The discussion at work (ok, between Paul and I) is how to get Windows 98 running in Parallels 4.0. You see, it crashes just after the file copy. I’ve installed a good many Windows 98 machines in my time, I’m ashamed to say, and of all the Windows OS’s, I prefer Windows 98SE. The “almost” best of a bad bunch if you like.

I’m also ashamed to say I own (through OEM) the following Windows versions:

Windows 3.0
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Windows 95 (A and D)
Windows 98
Windows 98SE
Windows NT Workstation
Windows 2000 Professional
Windows XP


Anyhow, from time-to-time, I find a bone that I just can’t stop chewing on... and this is such a bone.

After tinkering around for about 15 minutes I found a solution. This solution isn’t your normal “insert CD... next... next... next...”, but rather, how I’ve installed Windows 98 since time out of mind. I’m typing this up as my Windows 98SE installation is completing. Sorry, no screen grabs... I don’t care THAT much.

1. Create your virtual machine in Parallels 4.0 selecting Windows and “Other Windows” NOT “Windows 98” and leave all the machine defaults.

2. Insert your Windows 98 CD, boot from it and select the “run setup from CD”.

3. Allow the installation to start but you only want it to run to the end of the formatting of the hard drive. There will be several reboots (gotta love Windows) and once it gets to the “Checking the hard drive” force your machine to reboot again.

4. This time, boot from CD but select the “Boot with CDROM support” option.

5. You’ll end up at the DOS prompt, but importantly you’ll have an A:\, C:\ and D:\ drive. Ignore these for the moment and type the following at the prompt:

set path=d:\tools\oldmsdos;%path%

You need the tools in the D:\TOOLS\OLDMSDOS directory... namely XCOPY.EXE

6. Now type the following at the DOS prompt, ignoring the comments in inverted commas:

C: “changes to C: drive”
md win98 “creates the c:\win98 directory on c: drive”
D: “changes to D: drive”
cd win98 “changes to the win98 directory on d: drive”
xcopy *.* c:\win98 /s/e/v “copy the installation files to c:\win98 and all subdirs, even if they’re empty, and verify”

Once the copy has finished you have everything you need for the installation copied to C:\ and we no longer need the Windows 98 CDROM.

7. Now that the files are on the C: drive type the following at the DOS prompt:

C:
cd win98
setup /is /nr /id “skips the scandisk, registry scan, and disk space checks”

8. Complete the installation to your requirements.

9. To get the necessary Parallels Tools drivers to install (of which there aren’t many) you’ll need to switch the operating system version from “Other Windows” to “Windows 98”. This makes it easier to install the two drivers that are compatible with Windows 98... sorry no drag’n’drop to the desktop on this little puppy. I installed these manually.

Note: to get any type of performance out of your Windows 98 machine, I recommend you disable all the fancy effects like menu fade and the like.

Done! How easy was that eh?

The benefit of copying the installation files to the C:\ drive is that if you want to install or change something later, you don’t need the CD.

Enjoy your Win98SE virtual machine. I don’t want to know what you do with it.. that’s your business.

Tags: OS X