How to brick Windows 98 

And here I am, wondering how microsoft managed to do that. For anyone wondering, the problem with the user names were this. In Win 98, and many OSs after and before, there were system device files. They were just files that allow programmes to directly access the devices or OS functions. In Unix, Linux and other *nixs, these files were stored in a dedicated directory ( usually /dev/ ) But DOS allowed them to be accessed from anywhere, and Win 98 inherited that from it. It looks like that when you login, Win 98 looked at the drive for a folder of the user name. So when your user name is CON, AUX or host of other 3 letter words, it tries to read that files, gets fed garbage, vomits and dies. ( These files still exists, that is why you can't name a file CON in Windows ) Whats interesting is that they *didn't immediately brick* the system as I would imagine they'd do.

i feel bad for the people who nicknamed themselves "con" (short for names like connor or something) and screwed up their pc.

rest in peace to anyone named connor who decided to use their shorted name in 1998 as their username...

Enderman: uses CON Windows: *nuclear raid siren noises*

finally, after all this time, the legend is back!

The explaination is that when it reads CON, it reads from the console input, and since console input never ends, it softlocks. Same for port files like COM1, LPT1, etc..

"The worst you can do is login as CON" -Wait a minute...

Ender: put username "con" The stability of the system: ok bro see ya later

With such behavior of the system, if you happen to log in as "prn", you could have printer start printing garbage, since this device file outputs to default printer, which would be usually on LPT1. In VMware you can assign the virtual parallel port to a file on the host's hard drive. If you use file monitoring feature of Notepad++ on that file, you'll get real time view on what's being sent to virtual parallel port of the running virtual machine.

And don't forget PCs in Windows 98 days and earlier used to have physical locking mechanism with a physical key integrated on the case.

Windows 9x was technically a 16-bit OS carrying a 32 bit layer

can we just appreciate how badass a Windows destruction video is when War Pigs is playing?

Listening to warpigs in the video makes me happy. Thx Enderman!

I FIXED IT! And I think figured out why con is so disastrous. Theory: Con does what it does because when you log in it writes out a new password list to CON.PWL, which is just con, the text mode terminal, which you can't see the output of in normal mode. But then when you log out it goes to pre-populate "con" as the username so it tries to read CON.PWL, but there's no input waiting on the terminal so it sits there forever waiting for data to be read from CON.PWL. Kinda-sorta testing the theory: I logged in as con, logged out, rebooted, it always hangs. Now I boot to safe mode, launch regedit, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Network\Logon and see that username is set to con. I changed it to something else and rebooted to normal mode. Now it's fixed!!! What I put instead is now the pre-entered username. Bonus: If con writes pwl file gibberish to the screen in safe mode, I bet if you had a parallel port printer attached and logged in as prn or lpt1, it would print gibberish, possibly quite a few pages of it if there are any form feed characters in it. Similarly if you had a serial terminal on a serial port and logged in as aux or com1, the gibberish would appear there.

Damn, Windows 98 is quite the OS, it had easter eggs, bugs, and a way to brick the system

You're more legend than you realize! As I was watching the video and you logging off as Con for the first time, my own computer decided it was a perfect time for a blue screen! How does that even happen?

just put a brick on your computer, and it is bricked. totally works on anything!11

You know it's gonna be a good day when this man drops a video explaining how to brick an operating system

" Now in darkness, world stops turning" or in this case "Now in closing, Windows stops responding" - 4:54

Great work! Keep going on finding new bugs and glitches of Windows! I'm so love your Windows experiments content! I so proud when the legend is come back! Enderman, you are deserve millions of views! 🎶😻👍

F to anyone who’s name was actually Con and wanted to use windows 9x

Huh. This negligent design on Microsoft’s part is so bad that I’m legitimately impressed it shipped in the first place. One of the first things you learn in programming is validating inputs, and yet here we are. You could legitimately accidentally brick your computer within seconds of turning it on, and all it takes is being named Conner and having the desire to shorten your name.

I hope you’re staying safe in Russia right now, especially during this very difficult time. The Russian people didn’t ask for this situation. You’re really intelligent. I don’t know how old you are, but if you’re fairly young, you’re going to go far in life. You get paid a LOT of money in the west to do IT stuff. Plus, your level of English is really good. You’ll easily survive over on this side of the world.

In the video, you mentioned Windows 9x doesn’t store “user folders” - in that case what does the “documents” folder point to, and how would individual users store data separately from one another? (aside from just making their own folders / partitions)

war pigs was probably the last song i expect to hear in your videos lmfao

I remember doing a similar experiment with "con" and managed to perma brick my Win98 vm in VirtualBox. Even deleting the machine and reinstalling Win98 or installing Win95 but upgrading to 98 afterwards does not work. Normal startup make the system hang on boot splash screen and the only way is to boot into Safe Mode. GG Microsoft.

At 1:29, did you notice the ampersand you put at the end was missing, and the first period in the ellipsis was underlined instead? I know why that happens, but it's still kind of funny.

Finally, another Windows experiment video!

Choice of music is perfect given current situation, good video!

Is it just me or is your video renderer acting up? I keep seeing artifiacts throughout the video that don't go away upon reloading. Highlights 1:31, 1:33, 5:38

The song makes me forget the video 🤘😅

Aint including copywrited music gonna get your channel shutdown. Good song by the way.

