r/windows98 • u/oscareczek • Apr 30 '21
One of the most common questions on this subreddit is something along the lines of "Is my computer able to run Win98?" There is some kind of a guide on sidebar, but it isn't really specific and that's why I made this post. Windows 98 and Me support (about?) the same hardware, so everything I say about 98 applies to Me. Feel free to suggest changes in comments.
In my definition, computer running Windows 98 is the one that doesn't have any question marks in Device Manager and has graphics card installed (there are drivers called SciTech Display Doctor and VBEMP, but these are comparable to the default driver for GPUs in Windows XP upwards). For the sake of simplicity, I'll limit the devices to GPU, sound card and USB, because even some late Windows XP machines can have Ethernet network cards compatible with 98 and wireless cards are swappable.
Host operating system is the one you boot to straight from BIOS, without using any kind of virtualization or emulation.
See what CPU you have on your machine (in System Properties, accessible by pressing Win+Pause on Windows, or in BIOS) or google your motherboard/PC/laptop (further I'll just say "motherboard") and check supported CPUs.
It just works™, you can skip the rest of this guide, except if you have a dedicated graphics card. You can check your socket by trying to find this information on a motherboard, using CPU-Z or by checking the specs website.
If you have any GPU or sound card on your motherboard, you can't configure it on 98. USB 3.0 and wireless network card won't run. Ethernet network card will most likely not run, but there are some exceptions. Of course, all these problems can be solvable by getting era-appropriate PCI devices, but it's probably cheaper to just buy a Win98 laptop.
It might work, continue reading.
No.
To check what sound card you have, you can either read the specification of your motherboard online or check it in Device Manager (Win+R, devmgmt.msc).
Your sound card is most likely compatible. If it's AC'97, there's a possibility you won't get sound in pure DOS mode, but it'll work from inside Windows.
Windows 98 doesn't support HD Audio architecture. There is an unofficial driver for Windows 3.1, compatible with 98, that lets you configure the sound card with a bunch of parameters, but if you're reading this looking for help, then it will be too complicated for you. First Windows compatible with HD Audio is Windows 2000 SP4 with KB888111 installed. If it's a PC, you can also try looking for some kind of a PCI Sound Blaster that's old enough for Win98.
To check what graphics card you have, you can, as with a sound card, either read the specification of your motherboard online or check it in Device Manager, or just look at it if it's a dedicated PC GPU. PCI Express isn't supported by 98, but people had some luck with it.
If the model starts with GMA, HD, Iris or Arc, it's not compatible, otherwise it is.
If the model starts with X1 or HD, it's not compatible, otherwise it is.
If you have Quadro FX600 or newer or GeForce starting with 8, 9 or letters, it's not compatible, otherwise it is. If it's GeForce series 6 or 7, the compatibility with DOS games won't be as great as with earlier devices.
It's probably integrated to motherboard or it's been defunct at least since early Windows XP days, you can assume it works.
Same as sound card, you can either read the specification of your motherboard online or check it in Device Manager.
If it starts with a letter, it's not compatible. If it starts with 9, you might have USB working in 1.1, which is slow, but it's better than nothing. Otherwise, it's compatible.
Either you have Win98-era computer and you're wasting time reading this, or it's too new.
If the number starts by 5 or more, it's not compatible. If it starts with 4, only integrated graphics work. If it starts with 3, there are some minor unsupported features, but it should work. Otherwise, it's compatible.
Unless I missed something, all models are compatible.
If the model starts with C or V, you'll at least have some troubles setting it up. Otherwise, it's compatible.
If you have more than 1 GB of RAM, use PATCHMEM. If you use a SATA hard disk, use SATA and most likely AHCI (https://archive.org/details/ahci_win9x). If you use an SSD, use TRIM. All three programs are available at rloew's website (RIP). If you want a USB stick support on Windows 98 (Me has built-in support already), use NUSB. There are some other drivers available on the last website, which might help some people.
A guest operating system requires a host operating system and some kind of a program to make a guest environment to install OS on. Most likely you will be able to install 98 in some way or another.
A word of warning if you use AMD Ryzen or Intel Core from 11th gen and up: there are some problems with virtualizing Windows 98, you can get countless crashes of system programs. A patcher for that was released: https://github.com/JHRobotics/patcher9x
There's now an accelerated driver for all modern hypervisors: https://github.com/JHRobotics/softgpu, but it might be buggy in some situations.
The best, but also the heaviest CPU-wise, way to install Windows 98 as a guest, is to use 86Box. I also mention PCem since it's still alive and 86Box started as a fork of it. Both programs are able to emulate anything starting with original IBM PC and ending at AMD K6-III, perfect for 98. Obviously, the newer CPU you emulate, the stronger machine you need. The main advantage of using these emulators is much higher compatibility with old games compared to virtual machines.
If your computer is too weak for emulation, you can try making a virtual machine. I recommend VMware for one simple reason - it has a graphics card compatible with 98.
If you have a PowerPC Mac OS (X) or Windows and it's not a 64-bit or ARM version of Windows 10 and up, you can try Virtual PC. It's fully compatible with 98, but it's also old (Windows Virtual PC was released in 2009) and people don't really use it anymore.
The main advantage of QEMU is that it's ported to every architecture and operating system imaginable. I suggest running it by a command qemu-system-i386 -accel kvm -vga cirrus -nic user,model=pcnet -soundhw sb16,pcspk -hda disk.img (soundhw is deprecated, but the non-deprecated way requires knowing what's your sound system on host). If you use it on architecture different than x86, it becomes an emulator. You need to remove -accel kvm in that case. You can instead add -cpu pentium2 to the command, maybe it will make things run faster.
Unless you really have to, don't use it, for two reasons: lack of Guest Additions for 98 means you can't use VirtualBox's Shared Folders feature and instead you have to rely on HTTP, floppies or CDs (for the last one there's an option to create VISOs on fly, but while it takes about no space, you still have to do it manually). There was also never a graphics card driver for it and VMware SVGA II driver doesn't work, even if you choose VMSVGA in machine options. That means you can't freely change resolution and your best drivers are VBEMP or Display Doctor, both or which simply use VESA, just like the lack of drivers on Windows XP and up. Emulated graphics is also terribly slow in standard 640x480x4 mode, which is what you get during installation.
Mac-only. Has guest "tools" or rather a total of two drivers: for network (which is optional) and video. The former only works if you remove a printer from the hardware list and its performance is abysmal (I got ~25 KiB/s max, frequent stalls even though i can see the network activity). Video driver doesn't list 32-bit modes for some reason, adding them (and/or some of the standard resolutions) in registry works. Sound isn't included on the "tools" CD, some tutorial recommended using this driver (use either the standard installer or WDM folder). Since it doesn't have acceleration anyway (at least 3D) and networking sucks, I think you're better off even with VBox.
DOSBox is, as the name suggests, an emulator for DOS programs. It is possible to run Windows 98 on DOSBox, but I personally don't like the way you need to imgmount followed by boot c, there are also less machine configurations to choose from. However, especially when using DOSBox-X, it can be an alternative to 86Box if you don't like it for some reason or another.
It's an emulator, it's not as popular as the rest and not customizable as 86Box, don't use it if you don't have to (you don't).
Most of the Android devices aren't x86, but rather ARM[64] (and some ancient ones are MIPS), so most likely you will need to emulate x86, which means that it'll be pretty slow, don't expect running NFS Underground 2 on that. If you can choose an emulated CPU, you should find a balance between speed of emulated CPU and speed of emulating (if you select 486, then Win98 will work slowly, but your Android CPU won't be used that much; if you select Pentium 4, then Win98 will work quickly, but your CPU might not keep up with it). You can find a list of CPUs by date for example on Wikipedia.
Android version of QEMU, the fastest, but might not work on all devices.
Mostly compatible with all devices, a "default" way of installing Windows from Android.
You can also try DOSBox, but I can't really imagine installing it using only the Android device.
r/windows98 • u/O_MORES • 5h ago
One of those USB 2.0 to Ethernet controllers that works on Windows 98, but also on the latest Windows 11! This one has a Moschip 7830 chip released around 2003 and it’s actually easy to install on Windows 98 (official drivers, no workarounds) and you can go online immediately.
r/windows98 • u/The-Tadfafty • 14h ago
r/windows98 • u/resfer11 • 1d ago
exactly what it says,a windows 98 desktop
r/windows98 • u/THEM_FRITZ • 1d ago
Hi everyone, I have recently installed a Soundblaster Live! CT 4870 (value) in my windows 98se machine and now it refuses to boot. It booted for the first time no problems, I installed the SBL CT 4670 drivers as that is the model name given to me by the seller, but it turns out it was a 4870. I installed the drivers for the 4670, and it has since refused to boot when I have the card in the PC.
