(prevent “divide overflow” errors in old games):

qemu-img snapshot -a "Clean Install with Drivers" win98.qcow2

We will use the command line to create our environment. Open a terminal or command prompt in your QEMU directory.

Before we dive into creating a Windows 98 QCOW2 virtual machine, make sure you have the following:

Legal note: You must own a Windows 98 license. No direct links here, but search for “Windows 98 SE qcow2 preinstalled” – some retro computing archives provide them (usually with key and drivers already installed).

qemu-system-x86 -m 256 -hda windows98.qcow2 -cdrom /path/to/windows98.iso -boot d

QCOW2 is a virtual disk image format used by QEMU, a popular open-source emulator. QCOW2 offers several advantages over other virtual disk formats, including: