im lucky enough to have mouse and keyboard running at the start of install, but someone could not have such options.
Im not sure if it could be fooled, but hiding this partition and of course, you can make backup,delete it and recover it after Win98 install..

Or maybe its enough to make FAT32 partition first.. I made NTFS partition first, because Windows NT bootloader at least on some machines has
i problem to start far from disk start, im not sure if problem is 2GB or 8GB and it could change if service pack integration to WinNT installer.

  Other i copied win98 directory on the started partition and and started it.
Other issue is that setup has to be started from FAT32 primary active partition on the first disk, otherwise it need FAT32 or maybe FAT16 on the first disk..
So i removed SCSI controller with Disc Array which was reported as first disk.

   I btw found some project using BootIT manager and FAT16+ partition hiding for all systems from Dos+Win3, to Windows 2003, all except Win NT4 which maybe really require NTFS or FAT32(less likely).

 

[ruthan]

Ok i finished installation, with attached script + batch file to start it, just change your Windows 98 product key, you can edit other things like hostname or Windows folder name etc, but like 99% of these except product key could be edited later.  

  I was not entirely smooth, after second its there was freeze on HW detection, problem could be loaded USBDDos.Exe /Hid driver, i loaded it by mistake. 
It also seems that script is not deleting (or because of some bug at least not my machine) Autoexec.bat or Config.sys - stayed and in config was already HimemX.exe line to fix 512+ MB problem.
DEVICE=C:\DRIVERS\HIMEMX.EXE /MAX=1148576 /NUMHANDLES=64 /METHOD:FAST /VERBOSE   
 Normally is in this phase, my machine crash with io.sys and himem.sys error and i have to install io.sys 512+ MB patch and copy himemX.exe instead Himem.SYS to Windows directory... and had line above in config.sys and change vcache parameters in WIndows\System.ini for these:
MaxFileCache=261120
MinFileCache=32768
ChunkSize=4096
  I already replaced WIN98_54.CAB with Rloew patch, but other patches are probably needed to bypass manual io.sys patching. 

After one more restart, i installation finished, i saw how it progress fine after Computer name screen, all seemed ok, and i got stuck on shutdown screen, machine not should down (which i my machine specific), so i restarted and next boot freeze, which i sort of expected.. I tried to boot in safe mode,
but got IO.SYS crash as expected - so i patched it as above and copied again himem.exe into win directory (before i loaded it from other directory) and edited system.ini - after it, i was finally boot into safe mode and i desktop loaded = installation finished.. if not you will get info, that installation not finished and safe mode is not available..

   So all fine, i now will make partition image.. and fiddle with right RLoew driver get SATA controller in ATA mode working with DMA, which is probably reason of non safe mode working. Its Dell PowerEdge 1950 modded for retro gaming so i not expected easy job.. its using wild storage IRQ like 23 and 78.

  At the end make own unattended script mod wasn't hard and it does not took too much time. Thx for help.

  After i plan to mess with NT4, which seems to be even more "fun", so far its rebooting during setup loading...

!Unattended-AutomaticInstall-ToQuickInstall-AndBy-No-Working-KeyboardAndMouse.zip

Edited Friday at 10:02 PM by ruthan

[deomsh]

Good 

However: your Setup-description not sound like a FULLY unattended setup. 

Better add following lines to your MSBATCH.INF:

[Install]
UpdateInis=Edit.Sysini,Edit.Syscb

[Edit.Sysini]
%10%\system.ini,386Enh,,"MaxPhysPage=40000"
%10%\system.ini,386Enh,,"DMABufferSize=64" ; optional
%10%\system.ini,vcache,,"MinFileCache=51200" ; Q108079
%10%\system.ini,vcache,,"MaxFileCache=56320" ; Q108079
%10%\system.ini,386Enh,,"MinSPs=8" ; optional
%10%\system.ini,386Enh,,"MinTimeSlice=40" ; optional, multitasking slower but more stability
;;%10%\system.ini,386Enh,,"SystemROMBreakPoint=0"
;;%10%\system.ini,386Enh,,"EMMExclude=A000-FFFF"
;;%10%\system.ini,386Enh,,"MaxDMAPGAddress=1000"

[Edit.Syscb]
%10%\system.cb,Boot,,"*DisplayFallback=0"
%10%\system.cb,386Enh,,"MaxPhysPage=20000" ; Usher's-method

;;Inf,Reg and BAT files need always a carriage Return on the end!

BTW some WIN.COM-switches included for troubleshooting ('activate' one or more sysini-lines with semi-colons).

With these lines in your MSBATCH.INF you should be able to use HIMEM.SYS during Setup (with switch /NUMHANDLES=64 OR /NUMHANDLES=128). If you want to use HIMEMX.EXE, change after Setup.

[ruthan]

Well, i used file form link above - its named oem.inf made it matters, i expected that there is some default file, but there is not, you have to generated through batch.exe setup located on Win98SE cd in \tools\reskit\batch\  (optimal.ini file seems to be needed to run it) - yes you can save it empty / default, without really using the setup.

 I have tried to fill all the data in setup wizard, it still working fine on Windows 10, but there are not data which you posted above, question where exactly put these, it script, but its sequential so location matters. 

  I have found:
[Install] section, with contains this values:
AddReg=RunOnce.BatchDelay,Run.Installed.Components,Skip.PCMCIA.Wizard,User.Profiles.Reg,User.Box.One,User.Box.Two,Registry.WinUpdate
its between [Printer] and [RunOnce.BatchDelay] 
  Its the right section where to put these files, or it more [Install] section are possible and i have to put it elsewhere? 

My new file, where through wizard is attached, its very similar to file which i used form the link above.