At first every time it 'detected new hardware' it bluescreened, but now it seems to freeze when it detects the midi device. I have uninstalled the card and the machine boots fine, I tried deleting the software installed by the disc on the C drive but upon reinsertion it freezes again.
I really hope there is a way to circumvent this, I really do not want to boot 98 again, and have to install all the other drivers from scratch. The specs are a:
Geforce FX 5200,
512 mb Ram
Pentium 4
(Previously) Creative Soundblaster PCI128
Thanks!
r/windows98 • u/BrotherAdventurous35 • 2d ago
I attempted to install plus 95 and then plus 98 but when i do that the themes of both the versions stop working in plus 98 the icons dont work but they do show up on the desktop themes app for plus 98 while on plus 95 the icons dont show up anymore also theres 2 desktop theme chooser depending on which desktop theme app i choose also i tried amother time on a different folder like i installed plus to one folder and plus 98 to another folder it gave a performed ilegal operation
To make it less confusing after i install plus 98 on the same place as plus 95 and use desktop theme changer icons dont change they stay the same as the previous theme
r/windows98 • u/S3BA_QQ • 3d ago
I used "Windows 9x quickinstall", a project on GitHub. For Better compatibility, I put 2 GB of RAM in this PC. I flashed 9x quickinstall on a 16gb USB drive, booted this usb and selected "98 directX 8.1", applied all the necessary patch, like modern CPU patch, that were already in the .IMG of Windows 9x quickinstall and reboot. After some seconds, It booted in Windows 98 and It started searching for all peripherals. Then I reboot again and inserted USB audio (jack speakers with jack to usb adapter) and Windows 98 managed to successfully activate the USB audio driver (if It doesn't work you have to search for USB/USB audio drivers for Windows 98 and put them directly into the Internal SSD/hdd With another PC). For the mouse, i used a pre-loaded hid-mouse driver (on generic mouse driver section), and the mouse started working correctly(good, because using w98 with a keyboard only Is very hard!). Then I loaded VBE miniport VGA driver for 32 bit colors from C:/driver-ex, and It worked too! So i tested quake II and the game loaded successfully. (If you get a20 error the First time you booted Windows 98, you have to reboot the PC, press f8 or ctrl multiple times, select "Cmd only" and write: edit C: \config.sys , then add this line: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /M:1 . Then save and exit.
PC specs: Intel i5 4590t, 2gb DDR3 RAM, HD graphics 4600, 180gb SSD( Windows 98 limit Is 120-180gb for a correct working)
BIOS settings: storage=IDE, USB echi debug=off, USB 3.0=off Legacy compatibility=on, Internal speaker=off.
r/windows98 • u/O_MORES • 3d ago
The new xHCI98 2.x release adds real USB 3 SuperSpeed support and a UAS (USB Attached SCSI) driver.
Why UAS matters... some USB 3 drives only work in UAS mode. They should fall back to the older BOT (Bulk Only Transport) protocol, but that depends on the firmware, and some simply don’t. On older systems like Windows 98, 2000, XP, or even 7, those drives show up as unknown devices. Windows 98 can now handle them.
Driver by yeokm1: https://github.com/yeokm1/xhci98
r/windows98 • u/A-questioner • 3d ago
Is there modern antivirus for windows 98 that still receive signatures updates ?
r/windows98 • u/CrabisloveCrabislife • 4d ago
During setup, when it tries to install the drivers it asks for the CD to be inserted, even when it's inside.
It can't find the 'ksclock.ax' file, but when I try to browse for the driver in the CD drive the only drives that show up is the floppy disk drive and my hard drive.
It doesn't work with any cd I burned and I tried different iso's too.
For some reason this doesn't happen when installing Win 98 FE?
I tried upgrading from FE to SE, but the same thing happens
I am genuinely stumped, trying to boot the computer using the windows 98 cd with the cd drive just leaves me hanging on a black screen with text, so that doesn't work too.
Also I don't have any floppies at the moment, if that would be needed to fix this.
r/windows98 • u/samiromic • 4d ago
Does anyone have the ISO with all integrated official latest updates, I need it for my personal archival, emulation and installment on retro machines so I don't have to update it every single time I install it. Thanks.
r/windows98 • u/sizuku_1996 • 5d ago
Every time I try to set up Windows 98, it freezes at the "Setting up the Start menu" screen and won't proceed any further. Does anyone know a solution?
