This command resizes the QCOW2 image to 4 GB.

qemu-system-i386 -hda win98.qcow2 -cdrom win98.iso -boot d

Windows 98 remains a critical environment for digital preservationists, retro-gamers, and legacy software maintenance. The QCOW2 format is the industry standard for QEMU virtualization, offering features like snapshots and thin provisioning. However, Windows 98 was released in an era where direct hardware access (DMA, IRQ routing) was the norm. Virtualizing it requires specific "downgrading" of emulated hardware to match the operating system’s expectations.

Qcow2 (QEMU Copy-on-Write) is a virtual disk image format that allows users to create and manage virtual hard drives for virtual machines. It is a widely-used format in the QEMU (Quick EMUlator) virtualization software, which enables users to run various operating systems on a host machine. Qcow2 offers several advantages, including:

To create a Windows 98 Qcow2 image, you'll need:

Here's a step-by-step guide to creating a Windows 98 qcow2 image:

qemu-img convert -f vmdk -O qcow2 windows_98.vmdk windows_98.qcow2

This shares the /path/to/shared/folder directory on the host with the /shared directory on the guest.

: The cirrus driver is natively supported by Windows 98. For higher resolutions and 32-bit color later, consider using SoftGPU .