virtualbox.org

Hi, I was using Virtualbox 5.0.4 , and encountered an error while using virtualbox. First I downloaded the free windows 98.vhd from digiex. Then I added it to virtualbox with 64mb of memory. I then started it up. The error I then got was the instruction at 0x00007fffeab34b4f referenced memory at , the memory could not be read. I then got the error E_FAIL (0x80004005) I'm missing some of the information because I didn't take it down before I uninstalled it.

The reason I uninstalled 5.0.4 was because I found a post saying to install 4.3.12, and it actually worked! Windows 98 booted up straight away. I can re-install 5.0.4 if you guys want any more information than what I have provided and re-produce this problem with 5.0.4.

I have visited the DigiEx website, and found the VM you mention, but I see no mention of DigiEx's legal authority to distribute Microsoft copyrighted code. Until that is clarified I'm afraid you can't receive any help here.

I'm pretty sure that it was distibuted legally, or else I wouldn't post it here. A reputable site like that wouldn't distribute illegally willy nilly like that. I'm pretty sure that this applies to all windows 98 os's on windows 10 as reverting to 4.3.12 works. I'm not asking for any help, I'm just stating a bug with 5.0.4.

Also, cool name! When I was in highschool mpack was rumored to be a program used by the russian mofia to hack websites, and drip used by the chinese triads to hack websites. ^_^

Windows 9x is a copyrighted program. Unless the download comes with an explicit license allowing copying, then copying is illegal. The chance of that being a legit download are really close to zero.

That said, if you want someone to take a look at the crash, please create a ticket, briefly describe what you did to trigger it, and attach VBox.log plus a crash dump. Without that, there's unfortunately nothing anyone can do for you.

redex wrote:I'm pretty sure that it was distibuted legally, or else I wouldn't post it here. A reputable site like that wouldn't distribute illegally willy nilly like that.

And who will indemnify us against the legal costs if that turns out to be wrong? You?

It could just be ignorance. A lot of people assume with no legal justification whatever that old software (obsolete, or "abandonware") is no longer covered by copyright. It may be true that nobody cares, but that doesn't make it legal. Also, the risk would depend on who owns the copyright (some teeny co. that stopped trading in the 1980's, versus a megacorp that still exists?), and on who's doing or facilitating the stealing (some penniless student that isn't worth your while to sue, versus another megacorp - a competitor! ?).

Since the risks are maximized if you get help here... you probably can't get help here!