yeah yeah i know everyone is running windows 10 but i want to run some really old systems for..... well no reason at all really !!

 

Anyway i had a 98 vm in vmware which i converted to a kvm image. However when I run it, it will only start if I run it in step by step confirmation (see screenshot)

 

When i run it in vmware it starts normally without having to do this. But as kvm it will only start this way. Anyone know why this happens and how to make it boot without this step?

 

Also would love to get network drivers working and vga drivers

 

my xml file is as follows

<domain type='kvm'>

  <name>win98</name>

  <uuid>eab7c873-11b4-5a63-a5bd-acad96594c1a</uuid>

  <metadata>

    <vmtemplate name="Custom" icon="windows98.png" os="windowsxp"/>

  </metadata>

  <memory unit='KiB'>524288</memory>

  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>524288</currentMemory>

  <memoryBacking>

    <nosharepages/>

    <locked/>

  </memoryBacking>

  <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>

  <cputune>

    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='0'/>

  </cputune>

  <os>

    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.3'>hvm</type>

  </os>

  <features>

    <acpi/>

    <apic/>

    <hyperv>

      <relaxed state='on'/>

      <vapic state='on'/>

      <spinlocks state='on' retries='8191'/>

    </hyperv>

  </features>

  <cpu mode='host-passthrough'>

    <topology sockets='1' cores='1' threads='1'/>

  </cpu>

  <clock offset='localtime'>

    <timer name='hypervclock' present='yes'/>

    <timer name='hpet' present='no'/>

  </clock>

  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>

  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>

  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>

  <devices>

    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>

    <disk type='file' device='disk'>

      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>

      <source file='/mnt/user/Software/vms old operating systems/win98/win98.img'/>

      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>

      <boot order='1'/>

      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>

    </disk>

    <disk type='file' device='cdrom'>

      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>

      <source file='/mnt/user/Software/Windows software/operating systems/unraid virtual io/virtio-win-0.1.102.iso'/>

      <target dev='hdb' bus='ide'/>

      <readonly/>

      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='1'/>

    </disk>

    <controller type='usb' index='0'>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x2'/>

    </controller>

    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pci-root'/>

    <controller type='ide' index='0'>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/>

    </controller>

    <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/>

    </controller>

    <interface type='bridge'>

      <mac address='52:54:00:71:77:c7'/>

      <source bridge='ed'/>

      <model type='virtio'/>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>

    </interface>

    <serial type='pty'>

      <target port='0'/>

    </serial>

    <console type='pty'>

      <target type='serial' port='0'/>

    </console>

    <channel type='unix'>

      <source mode='bind' path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/win98.org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>

      <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>

      <address type='virtio-serial' controller='0' bus='0' port='1'/>

    </channel>

    <input type='tablet' bus='usb'/>

    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>

    <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/>

    <graphics type='vnc' port='-1' autoport='yes' websocket='-1' listen='0.0.0.0' keymap='en-us'>

      <listen type='address' address='0.0.0.0'/>

    </graphics>

    <video>

      <model type='cirrus' vram='16384' heads='1'/>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>

    </video>

    <memballoon model='virtio'>

      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x06' function='0x0'/>

    </memballoon>

  </devices>

</domain>

It could be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, the differences between the two hypervisors are many from the little I have read about the hypervisor in UnRaid.

 

I see a few things that jump out, maybe they are nothing...

 

<vmtemplate name="Custom" icon="windows98.png" os="windowsxp"/>    Why windows XP?

 

<type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-i440fx-2.3'>hvm</type>  Windows 98 was 16 bit, XP came in 32 and 64 bit versions.. not sure if this matters.

 

Im am familiar with virtualization and VMWare, just not the hypervisor in UnRaid, so sorry I can't be of anymore help.

 

 

Try to change machine to pc-0.14

some info here -> http://www.pandorawiki.org/QEMU#Installing_Microsoft_Windows_98

 

thanks for the link. I now have my cirrus graphics and network all working.

Still have to boot with step by step which is fine, just a pain.

 

yeah yeah i know everyone is running windows 10 but i want to run some really old systems for..... well no reason at all really !!

 

What does this even mean?  There has to be a really good reason to want to punish yourself.  It makes zero sense why you would want to do this, but I am intrigued and demand a real answer.  Even if it is something like your desire to play the original warcraft

I'm with gridrunner, why not?  I'd be quite interested to run a few old OSs just to remind myself what they were like, can't find the 3.5" disks for Windows 3.1 though, nor the floppy drive... 

yeah yeah i know everyone is running windows 10 but i want to run some really old systems for..... well no reason at all really !!

 

What does this even mean?  There has to be a really good reason to want to punish yourself.  It makes zero sense why you would want to do this, but I am intrigued and demand a real answer.  Even if it is something like your desire to play the original warcraft

 

A honeypot, comes to mind, if you're that way inclined. Win98 has all the security of a wet cardboard box.

I'm with gridrunner, why not?  I'd be quite interested to run a few old OSs just to remind myself what they were like, can't find the 3.5" disks for Windows 3.1 though, nor the floppy drive... 

Ah,  Windows 95, I remember the 20+ floppy disks.  Nothing beats getting to floppy 18 and being told it can't be read.

I too love old systems 

this will soon be installed  IMHO better than dosBox

only read from once I open the box 3 months ago to check data integrity and installed it to a 32MB CFCard worked great

Installing office from floppy was worse, it was 50 floppies, nothing beats getting to floppy #48 and it can't read, nice.......

 

 

I'm with gridrunner, why not?  I'd be quite interested to run a few old OSs just to remind myself what they were like, can't find the 3.5" disks for Windows 3.1 though, nor the floppy drive... 

Ah,  Windows 95, I remember the 20+ floppy disks.  Nothing beats getting to floppy 18 and being told it can't be read.

