Setting up WinME on Win10

[Alure155]

I have downloaded Virtualbox not long ago, and I need to set up a virtual machine that runs Windows ME. Well, Win95OSR2.1, 98, 2000, or ME will do fine.
My actual computer runs 64 bit Windows 10. I've tried to set up the VM, but it doesn't seem to work.
First, I allocated 128MB of RAM to the VM and created a new virtual hard disk. For my first attempt, I selected VDI as my hard disk file type and selected that it should be dynamically allocated. I set the size of the Virtual Hard Disk at 4 GB.
So the VM is created, and I try to boot it. I selected the icon that looks like an orange box, titled Windows ME.vdi, as my disk file.This is where I encounter my problem. First, I get a "Failed to open" error. I then tried to select the file with the icon of a blue box, and I get the same result.
If I try to run the machine without selecting a file, I just get an error saying "No bootable medium found. System halted!".
What am I doing incorrectly? Do I have to download some other file?

[socratis]

You sound like a fairly new user to VirtualBox. Since you are expected to know some basic terms before we engage in a meaningful discussion, I would suggest to start by reading three small chapters from the User Manual:

• 1.2. Some terminology,
• 1.8. Creating your first virtual machine and
• 1.9. Running your virtual machine.

Or even better, read the whole chapter 1. First steps.

[BillG]

Creating a vm simply create the emulated hardware. Before you can do anything useful with it, you must install an operating system, just as you must do on a physical machine. The vm cannot start because it has nothing to boot from. You need the installation media for Win ME (or whatever OS you decide to install). 95, 98, ME and W2k are all possible, but I would choose ME from that lot.

[socratis]

95, 98, ME and W2k are all possible, but I would choose ME from that lot.

I *have* to ask you this BillG; WinME? Compared to W2K?
Why, oh why?

[BillG]

I was never a fan of the W2k client version (the server was OK), and it was pretty useless when I tried it in a vm.

I know that ME was not popular but I rather liked it. Maybe it's just me. I didn't dislike Vista (and still have one as a vm).

[socratis]

Actually, WinME, Vista and 8/8.1 are the three Windows OSes that I really can't stand! Not even on a VM! I won't spare not even a single byte for them!

Options, choices, opinions... They're are all great!

[Alure155]

You sound like a fairly new user to VirtualBox. Since you are expected to know some basic terms before we engage in a meaningful discussion, I would suggest to start by reading three small chapters from the User Manual:

• 1.2. Some terminology,
• 1.8. Creating your first virtual machine and
• 1.9. Running your virtual machine.

Or even better, read the whole chapter 1. First steps.

I've read the chapters. I downloaded an ISO file from WinWorld for WinME, titled "Microsoft Windows ME (4.90.3000) (Retail Full)" and, when the first start Wizard appeared, I selected that ISO image on my computer. However, I still got the "Fatal: No bootable medium found" error.
I then tried to change the boot order in the settings. I changed it to start with the virtual hard disk and then boot the optical drive. With that, I got an error saying "Could not read from the boot medium".

[socratis]

I still got the "Fatal: No bootable medium found" error.

The ISO is not correct or it's corrupted. Plus, I don't want to hear that you downloaded an ISO from a 3rd party source, or the thread gets locked.

As an esteemed colleague said:

On this site we like to pretend that everyone is honest, observes copyright, and doesn't use trial software for more than the intended period.

[Alure155]

Well, I've successfully booted up and set up WinME. I've got one problem, however.
So I want to be able to install files from my host computer onto the VM. I figured that I should set up a shared folder between the host and the guest and move files that I want to run on the VM there. I created the folder on my host, set the VM shared folder settings to make the folder permanent. The VboxGuestAdditions.iso file is also present.
I looked up how to set up the shared folder, and the tutorials that I've seen say to open up the command prompt and type in "net use z: \\vboxsvr\sharename", where sharename is the name of the folder. I tried to to do that on both the host and guest OS, but no luck. In both cases, I got System Error 53.

[socratis]

I figured that I should set up a shared folder between the host and the guest

You missed/need to understand a couple of details:

• VirtualBox Shared Folders (VSFs) require the Guest Additions (GAs) to be installed on the guest, as you correctly pointed out.
• There are no GAs for WinME. Therefore, you cannot use VSFs for transferring files between host and guest.
• You cannot also use Drag'n'Drop, for the same reason, no GAs for WinME.
• Your only option is "SMB shares" (or otherwise known as Windows shares). But Win10 doesn't support the older SMB 1.0 protocol. There are ways to enable it, but even if enabled, I never had success with a Win95 VM that I have, don't know about WinME, maybe it works, you need to try it...
• You could install something like an FTP server on your Win10 host. Or you could search your favorite engine on how to do this. Think of the problem as trying to connect two physical computers; one of them running Win10, the other WinME. Don't think of it as a VirtualBox problem...