How to brick windows 98: Step 1: Throw a brick at your windows 98 PC Step 2: You’re done!

Respect for "War Pigs" as the bg music

Good to see you back Andrew, hope you are taking rest after all those university stuff Also, what is the first song in the video? I really loved it. ( You are secretly providing for my playlist )

When the world needed him He came back

Black Sabbath :)

Finally another video! Really cool!

so now i know why windows users fear the Console or should i say, Terminal in linux distros =P Nah jokes aside great video !! windows 98 was amazing back in the day... i loved to use it when i was younger

Black Sabbath in Enderman video? Least expected twist but FUUUUCK YEEAAH

I can’t believe you’re playing War Pigs. That’s a good song!

Excellent video! It is crazy how flawed were the security and integrity of old OS. And your choice for the music, just amazing what it means!

Ayyy fucking up windows 98 with black Sabbath!

Wow... Watching Windows 98 in action on 1080p just feels very awkward and unintentionally satisfying.

Hey man, I really love these videos you make but you upload every month (sometimes more than 1 video a month) but I really wished you'd upload more frequently. Apart from that, great video!

I appreciate how you didn't make the video 8 minutes to put 2 ads in the video

POV: your name was auxit (my friends name is auxit) and they ripped up their pc just because of calling himself aux. I’m not joking he did that 💀

Thanks for teaching us how to brick our old windows 98

Oh I hated that logon when I was younger. When my brother and I were in dispute and I did not want him to use MY computer (he took his one with him before he moved out to his gf), I created a program in VB6 which requested a diskette with a specific file and put that in RUN_ONCE in the registry. When the program was running, the system stopped to load further on and he couldn't access anything. If he tried to close the tool, the system instantly shut down. Was a fun tine with Win98!

I'm floored. The con in the networking login is the hardest I've seen a regular computer flip out without addition of viruses, maybe apart from the windows 1.0 bsod

Black Sabbath's War Pigs? I see you're a man of taste.

I remember when I bricked a windows 98 computer at an arcade because I tried to play RCT2. Everyone there thought this was funny instead of annoying.

enderman: ill try to be a weekly guy *doesn't post for a month*

Just watching a video from a guy (who normally steals grass blocks in Minecraft) trying some 'bugs' on Windows 98.

Hello, is there a possibility that you could add Filmora 11 or 9 to your Database? If not, thats alright, ill use sony vegas.

Your videos were and still are amazing, but please, I beg you to use the old techno music you used in the "good old days". I love this type of music and a lot of other people feel the same way. Much love from switzerland

R O C K.

How do you feel about the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Instructions unclear Accidentally upgraded to Windows 11 Edit: Seems like con has messed with your edition software, maybe is time for a change

Wow. Instead of the usual music you use for these videos, you had the balls to risk your channel's safety by using War Pigs. That is fucking awesome.

Finally, you are back!!!

War Pigs/Luke's Wall Paranoid Black Sabbath, +1970, Metal Guitar Hero II (WaveGroup Cover); Rock Band DLC (WaveGroup Cover-different mix)

Enderman: *Uses CON as a username* Windows 98: "I've had fun but now I really gotta go" *dies*

Wow, interestic choise for music :D

when the world needed him the most he came back

Finally the Microsoft legend youtuber is back!

You can always set windows logon as default network:P

Hello! Hello to everyone watching this from the premiere rewind!

Music is fucking annoying

Con's the most interesting, never thought it could write trash data onto the screen in non-text mode

I’m just wondering why Windows 98 doesn’t check for forbidden names??

Good video! I'm watching this on my tablet and it is good! Pog if it gets pinned even thought I know it won't.

6:30 It looks like a corruption which is pretty fun to watch

Thank you so much! I have a dentist appointment today, so this will come in handy!

In windows NT versions "con" is a folder that gives a specific error that other folders don't do that are named restricted names.

Pls stop taking my netherite block, it took forever to get it

Finally, after 1 month, you back!

Ah yes He's back, no need to worry anymore :3

1:32 the glitch was so strong even the video glitched

way better music

Enderman.? YOUR BACK!!!

does Netflix work for you? because you once said you were from Russia

Damn it, if I just knew this back in 98 would have been a nice prank at school 😁 Though there was a so much better hardware thing back then with the PSU that we could change the voltage, I switched one without no one watching and then when other person turned the PC ON it went KABOOM with a loud bang😉😁😎

Thanks for this guide!

how to "brick" windows 98

cheese cheese

everything glitched at 1:30 for me

1:32 uhh the text broke too

1:33 Windows: naw ima try to end your recording

The music choice was god-tier

I’m sure this works in Windows 95 and Me as well.

1:32 what happened here?

how bad system windows 98 :)

Interesting, but MUCH appreciated song choice!

I'm surprised that he's able to use copyrighted music without his video being taken down...

New video idea: Changing Windows 10 first bootup words to saying "We hope your computer crashes in less than half a seconds. :)"

Have I seen this before?

6:29 the most horror part

yes

In 1998-1999 I bricked a Windows 98 machine with those names. Re-installing it doesn't help or wipe the folder/file named con. It's bricked. Time to buy a new PC.