Windows 98 USB Mass Storage Device Drivers

USB flash drives and other USB mass storage based devices are becoming more and more common. Unfortunately, they often do not come with drivers because Windows Me, 2000, XP and Vista all come with generic drivers already installed. This way all you need to do is plug the drive in, Windows will recognise it and you will automatically see the drive in My Computer. Windows 98, especially in it's second edition (also known as Windows 98SE), handles USB fairly well, however there are no generic/universal mass storage device drivers preinstalled in the operating system, so you will need to install some additional drivers for it. Some manufacturers do however, provide the Windows 98 drivers on CD, others have them available to download, and others simply do not have them available at all.

If you are using Windows 98, and you do not know the manufacturer of the storage device, or you can't find the drivers, what can you do? Fortunately, there are some generic Windows 98 USB mass storage device drivers available that work with most such devices. This means that these drivers will work with many makes and models of the following:

• USB Flash Drives (also known as Pen Drives, or Thumb Drives)
• Digital Photo and Video Cameras (that connect to the PC via USB)
• USB Hard Drives
• MP3 Players (including Apple iPod from v2.4)
• Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Installing the drivers

Before installing the drivers, it is important to know that there are 2 main versions of Windows 98, and they both handle USB differently. You must install the appropriate version of the drivers dependent upon your version of Windows 98. In order to determine your Windows version, please do the following:

• Right click on My Computer and select Properties
• On the System Properties page that opens up click on the General tab, if it is not already on that page.
• Under the System heading, look for the version number (see right)
• Version 4.10.1998 is the original version of Windows 98 (98FE)
• Version 4.10.2222 is Windows 98 Second Edition (98SE)
• Click the link below for the download and installation instructions for your version of Windows 98

Download

Please click the link for your version of Windows 98:

• Windows 98 First Edition (4.10.1998)
• Windows 98 Second Edition (4.10.2222)