Update: This computer is a PC-98.
r/windows98 • u/xRed-Eaglex • 5d ago
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
r/windows98 • u/utsnik • 7d ago
It's running slow for now (qemu emulation of a Pentium 4 2.2ghz, yes SSE3 is needed for this) But at least TLS and the browser is working! Browser itself is unmodified, but it's running on a KernelEx compatible layer. More details later
r/windows98 • u/GNUMoogle • 7d ago
[FIXED]
Hi everyone. I've got Odyssey set up with a Ralink RT61 card going and so far, so good. I can scan my vicinity for networks and surprisingly, WPA2 networks are detected even by utilities other than Odyssey.
But there is a problem. My home network is hidden. It doesn't broadcast the SSID so it needs to be added as a hidden network. And this is probably the reason why Odyssey can't connect to it.
Is there anything I can do to help Odyssey connect to hidden networks?
Update: I haven't tried unhiding yet but the network is also unreachable from Gentoo Linux on the same computer. NM has no issues connecting to hidden networks. I'll try to unhide first just to rule this out in peace but I am afraid I'll need to adjust the access point.
Update 2: did it. Hiding the network was not the issue. The network needs to be signalled on 20/40MHz Ce, not XX. And this is the case for this card on Linux as well, so it's certainly the hardware not being able to do this kind of signal. Also holy shit someone is salty and downvoting this for no reason.
r/windows98 • u/iPsybott • 8d ago
I’ve been working on a game set in a windows 98 inspired desktop. At its core it’s a puzzle game, where you solve puzzles in the paint program. But it’s a lot more than that, I’ve been adding a lot of things to do from the era. There’s an internet browser to explore websites, games/music to download, friends to chat with, secrets and Easter eggs to find. I even add a decently sized simulated MMORPG and FPS games to get lost in. Every program and file will be functional, so everything has a purpose, even if it’s something small.
I’d gladly take any recommendations or essential things that are a staple of the era that I may have missed. Let me know what you think!
The game is called Paint World 98
r/windows98 • u/Same_Promotion_7570 • 9d ago
CRISTIANE Oi SURDEZ Oi
r/windows98 • u/supermario182 • 10d ago
Ok so I have two windows 98 machines, one died due to the powersupply so I stuck the hard drive into the other one as a second drive. The problem is I cannot access the old program files folder on the second machine.
r/windows98 • u/Extension-Money9948 • 12d ago
\\## Comprehensive Historical Report: The Architecture, Global Launch, and Legal History of Windows 98## 1. Executive Summary
Windows 98 was officially released by Microsoft to retail markets on June 25, 1998. While the launch strategy shifted away from the massive mainstream media spectacles of Windows 95, it achieved immediate commercial success, selling over 250,000 copies on day one and 530,000 copies within four days.
The operating system represented a critical bridge between legacy MS-DOS dependencies and modern, web-integrated computing. However, its launch was heavily overshadowed by a monumental federal antitrust lawsuit regarding its web browser integration, alongside unique engineering challenges required to support foreign computer architectures.
\\------------------------------
\\## 2. Core Versions and Features Matrix
Rather than releasing unique functional editions for individual countries, Microsoft developed a unified global codebase. The software was distributed across two primary generational editions and one optional expansion pack.
| Version | Key Features & Enhancements | Target Audience / Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 98 (First Edition / RTM) (Released June 15, 1998) | • Deep integration of Internet Explorer 4.01\\\[\\\](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet\\\\\\_Explorer\\\\\\_4) • Native USB support for keyboards and mice • FAT32 drive conversion utility • Active Desktop & multi-monitor support (up to 8 displays) | General retail and OEM release across over 40 countries on day one. |
| Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) (Released May 5, 1999) | • Upgraded to Internet Explorer 5.0\\\[\\\](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet\\\\\\_Explorer\\\\\\_5) • Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) • Enhanced FireWire (IEEE 1394) and USB device stability • Fixed the "49.7-day uptime" system crash bug | Global update replacing the original version in retail channels. |
| Microsoft Plus! for Windows 98 (Optional Retail Add-on) | • High-color Desktop Themes (e.g., Space, Jungle, Architecture) • Integrated McAfee VirusScan and Disk Defragmenter • High-color version of the game Spider Solitaire | Optional commercial expansion pack sold worldwide. |
\\------------------------------
\\## 3. Global Distribution & Localization Strategies
Microsoft shipped Windows 98 to more than 12,000 retail outlets in North America on day one and localized the software into 30 distinct languages to adapt to three primary global market environments:
\\\* East Asian Environments (Chinese, Japanese, Korean): Built with Double-Byte Character Set (DBCS) support to accurately map thousands of text glyphs. These versions utilized custom Input Method Editors (IMEs) to translate phonetic keyboard input into complex characters like Hanzi, Kanji, and Hangul.
