Forums - Reply to Topic

Additional Options
Miscellaneous Options Automatically parse links in text

04-06-2013 07:21 PM

Japo

EDIT: Never mind?

Well if there are no files in it, that's a problem of course. If I had to guess from what you said, I'd guess that you have an ISO of a "Windows boot CD", that is an empty CD except for a boot "sector". (I never saw such thing, but I guess it's slightly more useful than the boot floppy disk it was probably created from, after physical floppy drives became extinct--but no longer when using image files instead of the physical disks.) How big (megabytes) is your ISO file, what does it look like when you open it with WinRAR or 7zip?

If what you have is not a working Windows installation disk, there's your problem. Find yourself another one.

04-06-2013 07:06 PM

Nyan-chan

it says there are no files on the iso. D: is the ramdisk options. Could the iso be screwed up?

THAT WAS IT ITS INSTALLING NOW.

thank you so much for your help. Sorry for being such a pest. i love you all. Thank you so much.

04-06-2013 03:14 PM

Japo

Well if it's an installation CD there must be a command to start it. The fact that it's bootable is a bonus only, so you don't need a floppy; it's weird though that the CD boot doesn't autostart the installtion.

If it's neither "install" nor "setup", and it's an English language CD, I don't really know what to suggest... until we have more information. Then you should try a dir (imagine I had typed "E:" instead of "F:", but I'm not sure which is your case, you can try different letters until it looks like you found the CD):

Code:

F:\>dir f:
 Volume in drive F is Win98 SE
 Volume Serial Number is B4AC-D4AA

 Directory of F:\

05/06/1999  12:22 AM    <DIR>          add-ons
05/06/1999  12:22 AM                81 autorun.inf
05/06/1999  12:22 AM    <DIR>          cdsample
05/06/1999  12:22 AM    <DIR>          drivers
05/06/1999  12:22 AM             3,824 instalar.exe
05/06/1999  12:22 AM             3,333 leame.txt
05/06/1999  12:22 AM             4,219 setuptip.txt
05/06/1999  12:22 AM    <DIR>          tools
05/06/1999  12:22 AM    <DIR>          win98
               4 File(s)         11,457 bytes
               5 Dir(s)               0 bytes free

So in my case it looks like I have to type "instalar" (it's a Spanish CD) from the whatever letter the CD drive is.

04-06-2013 07:54 AM

The Fifth Horseman

ISO doesn't make a difference for Virtual PC.

04-06-2013 12:36 AM

Nyan-chan

I don't have the actual cd for it, i'm using an iso. it boots sort of, but like it says, it just goes to command prompt. i can get into the help file for windows 98, but that's it. I've tried both D: and E: drives, and running setup, install, setup.exe, install.exe, and startup and startup.exe, but it always says "bad command"

03-06-2013 10:39 PM

Japo

OK that's good. My tutorial suggests you to try first to boot from the CD, without any floppy disk, because if your Windows installation CD is bootable that's the easiest option and as intended. The floppy image is only necessary if your CD doesn't happen to be bootable:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Japo

Now reboot (the virtual guest machine, not your real host!) by clicking on the appropriate option in the menu, and the VM will boot from the installation CD. It's possible that you have to navigate some menus, in that case choose to boot from the CD and to start the Windows installation--not just going to the command prompt. If you get lost just reboot again.

Anyway the only thing the floopy (A:) can be useful for, is to start the installation from the CD. If your CD is bootable you should find the instructions to do so written somewhere in the CD case. In my case it was typing

Code:

e:
install

because E: is the drive letter assigned to the CD when using my boot floppy.

Quote:

If this works OK skip this whole paragraph and the next one. If you get the same result as before (no boot media/device) with the CD inserted . . . If everything looks correct, it may still happen that your installation CD isn't bootable. It should come with instructions, for example "boot from the CD" or "run X:\setup.exe where X is your CD drive". If it's not bootable you'll need a bootable floppy . . .

Please note that at some points my tutorial explains alternative scenarios (whether your Windows installation CD is bootable, whether the installation program partitions and formats the hard disk on its own or you have do it yourself beforehand). Depending on your case some paragraphs may not apply, it's explained in each case.

I think that if you follow the tutorial from beginning to end, and don't mix it up with other different ones, you should have no trouble. Let us know.

03-06-2013 09:12 PM

Nyan-chan

Okay Japo i started over, deleted the old one and set up a new one. followed your install instructions, after i ctrlaltdel reset, i get to this:

i tried downloading one of the img files in your thread and booting from the floppy img, but it gave me the same thing, just in spanish.

i made sure to format c: also, it doens't get any farther.

03-06-2013 04:57 PM

Japo

Virtual PC is the preferable option by far. First Windows 95 in DOSBox is for nerds and for nerding purposes only, and second you will get much poorer performance with it than with VPC.

Whatever guide you're following, be sure to follow it step by step, and if you're having problems, word by word.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nyan-chan

i run into trouble with jabo's instructions pretty quickly. it says . . .

but it always goes to command prompt. i have it set to boot from cdrom, then floppy, then HD. but it doesn't matter i'm at the exact dead end i was before.

It also says:

Quote:

If this works OK skip this whole paragraph and the next one. If . . . [keep reading]

And when in doubt start over. Your screenshot with the C:\> prompt at startup is just impossible to get if you were following my guide alone. Do start over, delete your machine from VPC and start creating a new one.

03-06-2013 02:48 PM

AbandoniaEddie

This Microsoft blog post might help you with the steps required to install Win98 on Virtual PC.

Cheers
Eddie

03-06-2013 05:55 AM

The Fifth Horseman

I'm fairly sure that guide is at least partially bogus.

Been a while since I installed 98 on anything. IIRC, you need to partition and format your hard drive image before running setup. See where running fdisk gets you.

Further, your 400 MB drive image is not sufficient for this purpose. You might get the OS to install there, but after you get the drivers and updates (if still available at all), you'll find that you don't really have enough space for a page file, let alone any games.

This thread has more than 10 replies. Click here to review the whole thread.

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads You may post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts BB code is On Smilies are On [IMG] code is On HTML code is On