Questions tagged [windows-98]

For questions about Microsoft Windows 98

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18 votes
3 answers
4k views

Was the MS-DOS window in Windows 95 an emulator like current DOSBox?

Windows 1.x, 2.x and 3.x required a DOS to be loaded before running them. Later Windows 9.x and ME had similar (?) way of working, but DOS was included with them, 32-bit multitasking and other stuff ...
7 votes
6 answers
2k views

How can I copy files from a Compaq Deskpro?

I have a Compaq Deskpro EN 6266 Deskpro EN PII 266 Computer, pictured below. When I try to insert a 4.7 GB optical disk, the PC stops. When I use a 720MB optical disk it says that I don't have ...
19 votes
3 answers
6k views

Windows 98 setup preparation hangs while probing floppy drives in the preparation stage

I am trying to install Windows 98 on a pretty modern computer, from 2010. Why? Because I want to see if I can. Anyway, I am booting off a USB flash drive with FreeDOS on it. I formatted the USB flash ...
6 votes
1 answer
3k views

Windows 98 SE installation "hangs" around device detection stage

I just got a Medion PC with an Intel AN430TX, Pentium MMX 166 and 32MB of RAM. The Mainboard has a 3d Rage 2 and Yamaha audio onboard. I can not install Windows 98 SE completely. I don't get any ...
12 votes
3 answers
3k views

Disassembling Windows IO.SYS

Under the question How did Windows ME "cripple" DOS?, Ross Ridge's answer showed a section of his disassembly. I would like to know, a) what disassembler was used and b) what adjustment or ...
2 votes
2 answers
417 views

Device access APIs in Windows 9x

What were the programming interfaces used to access "raw" devices on Windows 95~ME? Specifically GPUs, but I'm also curious about other device types in general. For example, on modern Linux (...
16 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why would installing Windows 9x on a Sager NP8200 or Wedge 466/DX2 laptop brick the system?

In the setup.txt file on the Windows 95 and 98 CDs (located in the \WIN95 [Windows 95] / \win98 [Windows 98] folder), which contains important information on setting up Windows and solving or working ...
4 votes
1 answer
405 views

How can I restore a TapeDisk backup on a modern PC?

Back in the 1990s and a bit later I used DAT DDS tape for backups to a SCSI tape drive. The software was "TapeDisk" which allowed the DDS tape to appear as a HD. I'm trying to get some files ...
24 votes
1 answer
4k views

What did SULFNBK.EXE actually do?

SULFNBK.EXE is an executable file that came with Windows 98 and Millennium, and is known for sporting a pretty… interesting icon in the former: It has also become pretty infamous for being subject to ...
38 votes
6 answers
7k views

Are old versions of Windows at risk of modern malware attacks?

On my answer to a previous question (Can I run Windows 98 and games from the same era on an AMD Duron CPU?) I finished with a warning about using Windows 98 on the Internet, which received the ...
4 votes
1 answer
475 views

Installing Windows 98SE without FDD, CD-ROM, Network, or USB on Thinkpad E310ED

I'm restoring an old Thinkpad E310ed from c. 1997 and running into an issue I can't seem to find a workable solution to: installing Windows 98SE to a new "hard drive." The original HDD seems ...
64 votes
1 answer
12k views

Why didn't Windows 98 need the "Starting Windows 98..." screen?

In Windows 95, when you start up your computer, you see this message: Starting Windows 95... But in Windows 98, this is replaced entirely by the boot logo. Was this just for a better appearance, or ...
33 votes
1 answer
4k views

"Quit all programs, and then restart your computer" in the Windows 95 "Illegal operation" dialog

Back in the Windows 95/98 days, the "illegal operation" dialog was (from here): but sometimes, in that dialog, it would say "Quit all programs, and then restart your computer" (...
0 votes
3 answers
396 views

Toshiba laptop with Windows 98 shows corrupted characters while booting, then the system goes entirely blind

I have a Toshiba laptop and I am not sure what is going on with it. Thinking that maybe the computer was corrupted 20 plus years ago. Trying to fix it up. When the laptop boots, I can see this on ...
10 votes
2 answers
664 views

Why did Windows 9x allow ring-3 software to change IDT?

I was researching how old Windows 9x viruses, such as Win95.CIH, got ring 0 access, and it's shown that one of the approaches was to get the Interrupt Descriptor Table, hook the interrupt handler and ...
16 votes
4 answers
7k views

Running DOS, Windows 3, and Windows 98 from one FAT32 partition?

I'd like to setup a Windows 98 SE system that boots into the included MS-DOS 7.1 command line, and which can also run Windows 3.11. I've seen various disjointed posts online that suggest this is ...
12 votes
3 answers
6k views

Does the kernel of Windows 95/98/ME have a name?

