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I discovered that games are not on my Windows 98 SE computer, including Solitaire. I thought I could use a Windows 98 upgrade disc to install the games but apparently I cannot.

I am considering burning a regular Windows 98 SE disc from WinWorld: https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-98/98-second-edition

However, I am here faced with a number of options that are not explained. Just looking at English, the following are available:

  • Update (FE to SE)
  • OEM Full
  • Retail Full
  • Retail Upgrade
  • Select
  • VMWare

The site also notes: Important: Only the OEM Full version is bootable.

I am thinking I currently have the Retail Upgrade disc and the update FE to SE disc is obviously not what I want either. I am guessing VMWare is only compatible with VMWare as well.

That leaves OEM Full, Retail Full, and Select. I know a bit about OEM vs. Retail (although not sure if either would work to install the games) but I have never heard of Select before.

What is Select, and which version(s) would work?

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Select was one of Microsoft’s volume licensing programmes; the corresponding CD image is unlikely to be appropriate for you.

Either the OEM or the retail full image should work for your purpose. You can install the missing components from the Control Panel: in the Start menu, select Settings, then Control Panel; open “Add/Remove Programs”, click on the Windows Setup tab, and choose the components you want to install. Solitaire is in Accessories, Games. Windows will prompt for a CD if it needs one (I’ve seen quite a few Windows 98 systems where the installation files were copied on to the hard drive).

(If you haven’t tried doing the above with your upgrade CD, you might want to try it before downloading an image...)

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    That is actually exactly what I tried doing with the upgrade disc, verbatim. But it could not find the files. I manually browsed the CD and did a search but they were not there. It was specifically a Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 upgrade disc so I guess it was pretty limited in what was on there. I find it interesting you can't boot from the retail disc even though retail is supposedly superior to OEM... but I guess I don't need to so I think I will do the retail disc... Nov 2, 2018 at 22:27
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    @InterLinked My guess is that the location where it's looking for the installation files is not the CD you've created, and you need to tell it where to look.
    – user722
    Nov 2, 2018 at 22:33
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    @Ross Ridge It was looking on A:\ and I changed it to D:\ but that didn't do it. I also didn't see the directory it was searching for when I manually browsed the disc. Nov 2, 2018 at 22:47

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