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SanAndreasEleva
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Still Haven't Got My Windows 98 VM Up And Running

I am still at a total loss to why this won't install properly. I also realized that there isn't a whole lot of evidence of Windows 98 being installed in Workstation 14, but there is only one video on Youtube of Windows 98 First Edition being installed. So I reluctantly decided to try out Windows 98 FE (following the same instructions as in the video) and see if I would get the same result as I did in SE. I was able to get to the date & time settings and make my selections, but at some point where it says, "Windows is now setting up the following items" and Updating the system settings..." I get several error messages:

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I was getting several other error messages regarding Internet Explorer 4.0 as well as several "illegal operation" messages, some of the same ones would keep popping up when I would click close. Eventually I was able to get past these messages to the point where it wants to restart the vm but when i clicked "restart now" the operating system just sat there for about 30 seconds and this message popped up:

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I clicked "End Task" and whilst doing so I get more "illegal operation" messages:

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The same messages would repeat when clicking close, and after clicking close several times the messages were gone but now it just sat there with a plain blue screen.

To be honest this is my second attempt at installing Windows FE and during the first attempt yesterday after getting the first batch of error messages I restarted the vm but it wanted to go into safe mode, I tried that but it just sat there and neither the taskbar nor the desktop icons would show up, which resulted in me declaring the vm a brick.

Here are my PC specs:

Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus AX370 Gaming K5

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 Eight-Core Processor 3.00 GHz

RAM: 16 GB DDR4

SSD: Samsung SSD 960 EVO 250 GB

HDD: Seagate Barracuda SD2000DM006 2 TB

External Hard Drive (Back-up): Seagate Backup Plus Hub 8 TB (USB 3.0)

Graphics Card: ASUS GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

Host Operating System: Windows 10 Pro x64 Version 1709 (Build 16299.125)

Two-Monitor Setup: Both are ASUS VS248 Resolution is 1920x1080

Speakers: Bose Companion 5 USB 2.0

Keyboard: Logitech USB 2.0

Mouse: Microsoft USB 2.0

I know some of these specs aren't necessary to list but I did anyway just in case they may be behind the culprit of the problem.

There must be something in my PC that the Windows 98 installation doesn't like or maybe it has something to do with the Ryzen chipset, that's another thing I would like to know is if anyone has had any problems installing a Windows 98 vm on a Ryzen PC.

And for those who haven't seen my previous discussion, here are the error messages I get when I attempt to install Windows 98 SE:

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So if anyone has any ideas of the culprit behind this or if anyone knows of a way around this, please let me know, keeping in mind that I have tried the following methods with the same result:

Dialing down the hardware version to Workstation 12 and Workstation 6.5-7

Setting USB compatibility to 1.1 in vm settings

Removing the USB controller

Splitting the virtual hard disk into multiple files

Reducing the hard disk size to 2 GB

Adjusting the RAM (So far I've had the RAM set to 64 MB, 256 MB, & 512 MB)

Using a different ISO from a different source

Using a different .vmx configuration file from another user

Again, any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

27 Replies
daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

I decided to dust off my Windows 98 SE disk to test this for you. I'm also using Workstation 14 on Windows 10.

After creating a custom VM and setting the compatibility to version 10, I configured the hardware like so.

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The wizard launches and I can make it all the way through without any of the errors you posted.

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Desktop after clean installation.

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VMware tools even installs the legacy version properly.

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And I can open the ancient IE to the Google homepage.

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My thoughts are you may have a bad CD with damage to portions of it. You might want to try another copy (if you can find one) to see if the results are different.

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SanAndreasEleva
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I'm using ISO images, not CD's.

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

So same thought, maybe you have a damaged ISO.

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SanAndreasEleva
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I've used 4 different ISOs so far with the same results so I highly doubt that's the case.

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

Don't know what else to tell you. Works with no problems for me on one try with one disc using the configuration I mentioned.

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SanAndreasEleva
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Just tried it with your configuration method, same result.

And yes this is a very peculiar problem I'm having and I still feel I'm the only one having it.

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

My main thought is it has to do with your AMD CPU. You might play around with masking to see if one or more instructions are causing these problems.

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SanAndreasEleva
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Do you have any suggestions for "masking" the CPU?

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

Unfortunately, I don't but there are some general guidelines for how to mask if you do searches. I can see from wila that Ryzen CPUs have been problematic here AMD Ryzen vs Intel Core i7 . Also, while they are supported in Workstation 14 with the latest hardware version only, they are not supported with ESXi.

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voidp
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Have you tried other hypervisors (VirtualBox, Hyper-V)?

Note: installing these side-by-side can create conflicts among them.

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SanAndreasEleva
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

No I have not, and I'm not too sure if running Windows 98 in VirtualBox and Windows 7 in VMware Workstation at the same time would be possible because, like you said, there may be conflicts, and I would like to have both vm's running for when I can recreate the Plus! 98 themes for my Windows 7 vm using the Windows 98 vm as a reference.

