Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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jorgensen
Posts: 583
Joined: 20. Oct 2009, 01:22
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, LinuxMint

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by jorgensen »

Managed to have Windows 98 SE up and running perfectly with the latest VirtualBox 4.2 version and BearWindows video driver.

Added the Revolutions Pack, and got a very impressive theme to Win98 - http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/131040- ... s-pack-97/

Another important link to updates: http://rp9.win98.nl/

Note: To have Windows 98 working at proper speed VT-x is essential, and can be a little tricky.
DavidMuro
Posts: 1
Joined: 5. Apr 2014, 21:40

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by DavidMuro »

Thank you very much, great tutorial!

In addiction, one way to put files in VM, without use network, or shared folder, is creating .iso of folders in real machine, then mount it like CD to access your files in VM. To do that, I used a little program called Folder2iso, in fact, it uses MKISOFS in background to create the iso file.
Regards,

David
Denkster
Posts: 1
Joined: 3. Jul 2014, 01:34

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by Denkster »

Regarding the Sci-tech display driver for Windows 95 in Virtualbox,

I found a new site to download it from
(..) scitechdd (dot) wordpress (dot) com
That page provides the driver as *.iso file as well as a user name and registration code.

The trick (after installing) is on the 'Home' window of the SciTech Display Doctor application: you need to select the topmost driver, enable it, and then click on apply.
As said in the initial tutorial: you now need to open the monitor selection window and replace the 'Standard VGA monitor' by one of the 'Super VGA' type monitors, in order to be able to select any higher resolution or more color modes.


Regarding installing Windows 95c (the one that has a bootable product CD).
  1. You do not need a floppy disk image.
  2. You need to set the boot order to
    1. Hard disk
    2. CD drive, with the product CD selected.
  3. After restarting, the installer will require extra files from the product CD. Those files can be found in the (CD) folder \Win95\, in the files named Win95_??.cab.
    If you find it hard to get to those files at that stage of the installation process, copy them from the (virtual) CD to your (virtual) hard disk. You don't need all of the Win95 folder, I reckon..
Best regards
Eveline
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by mpack »

... or just stick with the BearWindows universal driver, which just works without all that pfaff, and has no copyright issues either.
tgp1994
Posts: 25
Joined: 7. May 2010, 23:39
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Several

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by tgp1994 »

I've been having a whole host of problems getting vbe9x working...

I initially installed SDD which essentially bricked my system (would not boot past loading screen in normal mode) until I tinkered with the hardware virtualization settings to get it just right. Now that SDD is entirely removed, the VM is extremely particular about which settings are enabled, otherwise the vm will either hang at the loading screen, or error out mentioning a software protection error.

At any rate, trying the latest vbe driver (released in February 2014 I believe), I'm still having issues. I first installed the 128mb version of the drivers, which had the following problems: After rebooting from the installation, Windows would prompt to change display settings. no matter what I do, even if I leave the settings unchanged, virtualbox its self would crash after the second reboot, with the log mentioning something along the lines of a vimf triple error. My video memory was set to 64 MB though, so I figured changing the driver to that version may help. Same problem.

I should mention that I have 98SE2ME installed, which was working ok when the old 2008 drivers were installed (I would like to update though, in order to take advantage of new features). My host is Windows 8.1 x64 with vbox 4.3.16 (afraid to update any further due to current issues).

Does anyone have any experience with these issues?
tgp1994
Posts: 25
Joined: 7. May 2010, 23:39
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Several

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by tgp1994 »

Well, I have somehow managed to get it working :D

Here's essentially what I did. I configured the VM so it could at least boot up in normal mode (see config below). I then uninstalled the current, non-functioning vbemp driver by removing it from device manager, rebooting, hitting no when asked to restart, removing the device again, then following the guide to completely remove the driver (see here). I rebooted, installed the display adapter as window's default, then rebooted again (hey, at least it cycles in about 15 seconds). After that, I went to update the driver. I chose to specify a location, and selected the 32mb driver folder that came with my version of vbe9x, so as to correlate with the allocated memory for the display set in virtualbox. The install completed, and I once again rebooted. After that, I was greeted with a slightly better color depth, and was able to increase resolution and color depth once again. Whew!

