Virtual PC 2007 help required

[Heather]

Right now I have my computer set up with Win98 in drive C,
and XP Pro in drive D, which works great, but my computer
needs updating / replacing, and since I can't get Win98 drivers
for a newer computer, I thought of installing Virtual PC 2007
in order to run a program that only works in Win98, but not XP.

I installed Virtual PC 2007 on a 75 Gig partition (FAT32)

After the initial installation of VPC2007, I tried to set up Win98
according to a number of articles I read online, trying to follow
them to the letter, but I get different error messages no matter
which way I'm doing this:
------------------
The network adapter with address "00:00:00:00:00:00" of virtual
machine NVM" failed to initialize because the address is a null address.
------------------
Format not supported on Drive C
Format terminated
------------------
Please wait while setup initializes.
Scanning system registry...
Cannot create a temporary directory.

If you have HPFS or NTFS installed on your hard drive,
you will need to create an MS-DOS boot partition to set up Windows
-----------------------------
In Fdisk (while in Virtual PC), it says:

Display Partition Information
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A Primary DOS 16379 unknown 100%

Total disk space is 16379 Mbytes

 

[pjp]

Right now I have my computer set up with Win98 in drive C,
and XP Pro in drive D, which works great, but my computer
needs updating / replacing, and since I can't get Win98 drivers
for a newer computer, I thought of installing Virtual PC 2007
in order to run a program that only works in Win98, but not XP.

I installed Virtual PC 2007 on a 75 Gig partition (FAT32)

After the initial installation of VPC2007, I tried to set up Win98
according to a number of articles I read online, trying to follow
them to the letter, but I get different error messages no matter
which way I'm doing this:
------------------
The network adapter with address "00:00:00:00:00:00" of virtual
machine NVM" failed to initialize because the address is a null address.
------------------
Format not supported on Drive C
Format terminated
------------------
Please wait while setup initializes.
Scanning system registry...
Cannot create a temporary directory.

If you have HPFS or NTFS installed on your hard drive,
you will need to create an MS-DOS boot partition to set up Windows
-----------------------------
In Fdisk (while in Virtual PC), it says:

Display Partition Information
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A Primary DOS 16379 unknown 100%

Total disk space is 16379 Mbytes

Ok, looks like fdisk is ok but have you actually formatted the drive? Been
awhile but don't think 98's install automatically does this. What I do
remember is downloading a virtual floppy disk image of 98's startup disk
(though I have some as floppies here anyways), booted with it in the virtual
machine, mounted the 98 disk and copied over the Win98 folder to the virtual
hard disk. This itself implies I'd formatted the disk already. I then ran
the Setup program inside the Win98 folder on the virtual hard disk, original
cd doesn't need to be available. I do this because at the end whenever Win98
wants a file for an install etc. in just grabs it out of that folder rather
than having to mount the cd etc.

I currently have 98SE installed in a virtual machine and it's been running
fine for months now. Is seen on network as separate pc, gets it's own IP
from the router, maps a network drive, the "share" folder works, np.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Format the drive beforehand

--
Peter
Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
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[Heather]

Ok, looks like fdisk is ok but have you actually formatted the drive?

I tried, but got the above-mentioned message. Thanks though. - H

 

[Heather]

When using a virtual machine...just treat it like the real thing

After your run fdisk and partition the drive,
you need to *reboot* the virtual machine before you can format the
partition

Note: that does not say that your computer must be rebooted...
the virtual machine must be rebooted...so don't let it "save state"

--
....don't let it "save state"
MANY THANKS philo, that was the solution !!

One question remains -- the reason I wanted to switch
from a dual boot (Win98+WinXP) to a virtual Win98, was
that when I get a new computer, I wouldn't be able to
find (video) drivers for the Win98 installation ( I asked
in the computer store, and they said they would not be
any).

When I was installing virtual Win98 on my old computer
just to try things out, it was still asking for drivers.
While I have them for the old computer, there won't be any
for the new one, so how do you guys set up Win98 without
the necessary drivers?

Also -- a question for all those smart software engineers:

When you install a fresh OS on a blank HDD, why are there
error messages like "cannot find xxxx.xxx file"?
If these files are not on the installation CD, and if they are
required, why don't these people put them on the CD in the
first place?? -H.

 

[Heather]

BTW: I forgot to ask...
did you try to run the software in win98 compatibility mode?

Maybe you don't need win98 at all