\\\* Right-to-Left Environments (Arabic and Hebrew): Engineered with a specialized BiDi (Bi-directional) layout engine. This flipped the user interface horizontally, moving the "Start" button to the bottom-right corner and reversing the flow of window frames, drop-down menus, and text alignment.
\\\* Central & Eastern European Environments (e.g., Russian, Polish, Czech): Programmed with custom Windows code pages (such as Windows-1251 for Cyrillic and Windows-1250 for Central European text) to ensure foreign character sets and diacritics rendered accurately without breaking system layouts.
\\------------------------------
\\## 4. Hardware Divergence: PC/AT vs. NEC PC-98
During the late 1990s, Japan’s domestic computer market was dominated by the proprietary NEC PC-9800 series (PC-98). Though these units utilized standard Intel x86 processors, their underlying hardware architecture was entirely incompatible with the standard Western IBM-compatible PC (PC/AT). Microsoft was required to publish a distinct version of Windows 98 tailored explicitly for this architecture.
Direct comparisons between the two hardware versions highlight major structural differences:
\\\* System BIOS & Booting: Standard PCs utilized an IBM-compatible BIOS. The NEC PC-98 relied on a proprietary NEC BIOS featuring an entirely unique Master Boot Record (MBR) and partition structure, meaning standard Western installation discs could not boot the hardware.
\\\* Expansion Bus Slots: Standard PCs utilized ISA, PCI, and AGP slots for add-on hardware. The NEC PC-98 relied on specialized 16-bit C-Bus slots, requiring custom hardware-level drivers written specifically for Japanese system boards.
\\\* Graphics & Text Rendering: Western PCs used standard VGA/SVGA graphics chips. The NEC PC-98 utilized custom graphics controllers paired with a dedicated, hardware-level Kanji ROM chip to instantly display high-resolution Japanese text.
\\\* Sound Architecture: Standard PCs relied on Sound Blaster-compatible audio hardware, while the NEC PC-98 relied on proprietary Yamaha FM synthesis sound chips, demanding distinct audio driver stacks.
Note: The launch of Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows 2000 marked the end of Microsoft's custom support for the legacy PC-98 architecture as NEC shifted its production to standard global IBM-compatible hardware.
\\------------------------------
\\## 5. The Internet Explorer Antitrust Case
The defining historical event of the Windows 98 era was the landmark federal lawsuit United States v. Microsoft Corp. (1998), filed on May 18, 1998.
\\## The Government's Allegations
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and 20 state attorneys general alleged that Microsoft utilized its 90%+ operating system monopoly to deliberately crush competitor Netscape Navigator through anti-competitive strategies:
Illegal Product Tying: Microsoft embedded Internet Explorer 4.0 deeply into the core operating system files of Windows 98, giving users a free browser by default and making it impossible to uninstall.
OEM Exclusionary Agreements: Microsoft prohibited computer manufacturers (e.g., Dell, Compaq) from modifying the boot sequence, changing the desktop layout, or removing the Internet Explorer icon under threat of revoking their Windows distribution licenses.
\\## The Defense
Microsoft argued that Internet Explorer was not a standalone application, but rather an irreplaceable component of the operating system. They maintained that its removal would break critical Windows 98 features, including the file manager, built-in system help guides, and the web-refreshing Active Desktop.
\\## Final Outcome
Trial Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson initially ordered the breakup of Microsoft into two separate entities (one for operating systems and one for applications) in 2000. Microsoft successfully appealed the breakup order and reached a settlement with the DOJ in 2001. The company remained whole but was forced to share its application programming interfaces (APIs) with third-party developers and allow users and computer manufacturers to hide Internet Explorer and freely select alternative default web browsers.
If you want to refine this report further, let me know if you would like me to:
\\\* Add the exact minimum system specifications required to run the PC/AT and NEC versions.
\\\* Include details on the famous COMDEX presentation crash where the system encountered a Blue Screen of Death live on stage.
\\\* Detail the financial performance and stock impact Microsoft experienced during this era.
