Help with Win ME image

[tmclaugh]

I have Windows ME image that I need to make usable.

Unfortunately I don't have the system it originated on. The OS has an old version of Quickbooks on it, and I can't copy the files into a new version of quickbooks because of a password issue.

Is there any way to make this boot on a computer from these days?
Or can I make use some sort of virtualization?
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[dbwillis]

what program made the 'image'

 

[Azhar]

Wouldn't some very old image be extractable by today's unzip programs?

Anyways, there wasn't many imaging programs back then. I think the most popular at the time was Norton Ghost.

 

[Arainach]

Your biggest problem is going to be drivers. There's simply no drivers for current hardware for the Win9x kernel. Also, you may have to take some memory out. Win95 if I recall wouldn't boot on machines with more than 512MB or so of RAM; not sure what the limit would have been for WinME.

 

[Grimham]

When you say you have a Win ME image are you saying you have an install cd, or a harddrive image of the install? If it's a backup image of a drive what format is it in? I don't see why a VM wouldn't work. You can limit the amount of available memory to the VM if that's an issue. Also it's not a big deal if you don't have drivers for most components as long as you can just get it to boot and retrieve your data. That's all you're after right? Personally I'd try Sun Virtualbox, but others may have different opinions.

 

[GushpinBob]

When you say you have a Win ME image are you saying you have an install cd, or a harddrive image of the install? If it's a backup image of a drive what format is it in? I don't see why a VM wouldn't work. You can limit the amount of available memory to the VM if that's an issue. Also it's not a big deal if you don't have drivers for most components as long as you can just get it to boot and retrieve your data. That's all you're after right? Personally I'd try Sun Virtualbox, but other may have different opinions.

Not Virtualbox. It has next to non-existent support for Win9x/ME operating systems. I would try using VirtualPC 2007 (no official support for ME but I hear that the Windows 98SE integration tools work nicely). There's also VMWare Server that which I believe, like Workstation, should host ME without too much trouble. Both solutions are free.

 

[Sniper|3d-R|]

I have Windows ME image that I need to make usable.

-Define usable. Do you need to boot the OS, or just grab content from OS?
-Define "WinMe Image". Do you have an ISO, ghost image, virtual image? Please define so there is no guess work.

Unfortunately I don't have the system it originated on. The OS has an old version of Quickbooks on it, and I can't copy the files into a new version of quickbooks because of a password issue.

What are you asking here? Be more clear! You had a questing about getting WinME 'usable' now you're talking about quickbooks. wtf

Is there any way to make this boot on a computer from these days?
Or can I make use some sort of virtualization?

You will get a BSOD if you try and boot this 'image' on 'todays' hardware.

Virtualization options? Depends really what type of image you have.... and if its even usable.

 

[Mabrito]

Try getting the 30 day trial VMware Workstation, there probably a way to get 9x support going on it if it isn't already native in Workstation.

 

[tmclaugh]

-Define usable. Do you need to boot the OS, or just grab content from OS?
-Define "WinMe Image". Do you have an ISO, ghost image, virtual image? Please define so there is no guess work.

- I need to boot to the computer to access the quickbooks version it had on it.
- I had initially tried pulling off the files and using a trial version to no avail. It needs the original password when switching in between versions.

- I used R-Studio. First I did a byte for byte image. (.ARC) After flying home I realized that it was incompatible for rewriting partitions. Eventually I figured out how to remake the image into a compatible image for R-Image to rewrite the partition to an actual drive. So as of last night I have a working partition on SATA drive.

What are you asking here? Be more clear! You had a questing about getting WinME 'usable' now you're talking about quickbooks. wtf

-Here I'm talking about getting into the system so I can print or export invoices from quickbooks that is within the Windows ME image.

You will get a BSOD if you try and boot this 'image' on 'todays' hardware.

Virtualization options? Depends really what type of image you have.... and if its even usable.

-Now I have the above mentioned partition. I used a "cool little program" (meaning I forgot the name and it's on my other PC) to convert the partition to a virtual hard drive. I tried using that with Virtual Box but it keeps freezing with "Loading Grub.."

BTW Virtual Box is pretty cool for being free.

I'm thinking of using that image and installing Windows ME over it to see if that will make it boot correctly.

I'll try the VMWare Server during this week between moving and work.

I appreciate all of the responses and help. I apologize for not being clear in the beginning. I had no idea what I was getting myself into here, or if what I wanted was even possible.

To give you some background as to why I'm doing this - My mom passed away a couple months ago and I'm trying to recover here billed and non billed invoices from her computer. Even though I put together a much newer computer for her to use a couple years ago... most of us know parents and changing technology. When I flew home I just copied the HD with R-studio and figured I would just pull the files I needed and use a trial version of Quickbooks. Unfortunately when you switch between versions of quickbooks you need to enter the original password, which I of course don't have. Even with password reset tools I haven't been able to get this to work on the new versions of quickbooks. So now I'm just trying to boot this HD in some way and export the required invoices.

So I really appreciate the help. I didn't know half of the stuff I played with in the past couple days was even possible. Please let me know if I can clarify anything else.

Thanks again!

 

[DeaconFrost]

I'm not familiar with R-Studio, but can't you use that to open the image file?

 

[Stoly]

Lets see if I understand correctly.

You have a WinMe image you need to restore.
You don't have the specs of the machine it was intalled.

Going for a longshot here...

There's a front-end for sysprep called offline sysprep. I don't think it works with Me. But if it does, you can sysprep the image off-line and restore it into a VM.

 

[GushpinBob]

Lets see if I understand correctly.

You have a WinMe image you need to restore.
You don't have the specs of the machine it was intalled.

Going for a longshot here...

There's a front-end for sysprep called offline sysprep. I don't think it works with Me. But if it does, you can sysprep the image off-line and restore it into a VM.

You don't need sysprep for Windows 9x/ME (It was designed for NT based Windows so it won't work anyway). Back in those days you just booted into Safe Mode and deleted every device listed in the Device manager. A windows disc, a reboot, and dozens of "Install Device" wizards later and you're back in business.

However, if the OP can get into Safe Mode and open Quickbooks he wouldn't need to go to all that trouble reconfiguring drivers. Just get in, get the docs, get out, and send the ME image to hell .

 

[Stoly]

You don't need sysprep for Windows 9x/ME (It was designed for NT based Windows so it won't work anyway). Back in those days you just booted into Safe Mode and deleted every device listed in the Device manager. A windows disc, a reboot, and dozens of "Install Device" wizards later and you're back in business.

However, if the OP can get into Safe Mode and open Quickbooks he wouldn't need to go to all that trouble reconfiguring drivers. Just get in, get the docs, get out, and send the ME image to hell .

It was called prep tools back then, but you are right, sysprep won't work.