MS Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2

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Read Me First

Read Me First

In an ongoing effort toward Year 2000 compliance, Microsoft has identified minor Year 2000 issues within Windows® 98. Update 2 corrects several minor issues associated with generating dates on your computer on or after January 1, 2000. You will need to have installed the original Year 2000 Update for Windows 98 before you install Update 2.

While you may have found that your Windows 98 computer sometimes displays Year 2000 dates incorrectly, this poses no risk of data loss.

Because system files are being updated, it is important to follow all of the download instructions. See complete step by step instructions below.

This software update is part of the Windows 98 Customer Service Pack. The following components are included in the Windows 98 Service Pack 1:

  • Windows 98 System Update

  • Internet Explorer 4.01 Service Pack 2

  • Windows 98 Year 2000 Updates

  • Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2

  • Outlook Express Year 2000 Update

For best performance and reliability of your Windows PC, Microsoft recommends that you download all the components of the Service Pack from the Windows Update Product Catalog if you have not done so already.

You can also get Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2 and the other Windows 98 Customer Service Pack components, along with Internet Explorer 5 and other new features, by ordering the Windows 98 Second Edition Updates CD for existing Windows 98 users. To order, please go to https://www.microsoft.com/windows98/highlights/.

The specific Year 2000 issues this software update addresses are:

  • OLE Automation - The Microsoft Automation library contains routines for interpreting two digit years and provides convenient way for applications to create unambiguous (serial) dates. In Windows 98 the current two digit year cutoff is 2029. This means that two digit years beginning with 30 will be interpreted as being in the 20th century, i.e. 1/1/30 is converted to 1/1/1930, irrespective of the user's century window settings in Control Panel\Regional Settings\Date tab.

  • DOS Xcopy - When using xcopy in real mode with the optional parameter /D:date, xcopy does not accept years entered as 2 digits, except for the years 80 - 99. The message "Invalid date" is displayed. When using xcopy in protected mode (from within Windows) 2 digit dates are accepted but are recognized as being within the 20th century (02/05/01 is seen as 02/05/1901).

  • MQRT.DLL - Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ) is installed as part of Personal Web Server and works with two types of digital certificates - external and internal. The internal certificates is a concept supported by MSMQ to allow MSMQ applications to allocate certificates for the purpose of sending authenticated messages. The code creating the requests for internal certificates for MSMQ 1.0 requests to set the validity of the newly created certificates to 10 years. The problem materializes when MSMQ tries to create such a certificate on February 29, 2000 (or any leap year such as 2004, 2008, etc.). This fails because it computes the validity by adding 10 years to the current date which yields 2/29/2010. This is an illegal date because 2010 is not a leap year.

Before You Install the Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2

Because the Windows 98 Year 2000 Update updates your system files and requires you to restart your computer during installation, you should save and close all open documents and close all programs before installing the Update.

You will need to have installed the original Year 2000 Update before you install Update 2.

How to download and install

Click here to install the Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2 (y2kw98_2.exe) to your computer.

Follow the instructions on your screen.

After the Installation the Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2.0

Please make a new Emergency Startup Disk that will reflect the changes made.

  1. Insert original startup disk in Drive A

  2. Click on Start / Programs / MS-DOS Prompt

  3. Type 'Sys a:' without the quotes (you will receive a message stating system transferred when process is complete).

If you do not have a startup disk, use the following:

  1. Insert blank floppy into Drive A.

  2. Click on Start / Programs / MS-DOS Prompt.

  3. Type 'cd \windows\command' then Enter.

  4. Type 'bootdisk' then Enter to create an updated startup disk.

How to use

You don't need to do anything after downloading.

How to uninstall

Uninstall is not available for this component.

ALL COMMUNICATIONS OR CONVEYANCES OF INFORMATION TO YOU CONCERNING MICROSOFT AND THE YEAR 2000 REFLECTS INFORMATION THAT IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. ALL SUCH INFORMATION IS PROVIDED TO YOU PURSUANT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH AT MICROSOFT'S Year 2000 WEB SITE LOCATED AT https://www.microsoft.com/Windows95/downloads/contents/WURecommended/S_WUFeatured/win95y2k/Default.asp AND IS INTENDED TO BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH OTHER INFORMATION LOCATED AT THE Y2K WEBSITE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO MICROSOFT'S YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE STATEMENT, THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CATEGORIES OF COMPLIANCE INTO WHICH MICROSOFT HAS CLASSIFIED ITS PRODUCTS IN ITS YEAR 2000 PRODUCT GUIDE, AND THE MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 TEST CRITERIA. MICROSOFT THEREFORE RECOMMENDS THAT YOU CHECK THE YEAR 2000 WEBSITE REGULARLY FOR ANY CHANGES TO ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT. ALL SUCH INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND AND PROVIDED AS A YEAR 2000 READINESS DISCLOSURE.