Missing file

OK, I've done what you said, Tmagic650. I figured that I take the Windows 98 boot disk out of the floppy drive and put the Windows 2000 disk in the CD-ROM drive and restart but I get a message saying 'Invalid system disk. Replace the disk and press any key. The only kind of response I can get is if I replace the floppy. From there, I can read the CD-ROM drive and it tells me it's a RAM DRIVE. I can also read the hard drive but at the moment its just full of DOS files. Sorry, but I don't know what to do next. Thank you for your help.

Is your copy of Windows 2000 the Pro version? The Win 2000 or the Win 2000 Pro disc is not bootable, as my Win 2000 Pro is not bootable either. Boot from the Windows 98 floppy. When you get to the place where you can read the files on the CD, type at the D or E prompt, CD i386 enter. At i386 type winnt enter... follow the on-screen instructions.

"I can read the CD-ROM drive and it tells me it's a RAM DRIVE"...

This RAM drive is not the CD Drive. If the RAM drive is D, your CD drive is E. Place the Windows 2000 disc in the drive and type E: CD i386

There’s either something odd going on or I’m completely missing the plot. It appears that I have 5 drives. When I say this I mean that I can access the drives through DOS by typing the drive letter.
A: is obviously the floppy.
B: has the following 27 files:
ASPI2DOS.SYS/ASPI4DOS.SYS/ASPI8DOS.SYS/ASPI8U2.SYS/ASPICD.SYS/
AUTOEXEC.BAT/BTCDROM.SYS/BTDOSM.SYS/COMMAND.COM/
CONFIG.SYS/COUNTRY.SYS/DISPLAY.SYS/DRVSPACE.BIN/EBD.CAB
EGA.CPI/EXTRACT.EXE/FDISK.EXE/FINDRAMD.EXE/FLASHPT.SYS
HIMEM.SYS/KEYB.COM/KEYBOARD.SYS/MODE.COM/OAKCDROM.SYS
RAMDRIVE.SYS/README.TXT/SETRAMD.BAT
By the way, B: is a fixed drive. I can only insert disks in drives A: and the CD-ROM.
C: Obviously the hard drive.
D: Volume in drive D is MS-RAMDRIVE and has the following 15 files:
ATTRIB.EXE/CHKDSK.EXE/COMMAND.COM/DEBUG.EXE/EDIT.COM/
EXT.EXE/EXTRACT.EXE/FORMAT.COM/HELP.BAT/MSCDEX.EXE/
README.TXT/RESTART.COM/SCANDISK.EXE/SCANDISK.INI/SYS.COM
I can change to drive E: where the Windows 2000 Professional disk is by typing the drive letter in DOS but I can’t get a directory listing. It keeps coming up with ‘CDR101: Not ready reading drive E. Abort, Retry, Fail.
Thanks again for your help so far.

A: is empty
B: contains the Win98 boot floppy
C: is the main or Operating System boot hard drive
D: is the RAM drive (This is not a separate drive. It is a virtual drive in memory)

E: is the CD ROM, but it looks like it is bad or it is not connected properly

Since you have 2 floppies installed, this system is very old isn't it... say 4 to 6 years old? The CD ROM could just be worn out

Ok, I'll give it up as a bad job. Thanks for all your help, it was very much appreciated.