Last week my company bought a 2GB Kingston Traveler I USB flash drive for backup purposes on a computer that’s running Windows 98. Microsoft has ended support for Windows 98 on July 11, 2006 and a lot of hardware vendor slowly started to not support Windows 98 as well. Problem is, due to some obsolete software that needs to run on Windows 98, I can’t upgrade that computer to Windows XP. I’ve tried Windows 98 compatibility mode on Windows XP and it doesn’t work either. So it’s either to upgrade the obsolete software or continue using Windows 98.

Updating the obsolete software is very expensive, so the decision is to stay with Windows 98 and source for parts that can support Windows 98. There was once the AGP video card had problems and it’s so tough to look for a video card that can support Windows 98. Anyway, back to the topic…

I didn’t know that the 2GB Kingston Traveler I USB flash drive I bought doesn’t support Windows 98. I checked Kingston website for Windows 98 drivers, and it said “Kingston has discontinued Windows 98SE support for recently released DataTravelers. Unless your packaging states that Windows 98SE is supported for file transfer, via Compatibility Table, Kingston cannot guarantee compatibility with these drivers on Windows 98SE.” I checked the packaging and it didn’t mention that it supports Windows 98. True enough, it didn’t successfully install the driver when I plugged in the Kingston DataTraveler I on Windows 98 computer.

After much searching and testing, I finally manage to install the Kingston DataTraveler on Windows 98. This method which I’m about to show you can also work for any USB flash drives, digital photo and video cameras (that connect to the PC via USB), USB hard drives, MP3 players (including Apple iPod from v2.4) and Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP).

I found a generic Windows 98SE USB mass storage device driver that will work with many makes and models of the following:
- USB Flash 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)

This driver doesn’t guarantee to work with all devices because it’s a generic driver. At least it worked for me and many other people. There are 2 version of this generic driver available to download. Different version has different method of installing the driver. So please read before you proceed.

For installing generic driver version 3.x
1. Download the exe file to the desktop
2. Remove ALL drivers for USB flash drives in Device Manager
3. Remove ALL drivers for any USB 2.0 controllers (many have an uninstall option)
4. Remove ALL unknown devices from Device Manager
5. Run the exe file you downloaded, and follow the instructions, rebooting after installation
6. When the computer boots up again, it may detect new USB 2.0 controllers, in which case you may need to reboot again

For installing generic driver version 2.x
1. Download the exe file to the desktop
2. Remove ALL drivers for USB flash drives in Device Manager
3. Remove ALL unknown devices from Device Manager
4. Run the exe file you downloaded, and follow the instructions, rebooting after installation

There are many different languages available for this generic driver as well as old driver versions. If you’re using English version of Windows 98 SE, then you can download the English version of the generic driver and so on… Good luck in getting your USB Mass Storage Device working on Windows 98 SE.

[ Download Windows 98 SE Generic USB Mass Storage Device Driver ]

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