BTW its normal, that autoexec.bat and config.sys contains only setver in autoexec.bat and they are completely empty? Im not sure, but i had some system attrib tags on old files, so maybe they could not be removed by the setup, or if they already exists, setup is not modify them.. I have bad memory so i dont really remember, i was used in not english install there where always somethin to set code pages etc.

Win.com switches - it would be great, if you understand them, to add some description there.. I dont understand is for example this - "EMMExclude=A000-FFFF"  is still related to Windows not MS-DOS fallback or MS-DOS mode run from Windows Desktop.. Usher's-method  sounds interesting too.

Quote

With these lines in your MSBATCH.INF you should be able to use HIMEM.SYS during Setup (with switch /NUMHANDLES=64 OR /NUMHANDLES=128). If you want to use HIMEMX.EXE, change after Setup.

 Well i had to already edit settings - i mean manually add /Numhandles=64 (BTW what is better 64 or 128 for me there are just magic values) parameter, its nice to know that this exist for machine, where is not himemX.exe yet copied. Otherwise in not big difference add HimemX edits or Himem.sys switch parameters. Unless its possible add Himem.sys parameter right into install script.

  Other option how to bypass is run Rloew patchmem /m ; or even intergrated Rloew Mem patch right into install *.iso, so far not looked in how to do it.

  Otherwise i was able to reach normal mode, after Rloew patches install by running:
patchmem // i forgot /m parameter maybe it matters // but with io.sys and himemX.exe and vcache is probably not needed anyway
ptchsata  - and copy Sata.inf into Windows\INF folder, INF folder is hidden - it may to be visible by Filemanager in default settings.

Front USB are working with default USB and nUSB drivers, card machine USBs, whare are using different USB 2.0 controllers, not working yet with default or nUSB drivers - i have tried 3.5 there are supposed to be "better".. and all other drivers hell..

msbatch-RuThaNgeneratedBeforeManualModification.zip

[awkduck]

Just putting this out there, maybe it will help someone.

I've also had a machine, that only had serial and USB ports. It isn't a "pure" install, but you can use a another machine or VM, with a similar hardware configuration. For me, I used an older version of VirtualBox (v4 series) since in still included a older Intel motherboard type.

If your target media can be removed you can partition/format/etc from another machine, or potentially the VM itself (using target drive as the VMs ). Or, you could boot DOS from USB and format/SYS.COM the target partition. Then with DOS, or any other bootable USB OS, you can copy the contents of the foreign install (without overwriting the contents of the partitions root (or else you need to SYS.COM again [save your msdos.sys]) while preserving the files/folders types).

Once booted, on the target machine, you can use the serial mouse to accept installation of the USB keyboard etc. Probably not an option for every machine out there; but it worked great for me. You could also remove the hardware profile of the VM/Temp Machine, via REGEDIT. Then on reboot, have an cleanly built device installation.

[deomsh]

18 hours ago, ruthan said:

Well, i used file form link above - its named oem.inf made it matters, i expected that there is some default file, but there is not, you have to generated through batch.exe setup located on Win98SE cd in \tools\reskit\batch\  (optimal.ini file seems to be needed to run it) - yes you can save it empty / default, without really using the setup.

 I have tried to fill all the data in setup wizard, it still working fine on Windows 10, but there are not data which you posted above, question where exactly put these, it script, but its sequential so location matters.

I never used batch.exe, I write my own msbatch.inf (with much help of all sources I can get). 

The updateinis-lines should be placed under the install-section (before [STRINGS] I guess). See https://leeos.epizy.com/infdoc.html?i=1#UpdateInisSections

18 hours ago, ruthan said:

Win.com switches - it would be great, if you understand them, to add some description there.. I dont understand is for example this - "EMMExclude=A000-FFFF"  is still related to Windows not MS-DOS fallback or MS-DOS mode run from Windows Desktop.. Usher's-method  sounds interesting too.

You can find it on the net, for instance mdgx.com is a reliable source. Simply start your search with site:www.mdgx.com and then what you want to know.

EMMExclude will block Windows to use UMB's in the specified region. For instance the NVIDIA Geforce-drivers will block a (smaller) area. Most of the time I do not use UMB's.

Usher's method is needed for Safe mode on computers with more than 1.xx GB of memory, just like in 'Normal mode'. However must be written to SYSTEM.CB. My section [Edit.Syscb] is FULLY undocumented, I wrote it by trial and error.

18 hours ago, ruthan said:

Well i had to already edit settings - i mean manually add /Numhandles=64 (BTW what is better 64 or 128 for me there are just magic values) parameter, its nice to know that this exist for machine, where is not himemX.exe yet copied. Otherwise in not big difference add HimemX edits or Himem.sys switch parameters. Unless its possible add Himem.sys parameter right into install script.

You can't say this, unless you prove you can start Windows' Setup WITHOUT first loading HIMEM.SYS. However you can use MSBATCH.INF to write your own CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.

About /NUMHANDLES=64: RLOEW mentioned them in his PATCHMEM-manual (above 2.75 GB memory).

[deomsh]

20 hours ago, ruthan said:

BTW its normal, that autoexec.bat and config.sys contains only setver in autoexec.bat and they are completely empty? Im not sure, but i had some system attrib tags on old files, so maybe they could not be removed by the setup, or if they already exists, setup is not modify them.. I have bad memory so i dont really remember, i was used in not english install there where always somethin to set code pages etc.

On localized version of Windows, the Setup of Windows 98 will add lines for DISPLAY.SYS and COUNTRY to CONFIG.SYS, and lines for MODE and KEYB to AUTOEXEC.BAT (I have Dutch Windows 98FE and Windows 98SE CD-ROMS).

Edited 15 hours ago by deomsh