Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
jorgensen
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by jorgensen »

schneida wrote:thank you very much for all the helpful information I could find in this board. I got my Windows 98 gaming setup mostly working, but sound is a big issue for me. I don't know why, but I can't get it to work. Now before you suggest installing the correct drivers and so on, I did that (hopefully):
Can anybody suggest what I should do next....?
No specific problem is listed from you, but here is what I have learned.
The SoundBlaster driver should play major audio files without problems.
There is a problem with the AC97 driver and some programs like Windows Media Player.
If you want to use Windows Media Player and have MIDI, use the SoundBlaster setting and install Yamaha XG70 MIDI simulator (can be hard to find) - otherwise use the AC97 setting and another media player like Winamp (5.35).
Alternative you can switch the VirtualBox audio setting for which audio setup you want.
Experimental you can try to disable the AC97 Mixer in Control Panel->Multimedia->Devices->Mixer Devices->Mixer for Realtek AC97 Audio
Toggling the Audio Output in the status bar or menu while the guest is running could be a solution.
Last edited by jorgensen on 10. May 2020, 07:47, edited 1 time in total.
AnrDaemon
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by AnrDaemon »

The problem with SB16 playback is that it's jagged and delayed to unusability, when playback is continuously streamed. F.e. when you playing games.
ChozoSR388
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by ChozoSR388 »

(Hopefully) Quick question; I'm trying to run a Win 95 VM in VirtualBox, but I'm getting the Windows Protection Error when I try to boot. I was told I need to disable "Enable VT-X/AMD-V" under Machine Settings > System > Acceleration. However, that option is not available under the Acceleration tab. The host machine I'm trying to run the VM on is centered around an AMD FX-8350. This is the first time I've tried to run a Windows 95 VM on this machine. The last time I tried to do it, I was running an AMD FX-6300, and it ran fine, no issues to speak of. Is anyone privvy to a potential solution to this issue?
mpack
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by mpack »

ChozoSR388 wrote:I was told I need to disable "Enable VT-X/AMD-V" under Machine Settings > System > Acceleration.
Not by anyone who knows what they're talking about. The tutorial tells you what you actually need to do: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=9918#p422192.
ChozoSR388
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by ChozoSR388 »

mpack wrote:
ChozoSR388 wrote:I was told I need to disable "Enable VT-X/AMD-V" under Machine Settings > System > Acceleration.
Not by anyone who knows what they're talking about. The tutorial tells you what you actually need to do: <your link here, as I'm new>.
Thank you. The video tutorial that I got my information from was from 2017, but it clearly worked; the setting was disabled, and the VM booted up as you'd expect Win95 to boot, no WPE.
mpack
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by mpack »

ChozoSR388 wrote:The video tutorial that I got my information from was from 2017, but it clearly worked
That it seemed to work was purely accidental, as it did not explain or address the actual problem. The VT-x disable hack just made the VM run a little less efficiently, which hid the problem for some users.
Romero1972
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by Romero1972 »

The vbe9x video driver doesn't display Unicode characters. In Windows 98, it is enough to reduce the hardware acceleration to the second notch, but in Windows ME it doesn't work in any position.
That should probably be added to FAQ to save much frustration.
mpack
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by mpack »

Romero1972 wrote:The vbe9x video driver doesn't display Unicode characters.
Well, (a) why would it, since AFAIR Win98 had no native support for Unicode, which was an NT thing. (b) The graphics driver doesn't display fonts, period. The OS does that. All the graphics driver does is paint pixels.
Romero1972
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by Romero1972 »

mpack wrote:The graphics driver doesn't display fonts, period.
Windows 3.x did not support Unicode, Windows 9x did.

It seems that video driver does something more than just display pixels. You can test that trivially with something like MS Word.
mpack
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by mpack »

Romero1972 wrote:
mpack wrote:The graphics driver doesn't display fonts, period.
Windows 3.x did not support Unicode, Windows 9x did.
I don't believe so. AFAIR, Unicode wasn't ever implemented in DOS based Windows except as an upgrade that came out around the same time that XP appeared, i.e. long after it was relevant.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft ... or_Unicode. Note what it says in the "How it works" section.
Romero1972 wrote:You can test that trivially with something like MS Word.
Can you be more precise? What exactly am I supposed to do with MS Word that demonstrates that character codes are being translated to glyphs specifically by the graphics driver rather than by the font renderer in Windows?
Romero1972
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by Romero1972 »

mpack wrote:What exactly am I supposed to do with MS Word that demonstrates that character codes are being translated to glyphs specifically by the graphics driver rather than by the font renderer in Windows?
Just setup Windows 98, Word 97, and the free driver, then type some Unicode text in.

https://imgur.com/a/Ui3Y7eg
WINDed
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by WINDed »

I trying run windows 95 but it says windows protection error
Attachments
WIN95-2020-08-20-10-39-54.log
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The Nostalgia Master
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by The Nostalgia Master »

WINDed wrote:I trying run windows 95 but it says windows protection error
You mind posting a screenshot of the windows protection error? It would make it easier for me to find out whether it's a problem with VirtualBox or the host.

Also, my post here got deleted for some reason. I wish I knew why.
mpack
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by mpack »

There's no need to post any screenshots. The cause of and cure for the protection error is dealt with in the tutorial. Though I am left to wonder why people would post in a "Discuss the tutorial" topic, without having read the tutorial being discussed.
The Nostalgia Master
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by The Nostalgia Master »

Oh, OH. I get it now. Jeez I can be stupid at times.
Though in any situation it would've been easier to understand what WINDed meant by Windows protection error.

EDIT: Looking at the tutorial, I am going to admit: I installed Windows 98 Second Edition and had ACPI until some time after installing and activating Sci-Tech Display Doctor. Then my VM would freeze at the shutdown screen (instead of just saying it's now safe to turn off your computer). Without using the tutorial, I downloaded an ACPI driver for Windows 98, installed it using a snapshot and trial and error and yeah, it works. But I ended up with a single BSOD after the initial restart. Restarted and everything was fine. I don't think I used the tutorial at all.

As for Sci-Tech Display Doctor, I don't think that is really necessary anymore. All you have to do is look for a Windows 98 display driver that can go up to 32 bit colour. Why? Because I ended up getting a Windows NT 5 VM and finding a driver that took it from 16 colours to 32-bit colour. And without having some antivirus-esque program installed that potentially asks for activation. Take that, Sci-Tech!
Also, I really wish I knew how to stop Sci-Tech Display doctor from appearing every time I log into Windows 98, because that gets annoying fast, especially when there is no need to change display settings anymore.
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