How to brick Windows 98

[@kavinunethsarakoswattage3516]

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.

[@speggiman]

Liked for "it gets fed garbage,vomits and dies" EDIT: Woah i didn't expect a reply to get nearly 30 likes

[@deadair32101]

Quick adjustment is that the files dont actually exist anywhere on the filesystem, those filenames are captured specially by the system and redirected to their functions. Its a inherited feature from DOS 1.0 as it didnt have folders so everything was in the root of the drive. To handle programs made for that early version of DOS on later versions they just made every folder on the drive have the same "special file handling" process

[@kavinunethsarakoswattage3516]

@@deadair32101 Thanks.

[@aashd9245]

You can name a folder con in Windows 11 but in earlier versions it usually throws errors

[@Fauxed]

@@aashd9245 welp. All of us know we can make folder named "CON" on all windows. But like he said "it Fed garbage, vomit, and dies." .

[@grigoriy_pesorin]

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..

[@iamboredfor2months]

This is probably why the con/con bug makes the system unusable after the bsod. Probably some buffer overflow

[@RationalFunction]

what if you somehow managed to signal EOF?

[@le9038]

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

[@unavailable292]

Also 1995 and 2000

[@benjaluth07]

I was imagining that too 🤣

[@LordSzo]

​@@BallSniffer2700Error: con is undefined or null.

[@gallium-gonzollium]

“hi- *the specified device name is invalid* -nor”

[@25COfficial]

Ikr ;-;

[@corndoggoiscool8223]

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

[@plooshdev]

rip

[@terra1149]

Hey look that’s my name

[@randomguy-gb9ge]

RIP

[@pasamnagalaxmi9299]

Thats me

[@CircleSquareRSDL]

rip

[@karmatical5837]

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

[@MineHL001]

Enderman: uses CON Windows: *run to sweden*

[@aulinjake]

@@MineHL001 Bruh what? xD

[@karmatical5837]

@@MineHL001 *you can't escape the 'explorer.exe is not responding' message*

[@thedatboi_]

@@karmatical5837 *n e v e r c o u l d , N E V E R W I L L*

[@ls190v2]

Windows: TACTICAL NUKE INBOUND Enderman: uses clock$ Windows: (dies)

[@fcs33delblog]

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.

[@paklekj4429]

Retro stuff be unique

[@compacteddot]

reminds me of google with their key to access your acc

[@____.__._.._]

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

[@lxmrp_]

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

[@bojkata37_]

i mean it may be "im not coming back" heh

[@carlstal7162]

"Dad simulator 2022"

[@spinach7955]

ok

[@karonzilla]

powercy PFP. holy fucking shti im sick and tired of seeing that little shit, it give me PTSD after what happened back in february

[@Nathan-xt6gz]

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

[@ChaseMC215]

That is fucking awesome

[@Titanic4]

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.

[@Flashbang_Photo]

well now i have something to do

[@blokos_]

dont put the o

[@my_own_identity]

Pc hates someone that names themselves PRN. Unless If they removed the o.

[@Odswietny]

​@@my_own_identityDON'T EVEN START.

[@Odswietny]

Is there a similar option in VirtualBox?

[@--666--]

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

[@jakey.butch1]

Eh he live-streamed a few days ago, but first video in a while

[@happiynes]

Yea 1 mount

[@wr11games72]

Eh he postd everyday on his secondary channel

[@speggiman]

Do not celebrate too early after this video he is gonna make another 3 month pause

[@Fauxed]

Cant wait for his next video!

[@driver_irqlnot_less_or_equ9455]

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

[@igor-kot]

As far i know, Windows 9X has 32 bit DOS-compatible kernel, 32 bit drivers, 16 bit compatibility layer for old DOS and Windows 3X apps, based on DOS 7, 32 bit API libraries and 16 bit desktop environment. So it's called hybrid 16/32 bit OS. There was great book "Unauthorized Windows 95" by Andrew Schulman about Win9X internals.

[@HAKANKOKCU]

@Ivinnium yeah

[@JayCeeCreates]

Windows 9x is literally an OS on top of DOS. Already bloated.

[@camthesaxman3387]

Other way around. It's a 32-bit kernel, but a lot of the services and software are still 16-bit.

[@discy12345]

@@camthesaxman3387 yes. Not sure how a 32-bit layer would fit into 16-bit.....

[@LunarN0v4]

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

[@mr.chitarra]

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

[@thecooldude9999]

@@amystery5238 same here! I can’t remember the last time I saw a video with copyrighted music that lasted more than 2 seconds.

