Now we append drivers to the boot arguments.
Before diving into the command line, you need to gather your digital "ingredients."
Windows 98 remains a nostalgia-rich OS for hobbyists, retro gamers, and preservationists. QCOW2 (QEMU Copy-On-Write v2) is a flexible virtual disk format widely used with QEMU/KVM that supports sparse storage, snapshots, and compression. Combining the two lets you run Windows 98 inside modern virtualized environments while keeping disk images compact, portable, and snapshot-capable. This article explains why you might choose QCOW2 for Windows 98, practical setup steps, performance and compatibility considerations, and preservation tips. windows 98 qcow2
qemu-img create -f qcow2 windows98.qcow2 2048M
Before you begin, make sure you have the following: Now we append drivers to the boot arguments
qemu-img create -f qcow2 -b win98.qcow2 snapshot_state.qcow2
qemu-img create -f qcow2 windows98.qcow2 2G Combining the two lets you run Windows 98
Replace /path/to/windows98.iso with the actual path to your Windows 98 installation ISO file.
* **VirtualBox**: Create a new virtual machine in VirtualBox, select "Other" as the operating system, and choose the Qcow2 image as the hard drive.