Can you install Win XP Pro OEM as an upgrade on Win 98SE?

[Happy Hopping]

I am running XP Pro, but I want to format the drive and re-install Win 98SE because I missed some of the old games.

Can I install Win XP Pro OEM on top of Win 98 SE in the same hard drive AS AN UPGRADE?

[Freezebyte]

Uhhh i'm confused, you wanna run older Win 98 games but you wanna install Xp over the top of Win98?

Sorry but no, that won't work. Doing that will simply "upgrade" Win98 to WinXp which gains you nothing. You will need a dual boot option in order to have the best of both worlds of XP and 98. Have you tried running games in Win98 compatiblity mode that Xp has built in?

[Renesis13B]

Im confused too but I know you cant use an oem version of windows to do an upgrade.

[Azhar]

I am running XP Pro, but I want to format the drive and re-install Win 98SE because I missed some of the old games.

Can I install Win XP Pro OEM on top of Win 98 SE in the same hard drive AS AN UPGRADE?

I advise you to leave Windows XP alone and install Windows 98 within a VM client to run older games.

http://www.virtualbox.org/

[GushpinBob]

I advise you to leave Windows XP alone and install Windows 98 within a VM client to run older games.

http://www.virtualbox.org/

Don't use VirtualBox. It may be great for more modern OSes like 2000/XP/Vista and many Linux Distributions, but it has no official support for 9x/Me. Yes, you can install 98 in VirtualBox but you'll have a hell of a time finding drivers for it and running it smoothly (I speak from experience and if you head over to the support forums at their site, there is no intention for supporting those versions of Windows anytime soon).

Instead, try Microsoft's VirtualPC or VMware Server or Player(you'll have to google on how to set everything up on the latter choice). They're all free too and have support for 98SE.

If you want to run anything that's 3D accelerated, you'll have to resort to dual-booting or building a dedicated 98 box with circa 1998-2001 hardware.

[Azhar]

Don't use VirtualBox. It may be great for more modern OSes like 2000/XP/Vista and many Linux Distributions, but it has no official support for 9x/Me. Yes, you can install 98 in VirtualBox but you'll have a hell of a time finding drivers for it and running it smoothly (I speak from experience and if you head over to the support forums at their site, there is no intention for supporting those versions of Windows anytime soon).

Instead, try Microsoft's VirtualPC or VMware Server or Player(you'll have to google on how to set everything up on the latter choice). They're all free too and have support for 98SE.

If you want to run anything that's 3D accelerated, you'll have to resort to dual-booting or building a dedicated 98 box with circa 1998-2001 hardware.

Good to know. I knew about VirtualPC but I thought Virtualbox was the more popular VM client in these parts. Never used it on older OSes though.

[YeOldeStonecat]

What games? Perhaps someone has found the tricks needed to get the legacy game running in some compat mode of XP.

[GonzoP]

What games? Perhaps someone has found the tricks needed to get the legacy game running in some compat mode of XP.

Agreed. There is a ton of ports to XP for some of that old school stuff

[Monkey34]

Points:
1.Keep in mind you won't be running any 3d gaming in VM.
2. Compatibility mode doesn't always work. From experience it's hit or miss.
3. You will have no problem dual-booting by installing 98 first, then xp.......just do it right, or you get the upgrade you didn't want. Don't forget your partitions.

Im confused too but I know you cant use an oem version of windows to do an upgrade.
Yes you can - in a roundabout way.....if you know how.........but then he doesn't want to upgrade anyway.

[Manaknight]

honestly, just build a vintage box to play the old games on, the hardware is dirt cheap now.

hell people throw away base systems good enough to do it, i have a p4 1.6 that was in the trash, throw a old 3d accel card in it and you are good to go.

[deadplayer]

You must install Win 98SE frist in a disk HD, then install XP in another HD.

[Happy Hopping]

My question wasn't very clear. Sorry about that. I meant to say dual-boot.

But as to this game compatibility mode? Where about is it? I run a few Win 98 SE Games, and it simply won't load up, it crashes at the beginning, and I paid for these and I haven't got time to finish them. So, is there some step by step to launch this compatbility mode?

[mlewis]

Right click the exe file in question in explorer. Select the properties optio on the menu that appears and navigate to the compatibility tab and choose what compatibility option you want. Press OK.

[Bobacus]

Something else you may consider depending on what games your wanting to play is Dosbox, a little bit lighter than a vm running 98, and it'll let you play some of the older games.

[GushpinBob]

Compatibility mode is a big hit or miss. It usually applies to (poorly coded) games or apps that look at what version of Windows it's running on and will refuse to run on any newer version of Windows that doesn't end in "95" or "98".

What you could do is google for each game's compatibility with XP. As an example, I dug out my Need for Speed: High Stakes disc and installed it on my Vista machine including official patches. I tried to run it but I got an error message so then I enabled Compatibility mode and set it to "Windows 98". No dice.

I finally decided to do a quick search on the internet involving the key words "Need for Speed High Stakes" and "Vista" and I quickly discovered a thread from another forum with instructions on how to run High Stakes plus an unofficial patch. I installed the patch and followed to directions and voila! The game ran as well as it did back in 1999, if not better.

Something else you may consider depending on what games your wanting to play is Dosbox, a little bit lighter than a vm running 98, and it'll let you play some of the older games.

Yes, but you'll only be able to run DOS games or uber-legacy Windows games (think Windows 3.x era, and you'll have to dig out your old Windows installation disks). It's a great app for running DOS classics and a lot of 16-bit software (especially if you use a 64-bit OS) without the obligation of creating a full VM and digging out those dusty MS-DOS 6.22 diskettes. However, you're stuck with VMs or an old box if you want to run Windows 95/98-only games.

[Happy Hopping]

These are all Win 98 games w/ label on the CD says win 95/98 on it.

One of the better game I really like is Slave Zero. Last time I try it, I have some problem at XP Pro OS. I didn't know about the right click trick, I'll try it w/ my games, if it works, then thanks to you guys, I save the time to install win 98 on that old machine

[Monkey34]

honestly, just build a vintage box to play the old games on, the hardware is dirt cheap now.

hell people throw away base systems good enough to do it, i have a p4 1.6 that was in the trash, throw a old 3d accel card in it and you are good to go.

AGREED.

You must install Win 98SE frist in a disk HD, then install XP in another HD.

WHAT?? Go back to school noob. I will reiterate one word - partition.

Compatibility mode is a big hit or miss.
Like I said...

What you could do is google for each game's compatibility with XP.
Good advice - lots o' info there.

[Jon55]

I am running XP Pro, but I want to format the drive and re-install Win 98SE because I missed some of the old games.

Can I install Win XP Pro OEM on top of Win 98 SE in the same hard drive AS AN UPGRADE?

Upgrading is NEVER good idea. Always do a clean install.

[Monkey34]

Upgrading is NEVER good idea. Always do a clean install.

I have heard this before, but I have as yet to see one go wrong.