[@sfisher923]

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

[@aliteraldumpsterfire672]

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

[@robloxsio4767]

And all it took is "con"

[@joemck85]

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.

[@SnijtraM]

My first encounter with this behavior was in Windows 3.0, trying to save a bitmap as con.bmp. Windows 3.1 prohibits these kinds of names.

[@joemck85]

@@SnijtraM It's a holdover from the very earliest versions of DOS, before hard disks, before directories, when all files were in the root directories of floppies. You could use commands like COPY LETTER.TXT PRN to print letter.txt or TYPE CON > NOTES.TXT to compose a short text file without getting out a floppy with a proper text editor on it.

[@ViperJay5]

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?

[@MCAlexisYT]

This comment reminds me of a moment when my old Android tablet did the same thing but it crashed (abruptly shuts down without anything, just a black screen) when I got an *EXTREMELY* loud noise coming from it.

[@ЮлияУшакова-з7ф]

just a coincidence

[@C15Ckbn]

Finally, another Windows experiment video!

[@beans9406]

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

[@NameUnknownYT]

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! 🎶😻👍

[@gamerz9969]

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

[@jamiebrookes4866]

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

[@Oddbodswithme197]

6:41 not the blink memories

[@victorpaesplinio2865]

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!

[@TagetesAlkesta]

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.

[@renakunisaki]

It's funny how sometimes bugs crop up that are nearly unavoidable for some people but virtually impossible for the developers. Some Mac systems had an issue where they'd crash when used above a certain latitude. They would try to compute what time the sun sets to automatically adjust brightness. The programmer overlooked the fact that in the extreme North/South, there are days where the sun _doesn't_ set.

[@tlouik]

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

[@KrystPl]

yeah its 7 minutes and 59 seconds.

[@GERMANIA292]

When the world needed him He came back

[@cstr2454]

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)

[@Aeduo]

On a network. Not on the local machine.

[@deadair32101]

9x stores folders in weird places due to it not really being designed with multi-user in mind. Like the desktop for the local user being stored in C:\WINDOWS\Desktop

[@HAKANKOKCU]

Ayo i commented something like this before i see your comment im not bot

[@deadair32101]

@@HAKANKOKCU didn't say you were?

[@figboot]

@@HAKANKOKCU sounds like something a bot would say

[@laggynacho]

Finally another video! Really cool!

[@rdgfb]

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

[@oldsport]

I was actually going to comment a similar comment like this but still that's funny xd

[@HAKANKOKCU]

Bruh lol pc cpu contains gold so it should golded if you wanna make it without anything

[@TheOGSB817]

I mean ur not wrong

[@randomlightstand]

yeah and throw a brick at someone and they will be bricked [føřəvęŕ]

[@bedrocklolgame]

Technically you're right dude

[@WickerBasket9]

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

[@PardonJulianAssangeNow]

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.

[@misssavage7430]

he's 18. Birth 18 sep 2003

[@HAKANKOKCU]

He was* entered 17 in "wats your age" in a video, his age should around that

[@scourgegaming4077]

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

[@baikkuma]

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

[@renakunisaki]

There's so much empty space!

[@Lumzilla]

Respect for "War Pigs" as the bg music

[@ORIOLESFan02]

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

[@chikkuperla]

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 )

[@AlexWinExperiments]

War Pigs by black sabbath

[@anok98]

@@AlexWinExperiments War Pigs by Black Sabbath if you liked it check out the entire album, Paranoid ;) It's legally available on band's official YT channel BTW there's only one song in the video, the second part is just the outro :P

[@quzşewıti.0_0]

Finally, after 1 month, you back!

[@MakotoIchinose]

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

[@eweweweweew-e6o]

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!

[@EQUAL2]

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

[@strongpeppapig]

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

[@epicosexio]

Thanks for teaching us how to brick our old windows 98

[@nvagn]

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

[@cataisromanian.]

Finally the Microsoft legend youtuber is back!

[@iPhone7_Official]

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

[@damienf15]

bonk

[@Curione23]

I remember that one game where you literally beat up the pc

[@hokopoko3559]

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

[@Sparkette]

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.

[@renakunisaki]

For those who don't know: that's a text formatting trick Windows uses for the underlined shortcut keys in menus. An ampersand means "don't actually write an ampersand, but underline the next character". (If you want an ampersand, you need to use two of them.)

[@CHAOSDixieMan]

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.

[@Barrelopds89]

when the world needed him the most he came back

[@filemonnn23]

Finally, you are back!!!