@Gridrunner did you get your radeon to passthrough successfully in windows 98?

I would not be surprised to find that your host CPU is just too fast for it. Also, an entire 512MB of RAM? I would not think of putting much more than 32MB or 64MB in a Windows 98 SE machine.

What about network is there some NetKVM driver, or you need PCI Lan card? Because i would also need PCI audio and PCI GPU and i have only 2 PCI slots, so make net working without additional card would be nice.

 

  Step by step boot, which setting need to be enabled and disable for boot? My guest is that problem would ve vnc video driver. Did you tested it with PCI GPU passthrough? I was enable to boot into safe mode with IGP used, but there is not Win98x driver for IntelHD 200, i far as i know.

Edited March 17, 20179 yr by ruthan

On 22. 10. 2016 at 6:04 AM, kode54 said:

I would not be surprised to find that your host CPU is just too fast for it. Also, an entire 512MB of RAM? I would not think of putting much more than 32MB or 64MB in a Windows 98 SE machine.

256 MB RAM is safe for installation, after that it could be adjusted to 512, + there some unofficial patches for more.

Ha someone else wanting a win 98 vm!  Well i did eventually manage to get working but always had to do the step by step boot.

 

Easiest install is to download the .vmdk version from here https://winworldpc.com/download/3DD43CC6-18DA-11E4-99E5-7054D21A8599

You dont need to convert it just run it as is. After install remove the vmware tools

 

I used  cirrus graphics vnc when i setup my win98 vm

  <video>
      <model type='cirrus' vram='16384' heads='1' primary='yes'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
    </video>

 

For network use  rtl8139 in the xml

<model type='rtl8139'/>

Then use the win 98 driver to get it to work.

I have mine running from the vmware image with 1024 meg ram

 

 

 

 

Have you thought about WFW3.11?

13 hours ago, BobPhoenix said:

Have you thought about WFW3.11?

 

 

@BobPhoenix wow thats cool you have a VM of  windows 3.1. Oldest sysem ive "VMed" is 95 

30 minutes ago, gridrunner said:

 

@BobPhoenix wow thats cool you have a VM of  windows 3.1. Oldest sysem ive "VMed" is 95 

It actually runs whereas my 98se VM does not.  Haven't figured out why yet.  Not high on my list right now. 

 

The WFW311 VM does have it's own problems that I need to figure out some time:

1. Exiting WFW311 brings up the dos prompt but it is essentially locked up with noVNC - works with TightVNC - so this is probably just a problem with unRAIDs version of noVNC and not the VM.
2. Not able to read CD drives D and E currently.  WFW311 shows the drives as empty and from Dos 622 a Dir listing shows a read failure and the "abort, retry, fail" prompt.  This is likely due to the bios reporting it as a DVD drive rather than a CD drive and I don't think DVD drives were supported until Win95 time frame.  So need to research how to get KVM to reduce the support to just CD mode.  Just haven't had the time yet.  It could also be the format of the ISO but I have tried switching to ISO 9660 mode (the most basic) without success.

Edited March 18, 20179 yr by BobPhoenix

14 minutes ago, BobPhoenix said:

Not able to read CD drives D and E currently.

Which atapi driver are you using? I vaguely remember about 10 different combinations of files that were used in config.sys and autoexec.bat to properly get a specific brand of cd drive to operate. There towards the end, when win95 was current, there was a "universal" driver released that worked with pretty much any hardware.

Just now, jonathanm said:

Which atapi driver are you using? I vaguely remember about 10 different combinations of files that were used in config.sys and autoexec.bat to properly get a specific brand of cd drive to operate. There towards the end, when win95 was current, there was a "universal" driver released that worked with pretty much any hardware.

It is installed in a directory HXCD-ROM.  I believe it was from the 31pack of drivers for Windows 3.1.  If I remember correctly some of the other drivers didn't even find the drives.  Will have to try some of the others I guess.  It's just a pain as I have to edit the XML directly to add a floppy and then each time I want to change the floppy in the drive.  At least until I can find a driver for the CD anyway.  I will look for the OAK driver that was the Universal one I remember from back then anyway.

GPU Passthrough is running for PCI-E Geforce 7950GT details here and post below:
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/176548-unraid-vm-and-win98se-gpu-passthrough/?page=2#comment-1138483
so retro gaming is possible..

 

Edited May 3, 20179 yr by ruthan

34 minutes ago, ruthan said:

GPU Passthrough is running for PCI-E Geforce 7950GT details here and post below:
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/176548-unraid-vm-and-win98se-gpu-passthrough/?page=2#comment-1138483
so retro gaming is possible..

 

 

Check my post here where i passed through some old pci hardware and ran quake

 

Its working soundcard emulation in Win98 machine for someone?

On 12/07/2017 at 4:33 PM, ruthan said:

Its working soundcard emulation in Win98 machine for someone?

 

 Try .   <sound model='ac97'/>

then use this driver for 98  https://www.dropbox.com/s/qogbpr96bqp8jvh/WDM_A400.exe.zip?dl=0

 

However using emulated sound card will not give you sound you can hear in the VM. I passed through an old PCI soundcard i got from eBay for my 98/95 VMs 

Edited July 13, 20178 yr by gridrunner

20 minutes ago, gridrunner said:

 

 Try .   <sound model='ac97'/>

then use this driver for 98  https://www.dropbox.com/s/qogbpr96bqp8jvh/WDM_A400.exe.zip?dl=0

 

However using emulated sound card will not give you sound you can hear in the VM. I passed through an old PCI soundcard i got from eBay for my 98/95 VMs 

  Why i can hear it from my physical speakers? Its quite usual that emulated sound from emulator is forwarded to physical speakers..Vmware vms could do that.