In this question: Why was the DOS kernel discarded? I was told that DOS is not a kernel. It runs on CPUs that don't even have kernel mode. So how can it be a kernel? So I think this is right. Now if ...
11 votes
1 answer
964 views

Why do Windows 98 and ME boot disks use EBD.CAB and the RAMDrive?

Starting from Windows 98, Microsoft RAMDrive was introduced into Emergency Boot Disks (EBDs). A:\README.TXT contains the following explanation: Without creating the RAMdrive, we would not have enough ...
8 votes
1 answer
555 views

Why "Dial-Up ATM Support" cannot be selected in Windows 98 setup?

In the setup of Windows 98 Second Edition, you can select everything but Dial-Up ATM Support: Whether using the mouse or the keyboard, the item cannot be selected no matter what. Was that a planned ...
12 votes
2 answers
3k views

Documentation on Windows Explorer Shell Command Files

Windows Explorer Shell Command Files are a feature added to Windows with Internet Explorer 4 (95 / NT 4). They were used in the now-defunct Quick Launch bar to show the desktop, open IE4's Channels ...
441 votes
8 answers
232k views

Why did moving the mouse cursor cause Windows 95 to run more quickly?

I was playing Hypnospace Outlaw, a game about a retro-themed OS. This OS has a peculiar behavior that when loading a webpage, wiggling the mouse cursor will load the page faster. That reminded me of ...
0 votes
2 answers
993 views

Get himem.sys working on an AMI 1.06.09 bios (not on VM)

I tried many 98SE boot disks online, they all boot successfully on my mobile workstation from USB (C:\>), but all can't run the Windows 98SE Installer because of XMS Memory, giving an error like: ...
1 vote
0 answers
171 views

How can I install a driver for a digitizing tablet Genius HiSketch 1212 in a VMWare virtual machine running Windows 98SE? [duplicate]

I posted a question some time ago - How can I make use of a Genius HiSketch 1212 serial-port drawing tablet on a modern PC? - and I didn't found the solution, but the scenario now has changed. This is ...
37 votes
1 answer
7k views

In the classic "Windows 98 crashes live on CNN" video, why does the BSOD appear so oddly?

I've been seeing this since the late 1990s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKy9fV_zX_o Was this a hoax or joke of some kind? The only reason I ask is that, when the blue screen appears, it does so in ...
0 votes
0 answers
274 views

Identify this spaceship fruit collection game starring a levitating fish

Okay this might be a long shot, but I've been looking for this game for over 7 years now and I'm starting to question my sanity. I played this game somewhere between 1998-2003 but it might be a tad ...
33 votes
6 answers
32k views

Windows 98 with 2GB of RAM

I have assembled a retro-gaming PC out of an old Shuttle SN45G with a Windows 98/Windows XP dual boot. The motherboard can handle 2GB of RAM, but apparently Windows 98 can only handle 1 GiB. Windows ...
12 votes
2 answers
20k views

Windows 98 / XP Dual boot

I have acquired an old Shuttle X PC (Windows XP, Mini-DTX form factor HTPC) that works fine. As I can't do much with this form factor (I can't fit a modern motherboard in the case) and that the ...
9 votes
2 answers
1k views

What technical reasons prevented the Win9x Virtual Machine Monitor from running multiple threads simultaneously?

Were there any inherent limitations in the way the VMM for Win9x was designed that prevented it from being able to run threads simultaneously if the underlying hardware had multiple cores/processors? ...
2 votes
1 answer
348 views

How do you start a minimized MS-DOS session on Windows 98 SE?

How do you start a minimized MS-DOS session (i.e., launch a Command Prompt window that is in the minimized state) for Windows 98 [version 4.10.2222]? I thought the solution would be: start /min But ...
1 vote
2 answers
1k views

Installing 98SE without USB/CDROM to IDE drive - Invalid System Disk [closed]

I bought a Compaq LTE 5100 that came without a drive. I got a replacement caddy from an Armada and the drive is recognized in BIOS (60GB drive, listed as 8GB as expected). What I have: a stack of ...
96 votes
3 answers
23k views

Why does part of the Windows 98 Setup program look older than the rest?

When installing Windows 98, the part of the setup process where you enter things like product details looks... different. The scrollbars, buttons, title bar and such look more like they belong in ...
25 votes
1 answer
5k views

Windows 98 fails to install with 'Windows Setup requires 7340032 by' error in console

If you install Windows 98 from CD-ROM by first booting from a start-up floppy (such as a Windows 98 Startup Disk) and run setup.exe, it will inform the user that it is going to check the hard disks, ...
14 votes
6 answers
25k views

How to use USB flash drives with Windows 98 SE?

I have a Compaq desktop computer running Windows 98 SE. It's been handed down a few times, and I don't recollect it ever being online but it does have a version of Firefox from 2007 so I could be ...
7 votes
4 answers
2k views

Where can I get icons for Windows 3.1/95-style GUIs?

Consider for instance the GUI for Microsoft Word 97: I am interested in getting the tiny icons used for the "Open", "Save", "Print" operations below the menu bar. Is there a good source for these and ...
4 votes
0 answers
223 views

How to perform a DNS lookup in a VxD?

Is there a documented way of performing a DNS lookup in VxD-land? Windows 98 provides TCP/IP-32 VxD that mimics the function of the Windows NT/2000 TDI, however this interface usually works with IP ...
2 votes
0 answers
260 views

Why were the audio peak meters removed in Windows 98 but re-added in Windows Vista? [closed]

In Windows 95 and Nt 4.0 and earlier, there were audio meters that represented the loudness of the playing audio (for wave and synth), but it was removed in Windows 98 and NT 5.0. Then, it was re-...
6 votes
1 answer
436 views

How can I install debug VXDs from the Windows 98 DDK?

The core OS debug VXDs are provided in the DDK as separate VXDs, as opposed to being packed into a single VMM32.VXD file. Furthermore the readme file with the DDK indicates that copying all the ...
5 votes
1 answer
869 views

3.5″ floppy drive shown as 5.25″ in Windows 98 SE

I have an old PC from the 90s. When I boot DOS from floppy, everything works fine. I have just installed Windows 98 SE and for some reason, the 3.5 inch floppy drive is showing as 5.25 inch drive. It ...
43 votes
7 answers
53k views

Latest web browser compatible with Windows 95 / 98

Do you know which is the latest web browser compatible with Windows 95 / 98? At the moment I have an Opera 10 working fine; it is very lightweight but very outdated. I assume that software that works ...
7 votes
5 answers
5k views

Is it possible to limit HDD capacity to work on an old computer?

I have an old laptop (Dell Inspiron 3500 running Windows 98) which had a hard drive failure. I searched for HDDs but the 5 GB ones (that was the original drive's capacity) were unreasonably priced. I ...
3 votes
1 answer
414 views

Where can I find Windows 98 drivers for VIA sound card VT8237A/VT8251?

I'm looking to try and get a VIA sound card working in Windows 98. I have everything else running no problems, just the sound. I've tried everything I can think of including VIA’s website which lists ...
6 votes
1 answer
4k views

How I can install Windows 98SE in Hyper-V, but can't run it after

Create the Gen 1 machine with less than 512MiB Ram (above requires you to put MaxFileCache=524288 and MaxPhysPage=40000 in the system.ini later). Add either a virtual or physical IDE drive (physical ...
4 votes
2 answers
5k views

How do I install Windows 9x on an older machine from a flash drive (or any other unconventional device)

Windows 9x is no longer common, and isn't commonly supported. While there exist many solutions to burning ISO to USB or other storage device, most fail at some point, with commonly useless if any ...
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why are there three different settings in the [Paths] section of MSDOS.SYS?

In Windows 9x, the MSDOS.SYS configuration file contains a [Paths] section whose contents usually look like this: [Paths] WinDir=C:\WINDOWS WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS HostWinBootDrv=C Both WinDir and ...
2 votes
1 answer
671 views

How to get Windows Installer 2.0 installed if it claims "service already present"?

Due to requirements of software I want to install on my win98 SE VM (I grabbed the VirtualBox image from archive.org), i.e. I'd like to install .NET 2.0 framework, I need to install the Windows ...
9 votes
1 answer
3k views

Submarine diver game where you had to collect fish and other things for your aquarium

I've been searching for a game that I used to play a ton when I was a kid on the Windows 95/98, but I can't find it for the life of me! From what I remember, you were a deep-sea diver that collected ...
10 votes
4 answers
1k views

How to alpha-sort MS-DOS 7.x directories

I maintain a Windows 98SE machine for lots of reasons (Star Commander, SIO-2-PC, ADTPro, 3.5" and 5.25" PC Floppies, RS-232 port, Zip, Jazz, CD-ROM, Ethernet, etc). It is a very useful box. I also ...
2 votes
0 answers
241 views

What are the minimum tools needed to compile BOOM for Windows 98?

I'm trying to make a Doom-like game similar to classic Doom that runs on older hardware, and as such I would like to use Boom, an older, open source port of Doom. I've also looked into PrBoom, but the ...
2 votes
2 answers
245 views

HDD data recovery advice

I found my assumed long lost “win98” toshiba protege laptop in our wet and moldy storage container. Was there for years, through cold-humid variances. The files on his computer are extremely ...
12 votes
1 answer
2k views

How can Windows 98 shut down in less than 5 seconds?

I have used Windows 98, and observed that its shutdown is very fast. How is that?