How to do a Clean Install of Microsoft Windows Me (Millennium Edition)

This document describes the steps that HexFF LLC performs when doing a clean install of Microsoft Windows Me (Millennium Edition).

Note that we prefer to downgrade from Windows Me to Windows 98SE or upgrade to Windows 2000 if possible. Windows Me has proved to be a very problematic and unstable operating system for many users.

A clean install will get you back to the best state to rebuild your system from, but because Windows Me tends to self-corrupt rather rapidly, a clean install needs to be performed more often than with Windows 98SE - perhaps as often as twice a year for power users.

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Disclaimer

Use these tips at your own risk! They are not guaranteed to work for you.

Again, please consider using another version of Windows if at all possible.

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Introduction

Windows Millennium Edition The procedure to do a clean install of Windows Me is very similar to that for Windows 98SE. Therefore, only the major differences from those instructions are listed here. Please refer to How to do a Clean Install of Windows 98 & 98SE and replace the corresponding steps with those below.

Beginning with Windows Me, many computer manufacturers shipped their PC's with either Recovery or Restore CD's, or had special recovery partitions on the hard drive. If that is your case, these instructions will not help you, they only apply if you have the Microsoft labeled Windows Millennium Edition installation CD.

If you do not have the Microsoft CD, the best you can do is follow the manufacturers instructions for doing a full restore of Windows Me using their product and then cleaning up after the install using the 'Add/Remove Programs' Control Panel.
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09. Format the Hard Drive(s)

The FORMAT.COM program can be found on the Windows Me CD in the \WIN9X directory.

Also, the Windows 98 version of FORMAT.COM will work for Windows Me.
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11. Copy the Install Files to the Hard Drive

Insert the Windows Me CD (in our examples following, we will assume it is drive E:)

Change Directory to the Cabinet directory and copy the contents of the Windows Me CD, WIN9X directory to the hard drive:

C:\>CD WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS>COPY E:\WIN9X

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15. Select Directory

By default, the SETUP program will offer to install in:

C:\WINDOWS

This is the correct directory, press ENTER to continue.
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38. Additional Resources

Also check out the Microsoft Help and Support web site for Windows Millennium Edition:

http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsMe/

(You will notice that Microsoft does not support Windows Me either, they want you to upgrade to Windows XP!)
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