???I acquired an IBM thinkpad and I reformatted it fine and then did the system transfer, that when fine know I am at c:\> and can not get passed. It shows a blip of windows 98 and startup and goes right to c:\> whats next? I am lost! Depends on what you want to do:
Q.  Install Windows?
A.  How to install Microsoft Windows 98It shows a blip of the logo at startup than it goes right to the C: prompt. I f put in the windows bootup disk it goes to the safe mode screen. But I do not see why I would need to go to safe mode ANYMORE I just want to be able to get back to windows 98. I ALSO have no CD drive it would have to be done without CDrom support.
I am in the process of acquiring one but untill then can I do anything?You have not installed Windows, you have only formatted the C-drive (which means you have wiped it clean).  Since you have no CD drive (and apparently no Windows CD), how were you planning to install Windows 98?I have 2 options.
1 acquire an external cd rom drive
2 use my crossover cable and ethernet adapter etc. to acquire windows 98 from my desktop, but the last TWO times I have attempted it I had to either dump windows 98 or my whole system. I have the directions for the ethernet card and the pci card but I am afraid it will screw up by desktop yet again.#2 will not work because you have no Operating System (Win98) on the ThinkPad.  The PCMCIA card will need Windows.  You could do it under DOS, but if you are having this much trouble...forget it.

Why not remove the hard drive from the ThinkPad and install it as a SLAVE drive to the desktop?  You need one of these:

http://www.bixnet.com/adfor25to35h.html
That is an option I have never heard of but since at this point I have nothing to LOOSE, I will try it!
Thanks!Excellent suggestion by Computer Commando! I have done this before myself. Just copy the entire win98 folder over to the slaved drive and put it back in the laptop. Then boot from a 98 startup floppy and navigate to c:/win98> and type "setup".