Six Windows 98-era boot disks bring back the problem of finding the CD drive
A preservation collection keeps the controller-selection problem visible, including a machine-specific Packard Bell variant for restorers to investigate.
Installing Windows from a CD could begin by finding a floppy that knew how to see the CD drive. The archive still has the different starting points.
Windows 98 Various Disks, uploaded November 2, 2026, lists six 3.5-inch disk images. Its description includes generic Windows 98 boot media, CD-installation and SCSI-CD variants, Windows 98 SE startup media, an SE/ME entry and a Packard Bell-specific entry.
The page tells visitors to “download files in this item”; it does not offer an interactive preview. Its uploader labels the set with Microsoft and a 1999 publication date, while individual descriptions also include a 2000 variant. Those are catalog descriptions, not a verification that each image boots correctly.
That distinction matters to anyone staring at an old PC waiting for a drive letter. Choosing the image is only the first part of finding out whether this particular hardware can reach its installer.
The filenames make the collection more useful than a single image called boot. They preserve a set of intended starting situations, including a particular OEM machine. For a restorer, that is a lead to investigate rather than a guarantee that the image contains the right driver for the hardware on the table.
The archive’s file metadata lists each of the six images at 1,474,560 bytes. Multiplying gives 8,847,360 bytes, or 8.4375 MiB for the image files together. That modest total makes it easy to keep the set with notes about which image was tried. A small download can still represent several quite different routes into an installer.
A practical notebook could record the image filename, the virtual or physical controller used and whether the expected drive became visible. That would preserve the result future restorers need. A statement that a disk boots leaves open the next question: whether it boots into an environment that can reach the installation media.
The OEM entry deserves particular care when choosing the first experiment. A machine-specific label carries an assumption about the target hardware. Starting with a disposable virtual disk allows that assumption to be explored without making the only copy of a restoration target part of the experiment. The goal is to learn what the image actually does before relying on it.
Preserving the original download separately from working copies also gives failed experiments a return point. A useful follow-up could keep a simple boot log for each variant, including errors and missing drive letters. That would turn the uploaded set from a shelf of promising labels into a map of which old installation paths have actually been recovered.
The next preservation detail worth adding is a boot report for each image: which drivers load, which controller they recognize and where the installer becomes reachable.