windows 98se without serial number

[chuckman45]

can windows 98se be installed without using a serial number.

i know years ago when i received my first computer, it came with windows installed. and i had to put in my serial later

[zoem]

i dont think this its possible with the standard OEM or off-the-shelf versions of 98se. however, i suspect your computer manufacturer has shipped your computer with a proprietary win98 installation CD, most commonly known as a "restore cd". this cd would contain a harddrive image of a pre-installed win98se as well as the 98 setup cab files (with no setup.exe file?).

[oofki]

It is not possible it can be put in a file I believe its called setup.ini but i dont remember, either way it just puts it in for you.

[zoem]

It is not possible it can be put in a file I believe its called setup.ini but i dont remember, either way it just puts it in for you.

i think the file is called msbatch.inf / msbatch.ini.

i just clicked...perhaps 98 was just partially pre-installed? when you first got your computer and after you entered the serial number, did wndows detect your hardware?

[Whimsy]

There used to be programs available, akin to the Oem Pre-Installation Kit available for Windows XP, where vendors could install drivers and generate a hard disk image, and then "seal" the installation, which would erase the registration information, optionally including the serial number. Vendors could then burn those images/create a restore partition. This would also sometimes circumvent the hardware detection, since that would have already been completed.

Is this what you could be describing?