How can I run DOS & Win98 IMAGE on a new PC.

johndavies31

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Apr 19, 2012
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How can I run DOS & Win98 COPY PROTECTED programs on a new PC.

Here is my problem. I have several DOS & Windows 98 software programs which I use in my business, which I would like to run on a new PC. Most of the companies are from the late 80's & 1990's and out of business or don't support older versions of their software. One Company went bankrupt but told me I could use their software on another machine as long as I tossed the original machine (which I did do), but my floppy copy protection did work at that time. (I assumed it would always work) Since most of these programs were copy-protected (when I bought them), they used the old copy protection, using the floppy disks to transfer useablity from one pc (when that hard drive went bad to another.

To make a long story short, The hard drive & Power Supply I have is now on its last legs. and I can't install them on any new machines as all the floppy disks no longer work to transfer these programs. I have the original floppies but floppies are not recognized. However the programs still work fine on that machine.

My Original PC is setup on two partitions. Because I still had a licensed copy of DOS on Drive C, Windows 98 installed on Drive D instead of Drive C (which is a partition of 338 Megabytes (not Gigabityes), Windows 98 installed on 2nd Partition of 28 Gigabytes. So when I bought my programs and installed them, they all worked fine. DOS bootable disk was on Drive C and Windows 98 was on Drive D: Therefore to backup these programs so they work, i would have to make a combination IMAGE of DRIVE C and DRIVE D together.

For the moment, I made an image of both with MACRIUM (using the 4.2 version) since the version 5 no longer allows you to restore to just any drive. I have also made a Paragon image backup, just in case the hard drive goes soon.

HERE IS WHAT I NEED TO KNOW. :eek:
Most of the programs, I will still have to run (a few in DOS, most in Wint 98). I'm fine with this, especially if I can run XP in a different partition.
I thought of using VMWARE to make a virtual operating system, so I can boot up to those programs from a newer machine and use them anytime. but after using the vmware it seems you Need a REMOTE or LOCAL NETWORK IP Address to copy it as a virtual drive . I was disappointed that I couldn't just copy it to an empty partition on the same PC or maybe to a portable drive.

Since I can't use it in a virtual machine, what are my options? Can I make an ISO of something that large and mount it as a drive (in XP) with Daemon Tools or PowerISO? Or do I have another option?

what is the best way to mount or continue using these programs on a newer machine?

2ND QUESTION
will there still me the 640k Memory barriers and the VGA resolution barriers?

any help would be appreciated.
thanks john davies
:eek:
 

Northwestern

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Jun 17, 2011
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VMWare is a good option for powerful emulation but VirtualBox would be best for anyone new or inexperienced with emulation.

So far it seems that the best course of action for you would be emulation anyway. If you can make an image of the HDD you would then only need to transfer it to the emulation software of your choice.