Member Avatar for crookhoward

Having puchased new computer, I gave 3 year old other computer to my wife.
Installed new program [multipedia] ok and rebooted as requested. From then on after booting it requested the win 98se coa I.D., which unfortunately I have lost. I have contacted the supplier for the I.D. but no luck.
I have another 98 disc with coa I.D but attemps to load have all failed. Do I have to format the H.D. I have a set up floppy from the original 98se.
The following may help.
If I insert c:\Windows\win.com I get the following;
invalid VxD dynamic link call from CDUDF[03] + 000002EB to device "048B"
service 1
here's hoping

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Brief summary and safe plan for : do not reformat yet. The 25‑character Windows 98 product key is usually recoverable from the on‑disk registry hive (Windows 98/ME stores it as ProductKey under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion), so extracting that key or restoring a pre‑install registry backup is faster and less destructive than a full wipe. This follows ’s suggestion to check the registry and keeps ’s fallback (use the other CD) as a last resort. (smallvoid.com)

Offline retrieval examples (startup floppy or another PC): boot the machine to “Command prompt only” (or use the startup floppy) and search the SYSTEM.DAT hive for the ProductKey string; a working example is shown below. If that doesn’t find it, remove the drive, attach it to a working Windows PC and use a key‑finder that can “load hive” (ProduKey/NirSoft and similar tools have this feature) to read the key from the offline registry hive. (scribd.com)

C:\> FIND /I "ProductKey" C:\Windows\SYSTEM.DAT

Recovering from the reported VxD error without formatting: Windows 98 keeps automatic registry backups in C:\Windows\Sysbckup (rb00x.cab). Boot to DOS (startup disk or F8 → Command prompt only) and run ScanReg to restore a recent backup (scanreg /restore) or extract an older rb*.cab and copy its SYSTEM.DAT/USER.DAT back into C:\Windows. That often clears invalid VxD/driver initialization messages and avoids a full reinstall. (helpwithwindows.com)

If reinstall is unavoidable: verify the replacement CD matches the original edition (SE vs non‑SE, retail vs OEM) and note that Windows 98 did not use the post‑XP product‑activation system, so installs generally complete, but OEM licensing and COA rules still apply (see ). If moving to Windows 2000, the installer includes many generic drivers but may require an OEM/vendor mass‑storage driver during setup (press F6 and supply the floppy when prompted). Back up data first and keep motherboard/chipset/network drivers ready. (en.wikipedia.org)

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Member Avatar for Thong_Ispector

My guess is that you have two different 98's...
If you cant find the number then it would be easiest and quickest to install from the other disc.
98 will not look to see if another computer is using the same serial number like XP does so it will not be a problem.

Keep the other disc around just in case you run across the number...

FYI, I always write serial numbers on the discs with a permenant marker.

It has saved me countless hours searching through jacket covers and drawers of documentation

Member Avatar for Thong_Ispector

dlh...
That will only work if he can get into the system...

He could use one of the linux live cd's to go in and locate it...
but if he does not have one handy.... or a bookstore with knoppix hacks (has live cd)
Moving to linux (has live cd) and others like point and click linux have live cd's
A $30 book with an OS that runs in ram and can recover Windows files...
He could also download a live cd for free if he has broadband...

He does not seem to be concerned about formatting the drive and installing from the other CD....

Member Avatar for crookhoward

Cannot get into Windows, so cannot retrieve the product I.D. Only thing left is a reformat of th H.D. After formatting, must I load drivers for motherboard,cd
rom etc or will these be on a win 2000 disc that I hope to install.

Member Avatar for dlh6213

Cannot get into Windows, so cannot retrieve the product I.D. Only thing left is a reformat of th H.D. After formatting, must I load drivers for motherboard,cd
rom etc or will these be on a win 2000 disc that I hope to install.

Win 2000 should have most device drivers, though I'm not sure about motherboard drivers. You should check this site before you format:

Member Avatar for alc6379

Keep in mind that with one product key, you're only licensed to run Windows 98 on one system. Even if you can pull the product key off of one system, you shouldn't use it on another.

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