Digiex Exclusive: Premade Windows 98 Virtual Machine for use with older games

[Assassin]

Digiex Exclusive: Premade Windows 98 Virtual Machine for use with older games​

A virtual machine can be used to run another OS on your current OS (e.g. run Windows 98 on your Windows XP system). Attached is Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 and a Windows 98 Virtual Machine premade ready to use!

You can use this image to run games which may not work on your modern computer without effecting your current operating system.


Installation and Setup:

Follow each step to complete the installation of your VirtualPC.

First download Microsoft Virtual PC, either the 32bit or 64bit version:
Download Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 - 32 bit version
Download Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 - 64 bit version

Also download the Windows 98 Virtual Machine and unpack it anywhere you like:

Download Windows 98 Virtual Machine

After downloading, run the setup program and install Virtual PC. After installing, run Virtual PC and you should automatically get to the New Virtual Machine Wizard. Keep clicking next until you get to this screen:

Click the Add an existing virtual machine button like on the screenshot above. Click Next and you will be able to select the Virtual Machine you want to add. Click Browse, go to the location in which you unpacked the Windows 98 Virtual Machine and open it. Again, click next and you will get to the following screen:

Uncheck the When I click Finish, open Settings button, as it is not necessary for it to be opened. Click Finish and you will end up in the Virtual PC Console:

You can now click on the Windows 98 machine and the click the Start button. Windows 98 will now boot in a window. You can go to Full Screen mode by pressing the right ALT button and ENTER at the same time, or by clicking Action and then clicking Full-Screen Mode if you like. Once Windows 98 has booted you will get this window:

Simply click the OK button and you will get to the desktop. As you can see, DOSBox 0.72 is also installed. It is already set up do you'll have no problem trying to mount your drives. For the CD drive you can add your own CD drive, if it doesn't work already, by clicking CD and then click Use Physical Drive D: (or E: or whatever you use as your DVD drive). You can also use an ISO or another CD image, by clicking Capture ISO image... in the CD menu. To remove the image, click Release "*name of image*" in the CD menu.

If you want to copy files from your computer to you Virtual Machine, you can simply drag them from any folder onto your Virtual Machine and they will get copied there.

Hopefully it all works for you. If not, be sure to ask questions as we will be happy to help you out! Enjoy!

 

[ShockTheSystem]

Thanks very much for this! I can finally play all my old games again! I do have a question though, the Display Adapter for this virtual machine is an S3 card of some sort with 4MB of VRAM. Will this limit the performance of the games that can be played on this machine? Thanks again!

 

[InsaneNutter]

It will do for the more demanding 3d games, but it should be fine for a lot of older games such as red alert.

That can’t really be changed as it’s just what Virtual PC emulates.

 

[Slaz]

Games that require more should be able to run on your Vista/XP system anyway, some by using DOSBox if that really has to be. However, the 'real' DOS appears to work much smoother which is why I'm starting to love VirtualPC. Also, you can now finally try WindowsME without destroying your system!

 

[xXDestroyerGRXx]

sweet

 

[Axu285]

Awesome!

 

[DannyDont]

Windows 98 VM

Thank you for providing the MS PC Virtual Machine and the Windows 98 "Appliance" AND the excellent step by step instructions. Everything went well and I have it up and running. I do have a couple of questions if I might.
1. I would like to increase the memory size a bit. How would I go about that?
2. I also need USB Port access. I know that was a bit more iffy in 98 than in XP. Can I do this or would I be better off to find an XP "Appliance"?
3. I also need to have a print but I believe all I need to do for that is to simple install it under the Windows 98 VM, correct?
Thanks again for helping me out. I had spend hours looking for something like this. I need to run an old CAD application that is far to expensive to upgrade. It is running in the Windows 98 VM.
Dan

 

[InsaneNutter]

To add more memory click the settings button here:

You can now add more ram:

I believe on Windows Virtual PC you can share USB ports, however that only works on Windows 7 and your processor needs to support Intel Virtualization Technology or AMD-V, my processor doesn’t but if yours does it should be exactly what your after.

See here: Windows Virtual PC: Download

As for printers share it on the network then find it in network places on Windows 98 and install the drivers for it under the VM (thats if they exist for Windows 98)

 

[Titcher]

I happen to have a Windows 98 VMware image I've been using, would anyone like me to upload that? VMware performs a little better and works with some stuff Virtual PC doesn't but also doesn't work with some stuff it does.

 

[blinkkid1000x]

great stuff, but the 64 bit doesnt seem to work or is corrupt. any suggestions on what to do or where i can get a working 64 bit version?

 

[InsaneNutter]

You need to be running a 64bit version of Windows to make any use of the 64bit .exe, it will not work on a 32bit version of windows.

 

[soupman55]

cannot transfer files

Hi Assassin,

Thx for the downloads. I have some mathematical software that I need to run in Windows98, however I cannot transfer the files into your Windows 98 Virtual Machine. I would appreciate any help you can offer.

My System:

I have a new computer: Core i5, Win 7, 64-bit. It has a Blu-ray burner and multiple USB ports. I have a cable internet connection.

