Windows 98 Qcow2 ^hot^

Why 8GB? Windows 98 cannot natively see partitions larger than 127GB without FAT32 hacks, and 8GB keeps the allocation table small and fast.

This will launch the Windows 98 virtual machine, and you can use it as you would on a physical machine.

qemu-system-x86_64 -hda windows98.qcow2 -m 256 windows 98 qcow2

Using a Windows 98 qcow2 image means running Microsoft’s classic consumer OS inside QEMU or a libvirt-based hypervisor (like virt-manager) on a Linux host. This is not about bare metal or dual-booting; it’s about encapsulating a legacy OS in a modern, manageable file.

"Learn how to create a Windows 98 qcow2 image and run it on modern hardware using QEMU. Follow our step-by-step guide to create a Windows 98 qcow2 image and get started with retrocomputing." Why 8GB

Compared to other virtual disk formats, QCOW2 offers several advantages:

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your Windows 98 qcow2 experience: qemu-system-x86_64 -hda windows98

You can list all snapshots in an image to manage them easily: qemu-img snapshot -l win98.qcow2 .

For the purposes of this tutorial, we will use the qcow2 format exclusively.

Drive C: was the fresh Windows install. Drive D: was the client's old drive.