virtualbox.org

I don't know what I am doing wrong, but I just can't install Windows 98 SE or 2000 in Virtualbox.

My OS is Vista Home Premium.

I've spent hour and hours trying to install Windows 98, but keep getting the same error. Tried 3 different Win98 images, an endless amount of settings, guides, but nothing helped. See this topic:
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19586

Then I stopped trying and instead tried to install Windows 2000. This won't work either. It looked as if it worked fine when installing, but right when I have chosen time/date format, etc. as it is doing the final installation it restarts and I have to choose the time/date settings, etc. again, and it restarts at the same point again, and so it cycles if I keep trying.

Also, while trying to install Windows 2000 I have tried many settings and followed guides - but I just can't get it to work no matter what I try!

What am I doing wrong?!

I am new to this forum, so if you need any information that I haven't written please let me know.

Please post the settings that you are trying to use for the guest and the amount of RAM that the host has.

Here is a screenshot of the settings I tried last:
http://imageload.dk/files/7c120b5f5c711 ... 6dbafb.jpg

But I have tried several other settings.

The host is Vista Home Premium with 2gb RAM

Well the Win98 is a different thing. You should just forget it because even if you are able to get it installed you have to hack it to make it work on the newer machines that we have today.

As for the Win 2000, pro, and Advanced that is a different story. I installed it by using the dynamic disk and setting the max to 16 GB then I set the RAM to 128Meg and Video to 10 Meg. My install was from a real Windows install CD and not an image though and it is possible that the image you have is corrupt or for an OEM install which means it could be looking for something that it was supposed to see. Out of curiosity where did the image come from?

Ok, I have tried many settings, so it can be that the image is currupted. But this also sounds wierd to me, since I created the image myself from an old windows cd (i am not using any dvd/cd drive on my computer, so I always create images of the things I need on another machine to use on my own).

But I have only tried one win2000 though, I will see if I can get another and try, but I would be surprised if it works.

I install from images that I make as well. One thing to be careful of is the burn speed. Faster burn speeds sometimes corrupt internal files.

Perryg wrote:Well the Win98 is a different thing. You should just forget it because even if you are able to get it installed you have to hack it to make it work on the newer machines that we have today.

Sorry to interrupt, but:

Why do you believe it is necessary to have to "hack" Windows 98 in order to get it to run in a virtual machine? Isn't one of the functions of a virtual machine software like VMware Workstation or Virtualbox to enable us to run other, including older OSs, even on the new computers today?

Windows 98 is old, no doubt about it. But it is not "that" old. VMware Workstation (4, 4.5, 5, 5.5 , 6 and now 6.5) has always been able to install Windows 98 without any problems, as long as you keep in mind the limitations, such as the fact that you cannot install Windows 98 on a virtual machine with more than 512MB RAM. I have 2 Windows 98 virtual machines on my computer with Windows XP x64 as host and running VMware Workstation 6.5, and they work fine. I can run some old games in them such as Legend of Galactic Heroes IV (Chinese) which runs properly only under Windows 95 or 98.

If Virtualbox cannot run Windows 98 properly inside a virtual machine, then I would say this is a problem with Virtualbox itself, not with the computer, as VMware Workstation has been able to do this all the time. VMware Workstation also has VMware Tools support for Windows 98 as well.

To run a Windows 98 virtual machine I would suggest a maximum of 512MB RAM, a 2GB hard disk image, and disabling USB support in the virtual machine, for a start.