is there any way to wipe a windows 98 computer without the original disks?

Question

i need to erase all the stuff on my old computer so we can donate it, but there's so much stuff scattered and it's taking forever. the computer isn't connected to the internet and i don't have any of the original windows disks. is there any way i can do this more effectively?

Answer 1

I am assuming you have access to a cd burner. Download the cd image for the ultimate boot disk and use it to burn a copy of the cd. Boot your win 98 to the ultimatebootdisk CD and use the hard disk wiping utility Kill Disk to clean your hard drive. http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/

Answer 2

If you want to donate the computer with a working bootable operating system and you want to do a clean Windows install, then yes you need the original Windows disk.

If the computer came with Windows pre-installed from the factory, try Natas Gold's suggestion. I just want to add that an alternate location to check is c:\windows\options\cabs .

If you can donate the computer with a completely blank harddrive (no data, no operating system, no nothing), then you can follow Fremen's advice.

In addition to the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD), I would recommend Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN). DBAN is included on the UBCD, but the UBCD contain all kinds of other tools resulting in a 140MB download. DBAN by itself is 2MB.

DBAN is available directly as a CD/DVD or Floppy/USB key boot disk. Use another computer to download the appropriate file, and create the boot disk according to the README. Place the disk in the old computer, boot the system, follow the menus, and say goodbye to the data.

The advantage of doing a complete disk wipe with DBAN or UBCD is that the data is nearly unrecoverable.

Answer 3

By far the easiest method would be to boot from a OS-installing floppy, however, they're a lot harder to find these days. It's probably easier to plug in the HD from your current computer as the boot drive (I'm assuming the wiped computer has two hard drive ports) with the wiped HD as a slave, so that you can install the correct CD/USB drivers, then install your OS of choice onto the second hard drive. Do note that you will require an additional copy of Windows if you wish to install it on a second computer.

Answer 4

If you have a WIN98 directory it is probably the equivalent of your windows 98 disk or CD. You can Shift-F5 on boot up to go to DOS before windows start or press F8 for options on boot-up. Change directory to windows ( CD:\windows ). Then DELTREE the System directory C:\DELTREE SYSTEMS. Then CD\WIN98 type SETUP and this will reinstall Windows as if it is new. At one time it will ask you where to install windows. Select C:\WINDOWS or it will make a new directory called C:\windows01

Answer 5

YES GO TO CONTROL PANEL CLICK ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS AND GO TO STARTUP DISK SECTION TO CREATE A STARTUP DISK IN A FLOPPY DISK SO THAT WHEN YOU RESTART THE COMPUTER IT WILL RUN DOS AND THEN CHOOSE THE OPTION for COMMAND PROMPT and TYPE ............FORMAT C: then press ENTER it will start deleting everything from the computer.

Answer 6

Nop. No other way