If I'm to be honest, I think the reason it started working was between me setting the video memory to 32mb in virtualbox (some people have mentioned that that is necessary), along with doing a complete uninstall of the driver.

Code: Select all


General
Name: Windows 98
OS Type: Windows 98
 

System
Base Memory: 745 MB
Processor(s): 1
Execution Cap: 50% (Host CPU is a 4 core 4.4GHz processor)
Boot Order: Hard Disk, CD/DVD
VT-x/AMD-V: Enabled
Nested Paging: Enabled
 


Display
Video Memory: 32 MB
3D Acceleration: Enabled
2D Video Acceleration: Enabled
Remote Desktop Server: Disabled
 

Storage
Controller: IDE Controller

  IDE Primary Master: Windows 98.vdi (Normal, 8.00 GB)
  IDE Primary Slave (CD/DVD): Windows Me.ISO (499.41 MB)
Controller: Floppy Controller


  Floppy Device 0: Empty
 

Audio
Host Driver: Windows DirectSound
Controller: SoundBlaster 16
 

Network
Adapter 1: PCnet-FAST III (Bridged adapter, Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller)
 

Serial Ports
Disabled


 

USB
Device Filters: 0 (0 active)
 

Shared Folders
None
juron
Posts: 2
Joined: 5. Sep 2012, 10:29

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by juron »

A small note: The previously known website of Bearwindows' VBE graphics driver (Win9x and WinNT) is currently unavailable. He kindly offers his free drivers on two additional websites:

- http://bearwindows.zcm.com.au
- http://www.navozhdeniye.narod.ru

(His forum: http://reboot.pro/topic/2325-universal- ... eo-driver/)
AnrDaemon
Posts: 134
Joined: 7. Feb 2010, 23:41
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Ubuntu Linux, Windows

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by AnrDaemon »

Note on bearwindows: if you need something more than just 1680x1050x32bpp under Win9x, the aforementioned driver is woefully inadequate.
The only working solution I've had is to use SciTech Display Doctor.
Master of Orion II and Dungeon Keeper works just fine.
NoNoNo
Posts: 51
Joined: 16. Apr 2015, 17:35
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP(32bit) / Debian 8.x / Debian 7.x / Windows 7(32bit)

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by NoNoNo »

After Vbox 5.0.x, my guest Windows 98SE won't properly boot with Sci-TECH Display Driver
bold-texts said it all. :? I managed to solve it by following steps:
  1. When I see "Windows Protection Error" during booting, I suspect some drivers cause problem. To figure out which driver, I try step-by-step boot option, and found that "SDDHELP.VXD" prevent guest-VM boot to GUI.
    * What I known at this point:
    - boot without SDDHELP.VXD is OK
    - boot Safe Mode is OK
    - boot Normal while DISABLE VT-x/AMD-V is OK
  2. I try to re-install Sci-TECH Display Driver 7.0 beta, but end up with Windows 98 BSOD, said something about SDDHELP.VXD error. (when I boot without SDDHELP.VXD)
    * What I think at this point:
    ¿ should I adapt it with Bearwindows VBEMP 9x Project ? (Change Driver)
    ¿ should I adapt it with VBox 4.3.x or VMware Player? (Change Hypervisor)
  3. At final I choose changing display driver.
    I install 140214.zip Bearwindows Universal version \064MB files.
    It work as expected. :lol:
    * What I tested at this point:
    - apply 1024*768 @ 16bit Color is OK.
    - apply 1280*1024 @ 32bit Color is OK.
    - apply 1600*1200 @ 32bit Color is OK.
    - dxdiag test of DirectDraw is OK.
    - dxdiag show Direct3D acceleration is NULL.
    - dxdiag test of Direct3D is OK.
    - MS-DOS mode (cmd) is OK. (no glitches like other discussion)
    - play Simcity 3000 Unlimited is OK.
Downgrade to VBox 4.3.x maybe a good choice, but.. I could try it another day.

