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How to Make Windows 98 Run Faster on Virtualbox

Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

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Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Hello!

Trying to install a virtualbox with either windows 95 or 98, both got the same problem with extremely slow performance.
After the first installation step and it wants to reboot, it stops for a VERY VERY while at a black screen before entering setup stage 2. it took overnight to pass it. it constantly hogs 50% of the host processor, if i run both installations at the same time, they take 50% each, constantly.

What is happening here?

crosswinds
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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby mpack » 8. Aug 2012, 16:41

See the howto's section for guidance on installing Win98 with ACPI support. Since Win98 is really just Win95 with the bugs fixed, I wouldn't bother with Win95.

Another possibility is to install "Rain". Again, the howto section should be instructive.

If your host has VT-x then I find that enabling it helps Win98 performance a lot.

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby crosswinds » 9. Aug 2012, 00:43

mpack wrote:See the howto's section for guidance on installing Win98 with ACPI support. Since Win98 is really just Win95 with the bugs fixed, I wouldn't bother with Win95.

Another possibility is to install "Rain". Again, the howto section should be instructive.

If your host has VT-x then I find that enabling it helps Win98 performance a lot.

Thank you very much for your reply. i am trying it right now. The stage 2 of the installation is still SLOW. but maybe it will work later when it boots with ACPI?

Why is this? Does virtualbox still not support 95/98?

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby michaln » 9. Aug 2012, 11:21

crosswinds wrote:Why is this? Does virtualbox still not support 95/98?

The level of support of various guest operating systems directly corresponds to how much it is worth to customers. In the case of Windows 9x, the support is not worth anything to anyone (that we know of). But if you know of someone who is interested in buying a few thousand VirtualBox licenses in order to run Windows 9x, please do talk to Oracle... things can change.

Historically, products like Virtual PC and VMware were developed when Windows 9x still mattered. When VirtualBox was developed, Windows 9x didn't matter anymore. Now it matters even less than it did 5-7 years ago.

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby mpack » 9. Aug 2012, 11:32

lol on the use of the word "still"! Do you think that the passage of time makes Win9x more relevant?? :D

Anyway, Win98 runs, but it is not officially supported. In particular there are no guest additions, so there will be no simplified shared folders, no mouse integration, no 2D/3D acceleration etc. I do have a Win98SE VM, but only for nostaliga / test / verify reasons, I don't use it for anything serious. Follow the howto to get performance as good as its going to get.

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby crosswinds » 9. Aug 2012, 15:39

michaln wrote:

crosswinds wrote:Why is this? Does virtualbox still not support 95/98?

The level of support of various guest operating systems directly corresponds to how much it is worth to customers. In the case of Windows 9x, the support is not worth anything to anyone (that we know of). But if you know of someone who is interested in buying a few thousand VirtualBox licenses in order to run Windows 9x, please do talk to Oracle... things can change.

Historically, products like Virtual PC and VMware were developed when Windows 9x still mattered. When VirtualBox was developed, Windows 9x didn't matter anymore. Now it matters even less than it did 5-7 years ago.

Im sorry, i just thought that i was doing something wrong since the software seems to be so advanced and solid for running i.e windows vista / 7. and that it even have all the old O.S in the listbox that it would support it. So for nostalgic reasons i wanted to install it. Started out with 3.11 works super, and wanted 95,98, ME just for the heck of it.

And maybe it was stupid of me to think that a software like this were widely used to run old software that is not supported by newer hardware.

I have been unlucky in my attempt to install it with the how-tos, still get it "freeze" slow in the install program..

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby crosswinds » 9. Aug 2012, 16:13

mpack wrote:lol on the use of the word "still"! Do you think that the passage of time makes Win9x more relevant?? :D

Anyway, Win98 runs, but it is not officially supported. In particular there are no guest additions, so there will be no simplified shared folders, no mouse integration, no 2D/3D acceleration etc. I do have a Win98SE VM, but only for nostaliga / test / verify reasons, I don't use it for anything serious. Follow the howto to get performance as good as its going to get.

