How to move existing Win98 to VPC

I need to port running Win98 Systems to VPC. A client has several systems
using Win98 for in-house application. Client needs to maintain this app. For
network, server and internet functionality, client would like to upgrade
workstations to Vista, (or Win7). How can I port working Win98 machine to
VPC? I'm thinking;
a. Create blank VPC HD,
b. Mount as secondary drive,
c. Format new drive with /s option,
d. Copy *.* /A /E /V to new drive,
e. Rename System.dat file,
f. Re-run Win98 Setup into current Windows directory to load drivers for
current system hardware.
Will this work? Is there an easier way to "image" these systems and move
them? Help, Advice, Utilities MUCH appreciated!

Make sure you exclude (or turn off) the swap file as it wont copy while in
use.

I would make a copy of the new VHD just incase you have a problem with the
next step you wont have to do the copy again. After you copy to VPC boot to
safe mode and run reg edit. Delete Hkey_Local_Machine/Enum (this is all the
hardware info). Reboot into regular mode and let windows re-detect all of
the hardware



"dtmCompNut" <> wrote in message
news:A842D4BD-5DCA-4D8D-A0F6-...
>I need to port running Win98 Systems to VPC. A client has several systems
> using Win98 for in-house application. Client needs to maintain this app.
> For
> network, server and internet functionality, client would like to upgrade
> workstations to Vista, (or Win7). How can I port working Win98 machine to
> VPC? I'm thinking;
> a. Create blank VPC HD,
> b. Mount as secondary drive,
> c. Format new drive with /s option,
> d. Copy *.* /A /E /V to new drive,
> e. Rename System.dat file,
> f. Re-run Win98 Setup into current Windows directory to load drivers for
> current system hardware.
> Will this work? Is there an easier way to "image" these systems and move
> them? Help, Advice, Utilities MUCH appreciated!
>

instead of copy, I'd use xcopy x:\*.* y:\*.* /h /i /c /k /e /r /y /s
you don't need to worry about recreating the system.dat file and probably
won't need to rerun setup. IIRC, after the xcopy, you can boot and if your
..cab files are on the Win98 C: drive you can just point the setup to that
folder and Win98 will boot up.

"dtmCompNut" wrote:

> I need to port running Win98 Systems to VPC. A client has several systems
> using Win98 for in-house application. Client needs to maintain this app. For
> network, server and internet functionality, client would like to upgrade
> workstations to Vista, (or Win7). How can I port working Win98 machine to
> VPC? I'm thinking;
> a. Create blank VPC HD,
> b. Mount as secondary drive,
> c. Format new drive with /s option,
> d. Copy *.* /A /E /V to new drive,
> e. Rename System.dat file,
> f. Re-run Win98 Setup into current Windows directory to load drivers for
> current system hardware.
> Will this work? Is there an easier way to "image" these systems and move
> them? Help, Advice, Utilities MUCH appreciated!
>

Make a new VHD, and mount it using the VHD mounter utility.

Share the C: drive of the 98 PC

Copy the contents of the share into the VHD with:

xcopy \\computer\share vhddriveletter /e /c /h /r /k

Now unmount the VHD, and boot the VHD from a 98 DOS floppy image.

Within the VM window, at the A: prompt, do sys C:

Reboot the VM and see what happens. Often it will sort itself out for the
different hardware. If not you may need to do a repair install.

"dtmCompNut" wrote:

> I need to port running Win98 Systems to VPC. A client has several systems
> using Win98 for in-house application. Client needs to maintain this app. For
> network, server and internet functionality, client would like to upgrade
> workstations to Vista, (or Win7). How can I port working Win98 machine to
> VPC? I'm thinking;
> a. Create blank VPC HD,
> b. Mount as secondary drive,
> c. Format new drive with /s option,
> d. Copy *.* /A /E /V to new drive,
> e. Rename System.dat file,
> f. Re-run Win98 Setup into current Windows directory to load drivers for
> current system hardware.
> Will this work? Is there an easier way to "image" these systems and move
> them? Help, Advice, Utilities MUCH appreciated!
>