[SOLVED] Is it possible to install older OS to new computer?

[kalylav]

I have an i5 12600K and Asus Prime z690m-plus D4 motherboard

I originally bought the PC to run a multiple boot so I could play older games as well as newer games. To my surprise, technology doesn't seem to be backwards compatible. I have tried installing Windows 7 using the Asus EZ installer on a USB and a disc, but when the computer boots the USB or disc to install Windows 7, it will freeze on the logo. I even tried swapping my old harddrive with Windows 7, but the new computer would recognize it, but refuse to show it as bootable.

Is there any way to force install an older Windows version besides Windows 10 and 11?

 

[Endre]

I have an i5 12600K and Asus Prime z690m-plus D4 motherboard

I originally bought the PC to run a multiple boot so I could play older games as well as newer games. To my surprise, technology doesn't seem to be backwards compatible. I have tried installing Windows 7 using the Asus EZ installer on a USB and a disc, but when the computer boots the USB or disc to install Windows 7, it will freeze on the logo. I even tried swapping my old harddrive with Windows 7, but the new computer would recognize it, but refuse to show it as bootable.

Is there any way to force install an older Windows version besides Windows 10 and 11?

Hello!

Why would you do such a thing?
Older OSs aren’t supported by Microsoft anymore.
You’ll be exposed to malware by going with an old OS.

Please stick with Windows 10 or 11.

For old programs, you could install a virtual machine.

 

[kalylav]

For old programs, you could install a virtual machine.

Virtual machines do not always run older programs. I tried using one before to play older games, and I would get a black screen when using certain programs. I would especially like to run XP or 98.

 

[Alabalcho]

I would especially like to run XP or 98.

These OSes have no idea of modern hardware - disk, video interfaces etc. Hardware manufacturers have no incentive to develop drivers either. Just think about it - Win98 could use no more than 512mb of RAM (I moght be wrong, too lazy to check), and has no idea what to do with your terabytes's of SSD when all it knows are couple of gigabytes, at most.

Try different virtual machines - DosBox, VmPlayer, VirtualBox, Hyper-V. It might turn you'll need different VMs for different apps (and then you'll need dual- or triple-boot).

 

[hotaru.hino]

The problem with using a virtual machine in this case is if the game OP wants to run has hardware accelerated rendering options. Few virtual machines emulate more than the basics, especially for older OSes. And you can't really do GPU passthrough, assuming that grants the VM similar access to the GPU as the host.

For games up to the mid 90s, DOSBox-X should work well because the team is dedicated to getting more hardware emulated on it than the vanilla version. For games in the late 90s to mid 2000s, it's a crapshoot. But I found most games from well known developers still work well on a modern computer.

There's also the issue that games could be finicky with what kind of hardware they ran on. LGR often runs a game on his Windows 9x builds for the sole reason that it can be tricky to run on hardware not of the exact time period, if it'll run at all. Unfortunately the only hassle free way... if you could call it that... to run these games is to build a machine with hardware of the time period.

 

[USAFRet]

I would especially like to run XP or 98.

Win98, not a chance.
XP, almost certainly not.

Your best bet would to be to find period specific hardware.
Maybe $100, if you can find one.

 

[kalylav]

Thank you. I will just have to use an older computer then.