The "Save System Files" Dialog Box May Not Be Displayed

When you install Windows, the Save System Files dialog box may not be displayed if any of the following conditions exists:

• An uninstall set exists from a previous Windows installation. Setup checks the path specified by the UninstallDir line in the MSDOS.SYS for the uninstall files. If the uninstall .dat and .ini files are missing, the Save System Files dialog is displayed. The Winlfn.ini file is not checked.
• You do not have enough free hard disk space to complete the installation.
• You are installing from a command prompt into a new folder.
• You are installing to a compressed hard disk.

NOTE: Windows 95 will never display the Save System Files dialog box during a reinstall, regardless of these conditions. Therefore, it is not necessary to backup the uninstall files when you are reinstalling Windows 95.

If you want to be able to uninstall Windows at a later time, you must save the system files. When you upgrade over Windows, you are prompted during Setup to save system files. Before a new uninstall set is created, a backup copy is created. The uninstall set consists of the following files:

Windows 98: Windows 98 Second Edition: Windows Millennium Edition: By default, these files are stored in the root folder on the hard disk on which you are installing Windows. If the Save System Files dialog box is not displayed because a backup set exists from a previous installation of Windows, you can uninstall Windows back to the previous edition because the uninstall files still reside on your hard disk.

For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: