Forum Rules - Formats - Spotlights  -  Home - Library - New Additions

Windows 98 SE Startup Disk Crash

ShadowProphetShadowProphet
edited March 2015 in Software
When I downloaded a Windows 98SE iso from WinWorld, there was no startup img, so I downloaded one off of allbootdisks.com, and loaded it into a 64mb ram and 2gb hdd Virtualbox VM, but it crashed, aborting with no error message. I used both available 98SE boot disks, but neither worked. Anyone know why? I was thinking maybe it's a corrupt startup disk. If so, could someone provide a download for a working one?

Comments

  • noonenoone
    I have one that I referenced in my tutorial for installing Windows 95. It's actually a 98 bootdisk and should do the job also.
  • ShadowProphetShadowProphet
    No, that didn't work. Same thing happened. Should I boot the floppy from an MS-DOS installation?
  • SoappySoappy
    ShadowProphet wrote:
    No, that didn't work. Same thing happened. Should I boot the floppy from an MS-DOS installation?

    You could try that. It's what I always do to install Windows 9x. Boot disks are just a hassle for me (unless you're installing it on a real machine, then boot disks will come in handy).

    If it still does not work for some weird reason, either upgrade from Windows 95 or download it again.
  • ShadowProphetShadowProphet
    Soappy wrote:
    ShadowProphet wrote:
    No, that didn't work. Same thing happened. Should I boot the floppy from an MS-DOS installation?

    You could try that. It's what I always do to install Windows 9x. Boot disks are just a hassle for me (unless you're installing it on a real machine, then boot disks will come in handy).

    If it still does not work for some weird reason, either upgrade from Windows 95 or download it again.
    Yeah, I used version 6.22, but when I loaded the disk and typed setup, it said "Incorrect version of MS-DOS." What would be the proper version? For some reason, I can't boot 7.10, so that excludes that. If it requires version 7, I'll just try the Windows 95 thing. Heck, maybe I'll stick with 95 if it's that easier than 98.
  • noonenoone
    Hmm... I got 98 to enter setup correctly:
    0j1.jpg
    cp3.jpg
    9bv.jpg
    3fn.jpg
    z8h.jpg
    4hs.jpg
    v4m.jpg
    iha.jpg
    vaa.jpg
    All I did was use the bootdisk I provided in the link and the copy of 98SE we provide here on Winworld.
  • calvinbcalvinb
    You shouldn't even need the bootdisk - 98 should install from CD just fine. (So should NT 4 - they introduced El Torito)
  • ShadowProphetShadowProphet
    It makes no sense. I think I'll have to get a legitimate Windows 98SE product for this to work. I just inserted my Win2k cd and created a machine to see if it was just that VirtualBox or my computer was screwing up, but it booted perfectly. Maybe my machine just doesn't support Windows 9x, or maybe my machine is constantly corrupting files during download, I've seen that a lot. This is very frustrating.
  • SoappySoappy
    ShadowProphet wrote:
    It makes no sense. I think I'll have to get a legitimate Windows 98SE product for this to work. I just inserted my Win2k cd and created a machine to see if it was just that VirtualBox or my computer was screwing up, but it booted perfectly. Maybe my machine just doesn't support Windows 9x, or maybe my machine is constantly corrupting files during download, I've seen that a lot. This is very frustrating.

    You might want to try re-downloading the ISO. Sometimes, files become corrupt for no reason during download. If that does not work, try using Virtual PC 200x or VMWare (though it is proven working in VirtualBox already).

    If all else fails, I don't know what to do.
  • ShadowProphetShadowProphet
    Ah! I finally figured it out! Though I can't say I'm happy with what I found. I went to the Dell website and searched up my machine, and it seems it only supports MS-DOS 1.x-6.x, Windows NT 4, ME, 2k, and XP. To install other systems on my configuration would cause all sorts of mess. Since VirtualBox and any other virtualization software relies on your host machine, it makes sense it would act like the host machine. :x
  • noonenoone
    ShadowProphet wrote:
    Ah! I finally figured it out! Though I can't say I'm happy with what I found. I went to the Dell website and searched up my machine, and it seems it only supports MS-DOS 1.x-6.x, Windows NT 4, ME, 2k, and XP. To install other systems on my configuration would cause all sorts of mess. Since VirtualBox and any other virtualization software relies on your host machine, it makes sense it would act like the host machine. :x
    That shouldn't really matter. I've never encountered a machine that would not specifically run one OS. Following my machines supported OS page, I would be only limited to Vista, 7 and 8.x, and I can run any x86 based OS at it just fine in an emulator.

    I have to agree with what was posted before your reply. It was likely a unfinished download.
  • ShadowProphetShadowProphet
    noone wrote:
    That shouldn't really matter. I've never encountered a machine that would not specifically run one OS. Following my machines supported OS page, I would be only limited to Vista, 7 and 8.x, and I can run any x86 based OS at it just fine in an emulator.

    I have to agree with what was posted before your reply. It was likely a unfinished download.
    Well, I downloaded NT 4, it worked perfectly the first time around. Tried Windows 98SE three times, failed every time. I think my computer hates me. It would explain the mysterious phenomena of it never turning on when I want it to, but always turning on when I don't care if it works. Would the VMWare image download run in VirtualBox?
  • ibmpc5150ibmpc5150
    http://disks.oldos.net/Boot/Windows%209 ... dition.dsk

    This is Windows 98 Second Edition Retail Setup Boot Disk.
  • TCPMetaTCPMeta
    I think the latest version of VBox has a buggy emulated CDROM. Back in the day when I ran into systems that didn't have bootable CDROM support and wanted install it faster I used a bootdisk from bootdisk.com and copied the Win95/98 install directory to the hard drive. The bootdisk image doesn't have the RAM Drive and uses a smaller more universal CDROM driver. In your case you will have to convert it with WinImage to a standard floppy image. Just copy the cab files from the CD to the hard drive and run the install from the hard drive.
  • wingzeroisminewingzeroismine
    Yeah copying the cd to the drive is almost always the best solution, too many times have I been burned by the optical drive not being recognized after a reboot or two during driver installations.

    Things like the chipset or ide drivers will prevent the drive from being seen next boot, and then sometimes the cd is asked for as part of their install process, wonderful catch 22.
  • ShadowProphetShadowProphet
    TCPMeta wrote:
    I think the latest version of VBox has a buggy emulated CDROM. Back in the day when I ran into systems that didn't have bootable CDROM support and wanted install it faster I used a bootdisk from bootdisk.com and copied the Win95/98 install directory to the hard drive. The bootdisk image doesn't have the RAM Drive and uses a smaller more universal CDROM driver. In your case you will have to convert it with WinImage to a standard floppy image. Just copy the cab files from the CD to the hard drive and run the install from the hard drive.
    ... Okay, slow down, I'm not a computer genius. So what I take from this is that I should copy the install files from the iso to the hard disk and then use a piece of software to convert the boot disk from your link into a standard img floppy image? If so, I guess I can do that, but what I don't get is, wouldn't the 98 install files be wiped during formatting? :?
  • ShadowProphetShadowProphet
    ibmpc5150 wrote:
    http://disks.oldos.net/Boot/Windows 98 Second Edition.dsk

    This is Windows 98 Second Edition Retail Setup Boot Disk.
    What software can I use to extract that? Would WinISO work?
  • SomeGuySomeGuy
    ShadowProphet wrote:
    ... Okay, slow down, I'm not a computer genius. So what I take from this is that I should copy the install files from the iso to the hard disk and then use a piece of software to convert the boot disk from your link into a standard img floppy image? If so, I guess I can do that, but what I don't get is, wouldn't the 98 install files be wiped during formatting? :?
    The setup program run from the hard disk does not format the drive. Additionally, you must FDISK and Format the drive before you can copy the files to the hard drive.

    And you use WinImage to write a disk image to a floppy. That is how most of the software on this site works.
  • ibmpc5150ibmpc5150
    ShadowProphet wrote:
    ibmpc5150 wrote:
    http://disks.oldos.net/Boot/Windows 98 Second Edition.dsk

    This is Windows 98 Second Edition Retail Setup Boot Disk.
    What software can I use to extract that? Would WinISO work?

    This is normal standard Floppy disk image file. (1.44MB : Track - 80 / Side - 2 / Sector - 18)
    You can copy real diskette by using WINIMAGE (Windows) or DCOPY.EXE (DOS or Command Prompt on 32bit Windows).
    Also this is boot disk for Windows 98 SE Retail Full version.
    WIndows 98 SE OEM version includes self-boot sector on OEM ISO, but not on Retail ISO.

    I think you don't have to extract files. (There is No meaning to do so.)
    This is for use on emulator (VMWare / Virtual PC / DOSBOX / PCem, etc.) by mouting floppy image.
  • ShadowProphetShadowProphet
    ibmpc5150 wrote:
    This is normal standard Floppy disk image file. (1.44MB : Track - 80 / Side - 2 / Sector - 18)
    You can copy real diskette by using WINIMAGE (Windows) or DCOPY.EXE (DOS or Command Prompt on 32bit Windows).
    Also this is boot disk for Windows 98 SE Retail Full version.
    WIndows 98 SE OEM version includes self-boot sector on OEM ISO, but not on Retail ISO.

    I think you don't have to extract files. (There is No meaning to do so.)
    This is for use on emulator (VMWare / Virtual PC / DOSBOX / PCem, etc.) by mouting floppy image.

    Wow! This works! Maybe I should've mentioned I was using the retail version. Yeah...
Sign In or Register to comment.