You cannot run it from HDD without installing. And windows does not come with a Live DVD/CD like LInux. However you can try running it on Virtual Machine inside your current OS. Try Oracle VirtualBox.
Thanks. Ill try that
Yes, if the computer is connected to a network there are options for installing Windows that way.
The hard drive stores the Operating System. Like for example : Windows XP or Windows Vista or even Windows 7 without the hard drive your computer will not turn on.
Probably not without additional tools. Most Windows XP installations use the NTFS file system, which Windows ME cannot read. There are some programs that can read NTFS partitions in Windows ME, as can be found in the "Related Links" section below.
No. Installing Linux is no more destructive than installing Windows.
It's possible, you have to correct boot.ini file and copy DOS loader and DOS system on your hard drive.
There are no real risks. That is the beauty of virtual machines.
This is likely to be difficult because older software does not always support new hardware. You would need to format the drive and start fresh, or I would suggest installing a new hard drive and installing from scratch. That allows you to recover quickly if your experiment fails.
If you are talking about putting windows on your computer again you will need to backup your old documents (CD/DVD/External hard drive). If you have more than one partition on your computer put all the documents you want to keep onto the second one. Under "My Computer" you may see c:\ and another hard drive possibly d:\. The d:\ will not be affected when installing windows again. The c:\ will be completed wiped.
Yes, you can remove a hard drive from an older computer, place it in a new computer, and format it. Simply formatting it will leave it with no operating system, and thus useless in the Windows 98 computer. Installing Windows 98 to the drive from in your new computer may be difficult if your computer exceeds 512 MB of RAM, or if you use a SATA CD/DVD drive. Installing Windows XP to the drive might not work when placed back into the older computer if it doesn't meet XP's system requirements.
without a hard drive your PC wouldn't work at all. so you must have a hard drive, whether its internal or external...
If you mean - to use a USB drive to boot up your computer instead of installing the software on the computer's hard-drive - theoretically, yes. HOWEVER - if your USB stick went faulty or you lost it - you wouldn't be able to use your computer !
While windows is installing