Seems like Rain (taken of the net?) or something called dosidle is the way to go. wonder if that works with 95/98 or just DOS?

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby mpack » 9. Aug 2012, 16:53

Did you read the "howto"? Rain works - but allegedly isn't needed (though does no harm) if you install Win98SE with ACPI support.

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby crosswinds » 10. Aug 2012, 19:06

mpack wrote:Did you read the "howto"? Rain works - but allegedly isn't needed (though does no harm) if you install Win98SE with ACPI support.

Thanks for all your help!

Yeah i found it, but i cant download it to the guest quite yet since the network stopped working (another thread about that).

I have now installed it with ACPI forced, and it runs OK, but somewhat sluggish, do you think rain will speed things up a bit more?

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby stefan.becker » 10. Aug 2012, 19:20

Install XP, if WinDOS is not fast enough.

No, RAIN makes nothing faster. Its a tool to sleep down the processor if the user does nothing with the guest.

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby crosswinds » 10. Aug 2012, 19:26

stefan.becker wrote:Install XP, if WinDOS is not fast enough.

That sure was a useful tip...

stefan.becker wrote:No, RAIN makes nothing faster. Its a tool to sleep down the processor if the user does nothing with the guest.

Alright, just thought it might since some refer to it instead of windows built-in ACPI..

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby mpack » 11. Aug 2012, 11:33

Your original post referred to the VMs permanently taking 50% of CPU (i.e. 100% of one core). ACPI fixes that, and so does Rain. In both cases it means that the processor goes into a low power sleep mode instead of a hard idle loop. When not idle the processor is going no faster than before - however a second VM (also mentioned in your OP) will have more CPU to play with, as of course will the host.

Did you install the Bearwindows driver in the Win98SE guest? A half decent display driver can make a big difference to performance perceptions, and on my PC it zips along quite nicely once VT-x is also enabled.

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby crosswinds » 11. Aug 2012, 13:07

mpack wrote:Your original post referred to the VMs permanently taking 50% of CPU (i.e. 100% of one core). ACPI fixes that, and so does Rain. In both cases it means that the processor goes into a low power sleep mode instead of a hard idle loop. When not idle the processor is going no faster than before - however a second VM (also mentioned in your OP) will have more CPU to play with, as of course will the host.

Did you install the Bearwindows driver in the Win98SE guest? A half decent display driver can make a big difference to performance perceptions, and on my PC it zips along quite nicely once VT-x is also enabled.

Thank you mpack! You have been very helpful! Alright, so there is no performance improvement inside of the vbox with the ACPI? Ive tried a displaydriver from the howto called "displaydoctor" something, it fixes the colors, but theres no zip :) Will try yours though.

Could you explain VT-x for me?

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby mpack » 11. Aug 2012, 13:54

VT-x is basically hardware accelerated virtualization. Most high end CPUs now support it, but it is disabled by default in most BIOSes, for reasons I don't know. You need to check online that your CPU supports VT-x (or AMD-v if it's an AMD processor), and if yes you go into the BIOS to enable it (look for "virtualization technology: enable" or similar), and also enable it in the VM settings in VirtualBox. Don't mistake VT-x for VT-d. The latter is a way to make real hardware visible to VMs, but it isn't widely supported. E.g. VBox only has experimental support on Linux hosts, and even there I don't think much hardware is compliant.

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Re: Windows 95 / 98 Runnig extremely slow

Postby michaln » 11. Aug 2012, 18:41

mpack wrote:Your original post referred to the VMs permanently taking 50% of CPU (i.e. 100% of one core). ACPI fixes that, and so does Rain.

Is APM enabled and functioning in the guest? There should be no need to futz around with Rain or ACPI, but it's possible that some Windows 9x versions don't work correctly with the APM implementation in VirtualBox 4.1.x and older. If that's the case, forcing it to APM 1.0 may help.

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How to Make Windows 98 Run Faster on Virtualbox

Source: https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=50842