[SOLVED] Windows 98 SE VM for 90s/2000s Games, have questions

danny009

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Apr 11, 2019
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Hello, I have VMware and I'm trying to build a ultimate Win98 gaming virtual machine with maximum power as possible, however I have some questions, explanation in detail will be much appreciated,

Windows 98 SE OEM Full Install (ISO from Winworldpc website)

-OS supports any rar program? like winRAR or Unzip, need this to unpack the games, drag and drop works but OS does not recognize the file type.
-What RAM limit Windows 98 have? 512MB is the max I can set?
-(sorry if sounds stupid but) 3D acceleration is supported?
-What GPU memory I can put max? 256MB?
-Windows 98 have regular blue screens like Windows ME?
-Can I plug in my USB drive into the VM? VMware have options for this, but not sure it will work or cause bsod?
-(sorry if sounds stupid but) Only 1 core I can put in to VM yes?
-VMware Tools completely works on Win98? or I have to do some manual driver install?
-Old games can contain serious virus/malware? Sometimes I need to unpack the game rar on my host computer to drag/move the files to VM (I have AV of course)

I will start creating the VM and will let you folks know about the progress, Thanks in advance and have a great day.
 
Solution
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-About WinRar. I think you should have the option to make a shared folder in VirtualBox, that means you can share things in that folder between your pc and virtual machine. But I don't know about that option in VMware, I personally prefer Oracle VirtualBox. But WinRar WAS available on Windows 98 SE, you may need to download an older version.

-About RAM. Better stick with 512 MB RAM, more can make some problems.

-I am not very sure, but I think it Windows 98 doesn't support 3D acceleration in VMware.

-About video memory. Better keep it on 128 MB. After doing some research, I found out that people have used 128 MB video cards with no issues

-If everything is okay, you shouldn't get a blue screen.

-I don't know about VMware, but...
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Deleted member 2449024

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-About WinRar. I think you should have the option to make a shared folder in VirtualBox, that means you can share things in that folder between your pc and virtual machine. But I don't know about that option in VMware, I personally prefer Oracle VirtualBox. But WinRar WAS available on Windows 98 SE, you may need to download an older version.

-About RAM. Better stick with 512 MB RAM, more can make some problems.

-I am not very sure, but I think it Windows 98 doesn't support 3D acceleration in VMware.

-About video memory. Better keep it on 128 MB. After doing some research, I found out that people have used 128 MB video cards with no issues

-If everything is okay, you shouldn't get a blue screen.

-I don't know about VMware, but Windows 98 had USB support, but you need a driver.

-I didn't understand your question about cores, but Windows 98 is only 32 bit, and 2 cores won't give any performance improvement.

-Everything can contain malware. That depends from which source did you get the file and I recommend scanning it with antivirus.

After all, hardcore enthusiasts recommend putting that era pc together. That should give the best results, but will consume money/space.

Here is a part list I found in one forum:

500W Modern ATX PSU (make sure it has Molex connectors for older peripherals though!)

Any ATX case

ASRock K8NF3-VSTA Socket 754 Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 3400+ Socket 754 CPU

Any suitable Socket 754 CPU cooler

Geforce 4/5/6 AGP Graphics Card

Sound Blaster Live! PCI Soundcard

IDE Hard Drive

IDE DVD-RW Drive

Soo... This was my advice. Feel free to ask more, and reply if anything helped.
 
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