[Solved] Setup Error for Windows 98SE

[Sereus]

I've been looking around trying to figure out how to get past this error. I've followed almost every setup guide I can step by step and I've double checked that virtualization is enabled on the CPU. I can't get past the "Setup is preparing to install Windows." screen when the following error is generated in the logs

00:09:59.956640 emR3Debug: rc=VERR_REM_VIRTUAL_CPU_ERROR

I'm not sure where to go from here. :\

Edit:
Attached is the log file

[mpack]

Please post a VM log file. With the VM fully shut down, right click and "Show Log" in the GUI, save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip, and attach the zip here.

[Sereus]

Here is the Zip. Just the VBox.log file inside

[mpack]

Why does the VM use a VHD format disk? That is an odd choice for a VirtualBox VM. By itself it means nothing, but it does lead to more questions: did you create this VM yourself, in VirtualBox?

You seem to have a 16GB system drive. That is an impossibly huge drive for a Win98SE era PC. My own Win98SE VM has a 2GB drive.

As to the actual error :-

00:09:59.951368 fatal error in recompiler cpu: Trying to execute code with memory type addr_code=00000000000a2020 addend=0000000009d94000 at 00000000000a20cd. (iHandlerMemType=0x38 iMMIOMemType=0x30)
00:09:59.951369
00:09:59.951933 Changing the VM state from 'RUNNING' to 'GURU_MEDITATION'
00:09:59.951949 Console: Machine state changed to 'GuruMeditation'
00:09:59.952147 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
00:09:59.952148 !!
00:09:59.952149 !! VCPU0: Guru Meditation -2301 (VERR_REM_VIRTUAL_CPU_ERROR)
00:09:59.952445 !!
00:09:59.952553 !!

VirtualBox has seen unvirtualizable code somewhere. This can't be standard/native Win98SE code otherwise we'd all see the same error in our Win98SE VMs, so I'm going to say that the problem is in a strange device driver and further indicates that this installation did not originate in VirtualBox.

This looks suspicious too. :-

00:00:01.155837 File system of 'C:\Users\sales\Downloads\win98se.iso' (DVD) is ntfs

Win98SE is not available as a download from any reputable site AFAIK. That makes this an unsupportable image from a shady source.

[Sereus]

Why does the VM use a VHD format disk? That is an odd choice for a VirtualBox VM. By itself it means nothing, but it does lead to more questions: did you create this VM yourself, in VirtualBox?
You seem to have a 16GB system drive. That is an impossibly huge drive for a Win98SE era PC. My own Win98SE VM has a 2GB drive.

I was trying to create an environment to save running copies of old software before any more disks are lost beyond repair. I didn't think VHD would cause a problem, one of the last setup guides I saw used VHD, nor did I realize that 16gb was that big.

VirtualBox has been unvirtualizable code somewhere. This can't be standard/native Win98SE code otherwise we'd all see the same error in our Win98SE VMs, so I'm going to say that the problem is in a strange device driver and further indicates that this installation did not originate in VirtualBox.

Win98SE is not available as a download from any reputable site AFAIK. That makes this an unsupportable image from a shady source.

I made an iso using WinISO at home tossed it over with my drive. It worked with my XP copy. I just assumed i could do the same thing with 98se.

[mpack]

VHD is and always was such a POS that nobody uses it any more, not even Microsoft. I wish I could say I was surprised that some random blogger is still suggesting its use. If you are creating a VirtualBox VM then you should use the VirtualBox native format, which is VDI.

WinISO is just a CD imaging app. Imaging a CD to ISO doesn't change the media content or confer any special properties, so if you image a bootable install CD you'll have... an ISO image of a bootable install CD. If you image something else then you'll have an image of something that isn't a bootable install CD. The argument isn't affected by the OS version being installed, the only thing that matters is: what exactly is on the CD? Is it a bootable Win98SE install CD? Is it intended for installation on generic PCs, or was it bundled with Dell or suchlike and expects to find a Dell (or suchlike) motherboard and BIOS?

[Kurt_Aust]

16GB for your Win 98se virtual system drive shouldn't present a problem, at least it hasn't caused me any problems with my VM.

[mpack]

You're probably right. Still, in general people should remember to think about the hardware norms of the time. Not the hardware norms of today. 1998 was 20 years ago after all.

[Sereus]

I attempted last night with the physical disk. Everything ended up working out. :/ I kept the size up at 16gb because I'm looking to store old programs but I did change it over to VDI.

[mpack]

Glad to hear it worked out. Marking as solved.