I have downloaded and installed Virtual PC and Windows XP from Microsoft.

I have downloaded and installed Windows 98 Virtual Machine (W98VM) from Digiex.

My problem: I cannot add (copy, transfer) any files to W98VM.

1. The drag and drop function doesn't work from Win 7 to W98VM, or vice versa. (The XP mode can see and read all my Win 7 files.)

2. I cannot connect to the internet from W98VM (because I have a cable connection?).

3. The W98VM doesn't recognize a CD inserted in the blu-ray drive. (The XP mode does recognize and read the CD.)

4. The W98VM cannot even see the USB drives, let alone any USB sticks I put in them. (The XP mode does recognize and read the USB sticks.)

If I am in "W98VM - Windows Virtual PC" and I click "Tools | Upgrade Integration Components", I get the error message "The D:\ SETUP.EXE file expects a newer version of Windows. Upgrade your Windows version.".

I would appreciate any help you or anyone can offer.

Thx, Soupman55

 

[Assassin]

Weird, I also have Windows 7 and dragging and dropping works for me. It's also strange you can't connect to the internet because that also works fine for me (also have a cable connection). I don't really understand the last part but I think the setup.exe doesn't work under Windows 98 and needs XP or higher. Why exactly can't you drag and drop? Do you get an error or...? Also what's the error when you try to open the internet? Did you try clicking the digiex shortcut on the desktop? Does that work?

Maybe you should try reinstalling the whole virtual drive software and the virtual drive itself and try again.

 

[soupman55]

My basic situation is identical to this:

"A number of people have reported that when they try to install Virtual PC 2007 they receive a compatibility warning ... What you need to know is that you will only receive this warning if you have installed Windows Virtual PC. If you get this, and you want to use Virtual PC 2007 instead of Windows Virtual PC, you will need to uninstall Windows Virtual PC."


So the "Virtual PC Guy" is suggesting that I will have to unistall my Windows VPC in order to get VPC 2007 to run.

In the comments section of the Virtual PC Guy's Blog there is a link to an alternative suggestion:


I could not get this suggestion to work. So it looks like I will have to work out which jobs I need Windows XP and Windows 98 for, and then install only Windows VPC and VPC 2007, respectively, (having first uninstalled the other).

I assume that you haven't installed Windows VPC and Windows XP mode and this is why you aren't having these problems.

I am open to any further comments and suggestions.

 

[Wtrgzr7]

amost there - i loaded riven on the virtual pc, and sound comes from monitor speakers during riven set=up, but not while playing. Any help?


Thx,wtrgzr

 

[MSST8DOG]

Virtual Machine

I happen to have a Windows 98 VMware image I've been using, would anyone like me to upload that? VMware performs a little better and works with some stuff Virtual PC doesn't but also doesn't work with some stuff it does.

I would like the vmware if it works better, but I don't know anything about either of these.

I have a couple of old games and programs that won't work on the Vista machine but do on the xp. I am trying to consolidate everything to one so I can get rid of something to make some more space in my office.
Thanks
Lee

 

[InsaneNutter]

I assume that you haven't installed Windows VPC and Windows XP mode and this is why you aren't having these problems.

I am open to any further comments and suggestions.

This was created before Windows VPC even existed, I can confirm everything works perfectly on Windows 7 with Virtual PC 2007 without Windows Virtual PC installed.

Here is an example of the network settings I have in an XP VM, the network adapter on the Virtual PC is set to the one my PC uses for its internet access.

 

[InsaneNutter]

I have a couple of old games and programs that won't work on the Vista machine but do on the xp. I am trying to consolidate everything to one so I can get rid of something to make some more space in my office.
Thanks
Lee

Have a look at Windows XP Mode, it works with Windows Virtual PC and allows applications running in the virtual machine to appear on your Windows 7 dektop just like they were running on Windows 7.

For every day use that might be a lot better for you.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

 

[mikeram1971]

Thanks for this, made quick work of getting W98 VM installed.

Couple things I keep observing though, the VM will not start or restart on the first attempt, I go through a process of Turn Off, Turn On, Scan Disk, then it works.

Also, Diablo 2 and Expansion installed, will not launch. Vid Test suggests the direct draw 2d setting, which is fine for this. Anyone tried this game under this VM?

Here's my system: Windows 7 64 bit, AMD Phenom II, 4GB RAM, 2x640GB WD mirror.

Installed latest host W VPC (not VPC 2007), used provided Win98 archive.

appreciate it

PS: Determined that launching D2 was something related to detecting the CD drive, once I installed IE6, and the D2 patches, which now D2 does not require Play CD in drive, it launched fine. However, game runs with strange artifacts popping up disappearing on screen, and then the game crashed with some vmsound blue screen error. My configuration with Windows VPC just does not seem stable at all. Will try to remove the Integration pieces as that is probably what is not supported when using Win 98 as WVPC is only supported with XP and up.

 

[Entaru]

Help please

The virtual pc works great but when I start a game it says "A required .DLL file, DINPUT8.DLL, was not found."
When i copy the windows vista dll file in the virutal pc it doesnt work either please help