Code: Select all

Additional Hardwares info: (Somehow, I suspect it cause problem.)
AMD CPU  *1 (APU codename Trinity)
32GB dual-ch. non-ECC DDR3 RAM

My Host is Debian 8.4
Virtualbox 5.0.16 (PUEL)

My Guest Setting:

Guest OS:        Windows 98SE
Memory size:     384MB
VRAM size:       64MB
Chipset:         piix3
Number of CPUs:  1
PAE:             off
ACPI:            on
IOAPIC:          off
Paravirt. Provider: Legacy
VT-x/AMD-V:   on
Nested Paging:   on
3D Acceleration: on
2D Video Acceleration: on
Audio:           enabled
VRDE:            disabled
USB:             disabled
michaln
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 2973
Joined: 19. Dec 2007, 15:45
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Any and all
Contact:

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by michaln »

See https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/14998 which is probably relevant.
Андрей
Posts: 2
Joined: 1. Feb 2017, 22:33

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by Андрей »

Windows 95, if you have the following error: While initializing device IOS: Windows protection error. You need to restart your computer., you can fix it without needing to reinstall the OS.

You need to find and get FIX95CPU_V3_FINAL.The zip has both a floppy image and a CD ISO.
Андрей
Posts: 2
Joined: 1. Feb 2017, 22:33

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by Андрей »

Windows 9x/ME:

You don't need to reinstall Windows to enable ACPI.
Force ACPI detection by manually adding the ACPIOption string value to the registry:

Start the Registry Editor
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Detect
In the right-hand pane right-click an empty space and choose New > DWORD Value
Name it ACPIOption, double-click it, and change the value to 1
Close the registry editor

Select Start > Settings > Control Panel, and then double-click Add New Hardware
Click Next, click Next again, click Yes (Recommended), and then click Next. ACPI should be detected and installed.
Polda18
Posts: 34
Joined: 25. May 2015, 17:46
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: MS-DOS, Ubuntu

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by Polda18 »

After SciTech Display Color is installed, it requires restart. After that, the guest machine hangs. I have to boot into Safe mode in order to use the computer. But it can't be uninstalled. It says I have to restart and I'm where I've been after installation - the machine hangs. So I had to reinstall Windows 98 in the guest machine.

Plus: How do I add shared folders as descibed there:
6. Shared Folders
Since VirtualBox shared folders won't work, there are other ways, such as SMB/Windows File Sharing. Recommended for Windows hosts.

(Tested with VBox 2.1.2.-- and was successful with "bridged" network. I had no success with NAT.)
WARNING: I admit that with VirtualBox the network is very unstable, presumably due to very slow performance of Win 9x guests under VBox.

For Unix hosts, WinSCP is recommended.

Another way of read-only file sharing is to create a virtual CD-ROM *.iso file on the host and insert it into the guest VM.
I mean, it's too technical for me. I need exact guide where to click and what to do. In other words guide for dummies. *.iso file is good, but I need to change the directory from both host and guest, which ISO files do not allow (acting like optical discs)...
The hell good boy
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
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Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by mpack »

If you can't configure a network connection without having your hand held, then perhaps Win98 shouldn't be your first choice of OS?

In any case it isn't really a VirtualBox question. VirtualBox provides the networking hardware, which in this case would be bridged or host only. Beyond that it's a matter of configuring a Win98 network share correctly. I'd suggest that Google is your friend on that question.

Speaking personally, I found it relatively easy to share a Win98 folder with an XP host (which is what I had the last time I did this). I found it impractical for the Win98 guest to access an XP shared folder, because of the extra security provisions that been added to Windows hosts in the interrim (basically, Win98 kept prompting for a new winlogin, which was especially irritating since the XP host wasn't set up to require a password login). Possibly this problem has a solution, possibly Google can help you find it.
Polda18
Posts: 34
Joined: 25. May 2015, 17:46
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: MS-DOS, Ubuntu

Re: Discuss: Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes

Post by Polda18 »

And the screen drivers? It's pretty annoying that I can't set up higher resolution and extensive drivers do not work. The 640x480 is too small resolution for any sort of work with computer. I have older games that do not work with Windows 10 and also older programs that are buggy on new Windows, so I decided to add Windows 98 to my VirtualBox VM collection...
The hell good boy
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