[@Curione23]

polish brick wall isn't real it can't hurt you polish brick wall:

[@filemonnn23]

@@Curione23real

[@twgstud10]

Perfect music timing for each log in, window open and other stuff

[@danieleremin1924]

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

[@victorfigueroa9385]

Ayyy fucking up windows 98 with black Sabbath!

[@hijwijaya]

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

[@Barrelopds89]

2months*

[@bluescreenofdeath7176]

@@Barrelopds89 man, just a month

[@j0_hnz]

Enderman.? YOUR BACK!!!

[@b3nj4m1nyt]

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

[@harmonicposting]

I enjoy the edm too but I assume theres a big reason why he chose this song in particular.

[@b3nj4m1nyt]

@@harmonicposting Yeah that can be possible. But if there is no actual reason I would really like the old music

[@carlosfumega3992]

NOOO, aguante el rock y aguante argentina 💙🇦🇷🇦🇷

[@itsumbree2]

The music choice was god-tier

[@_personwhoplaysalot_336]

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

[@ChaseMC215]

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.

[@tee.enderxity]

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

[@SKCro.]

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

[@hapatapa_2981]

same, its the second time that it happens with his videos

[@TheDanikReals]

he wrote in the description that this is his editing program messed up

[@SKCro.]

@@TheDanikReals I didn't notice that. Thanks for pointing that out!

[@crazychicken2005]

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.

[@JakeArtist14]

Finally This Guy is Back After 2022

[@AlexWasTaken-]

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

[@ab.3800]

Haven't heard this song in years still so relevant, great video!

[@JARVIS1187]

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!

[@nikkiofthevalley]

I have a custom BIOS that asks for a password. Said password is encrypted, you have to enter the key to even decrypt the password. Both are 32 character long fully random strings. My drive is *also* encrypted with yet another key you have to enter. I doubt anyone is getting into my computer.

[@generallyunimportant]

@@nikkiofthevalley how do you get the password thats random? smh

[@IanThatMetalBassist]

Wasn't expecting to hear War Pigs in a video like this, hell yeah

[@idontknowanymore3479]

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

[@yiff]

Interesting, but MUCH appreciated song choice!

[@charlesworthless]

The fact you used Black Sabbath, boy that makes me happy. Good music choice.

[@MsTatakai]

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

[@NandaPradika]

The song makes me forget the video 🤘😅

[@SunIsLost]

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

[@executabless]

Thanks for this guide!

[@SuperMewio]

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

[@Торнадоплюспетарда]

Fact:the con can be used in the "Run" utility to manually cause a blue screen (con/con). Never knew that it could do that if used as a username!

[@lunoarlights]

Ah yes, breaking windows to War Pigs, this is what humanity was made for.

[@ChromifyX]

The legend is back bois he wasn't upload for a month

[@Lightman137v2]

You can always set windows logon as default network:P

[@TuNicNieMa.]

Polakiem jesteś?

[@Lightman137v2]

Yep

[@AmyraCarter]

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

[@LDKYT]

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.

[@LDKYT]

Video called "How to brick windows 98". typo maybe

[@LDKYT]

Or not. EeEEEE

[@gordonfreeman6464]

Wow, interestic choise for music :D

[@combotiger847]

6:40 lmao the music matches so well with the destruction

[@elijahr241]

You actually can enable local accounts with user folders. Control panel>Passwords>Store individual user settings or whatever

[@animerror]

Me when my favorite tech youtuber uploads

[@asadava]

I was hoping you would type in con, and boy, it did not disappoint.

[@StudioHawaii]

My new 100000000 dollar pc Creates a profile called con* Win98: Prepare to die

[@lorenzomarchesi1471]

the return of the king

[@RationalFunction]

2:28 now it's Windows, not M$ Networking. Weird.

[@Padgriffin]

I wannna note how well the lyrics of the background song match up with the stuff happening in the video. Dang.

[@bit64a]

I like tecnology. And I'm liking to watch enderman. Enderman is a legend!

[@Kaleb99j]

War Pigs was a great song choice. It slaps HARD.

[@ukrainiancuber6709]

Enderman: uses CON Windows 98: crashes

[@bukooldfutag2867]

He get back when the world needed him the most!

[@KrystPl]

the heck is wrong with that grammar? everything!

[@The.RealYapper]

Computer: stop Enderman: no Computer: STOP! Enderman: NO! Computer: stop... Enderman: NOOOOO!!!

[@greenscout_12]

6:29 the most horror part

[@feefre]

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

[@ThestrongMetro]

The legend is back!