And I don't think Windows 98 is supported in Hyper-V, and even if it was I wouldn't bother as the first time I ran Windows 7 in Hyper-V I wasn't happy with all of the limitations being my host is Windows 10.

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mattew79
Contributor
Contributor

Hello

I've published today a small guide "Come installare Windows 98 in VMWare Workstation Player"  (eng: How to Install Windows 98 in Vmware Workstation Player) using last version of VMware Workstation Player (14) and i've found out the same error in the install procedure (i have a CPU Ryzen 5 1400 on Windows 10 PRO with latest updates).

Troubleshooting:

  • Tweaks on BIOS (still the same error on the install procedure)
  • Tweaks on VMWare Workstation Player settings (still the same error on the install procedure)
  • To uninstall VMWare Workstation Player 14 and to try Workstation Player 12

Bingo ! If you have a CPU Ryzen 5 you need to uninstall VMWare Workstation Player 14 and to use only Workstation Player 12. If you do that you can install Windows 98 and you will have not anymore problems. Please remember that your virtual machine will not be Vmware 14 Ready (ive tried to uninstall Vmware 12 and to install again Vmware 14 to use this Virtual Machine created with Vmware version 12 but no chance... :/) as long as Developers dont fix the Bug (i hope it will be solved in the near future).

Have a great day and have fun with Windows 98 :smileygrin:

G3NSVRV
Contributor
Contributor

you are the man!

I have an AMD A9 and I was getting the same error, now I'm fully playing again with windows 98 :smileygrin:

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Renodil
Contributor
Contributor

Just tried it with your configuration method, same result.

And yes this is a very peculiar problem I'm having and I still feel I'm the only one having it.

Believe me. You're not.

This happens to me no matter what version of VMWare I select. During this part of the setup...

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This happens...

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Then upon the reboot I get several of these errors that I have to keep closing out.

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I have used every available version of VMWare Workstation from 5.x up to 15.x including the ESXi 6.5

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

It may be a good idea for your mental health to check if your CPU - Workstation combination can run a Win98 VM at all by downloading a ready-to-use VMware WS 12 Win98 VM.

Just did the same and it works fine on a host with XEON CPU and WS 12.

https://winworldpc.com/download/

But does not that approach kills all the fun of trying to install that dinosaur ?

Yes - its boring and no fun at all just starting it with  "play"
But if that one does not work for you then you can assume that Win98 does not like the unknown CPU it sees in your case.


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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creopard
Contributor
Contributor

The thread starter's problem relates to his used Ryzen CPU.

You might probably fix that by using VMware 12, see details here: Re: Windows 98 SE installation fails

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VP2020
Contributor
Contributor

I had the same problem. Windows 10 CPU Ryzen with VMWARE 15 and tested with VMWARE 14. The same errors displayed while installing Windwos 98 SE in Vmware.

I found this solution, i tested and worked (VMWare 15.5.0 refuses to actuate my virtual machine )

”I was able to get at the controls that [my friend] indicated were essential.  But once I got sort of into my Win98 virtual machine, I went to Settings/ Control Panel/ System/ File System/ Troubleshooting/ and ticked the Disable all 32-bit protected mode disk drives.  Whereupon I was able to resize the screen display to its proper configuration and get VMWare v15.5.0 to come up properly and normally with my intended Win98 virtual machine.  YIPPEE!”

What i did: After the error with  ”the shell32.dll file is linked to missing export SHLWAPI.DLL :tfileattributeA” i restarted the vm, several F8's for entering in Safe Mode, and from there: Start-> Settings> Control Panel-> System -> select ”Performance” TAB from the System Propetries window, then from ”Advanced Settings” the FIle System button -> select Troubleshooting tab -> Disable all 32-bit protect-mode drivers.

It worked for me.VMWare 15.5.0 refuses to actuate my virtual machine

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creopard
Contributor
Contributor

Sure, disabling "32-bit protect-mode drivers" in Safe Mode via

Start-> Settings> Control Panel-> System -> select ”Performance” TAB from the System Propetries window, then from ”Advanced Settings” the FIle System button -> select Troubleshooting tab -> Disable all 32-bit protect-mode drivers.

Will help you booting into Windows 98, however you won't be able to activate the "32-bit protect-mode drivers" again using VMware 15.x as it will then result again in various error messages.

So you're left with a degraded disk drive performance and you won't have access to a CD-ROM drive inside your Windows 98 installation.

However, you will be able to activate the 32-bit protect-mode drivers again in VMWare 12.5.9, while replacing the file "ESDI_506.PDR" in safe mode, as described here: Re: Windows 98 SE installation fails  (This solution won't work in VMware versions > 12.5.9!)

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birdie
Expert
Expert

Windows 95, 98 and ME are incompatible with new CPUs.

In order to use these OSes you need either an older CPU or software virtualization.

https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/19275#comment:8

https://blog.stuffedcow.net/2015/08/pagewalk-coherence/

https://blog.stuffedcow.net/2015/08/win9x-tlb-invalidation-bug/

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