"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
Bill Cunningham wrote:

I have an ISO of win98se and can't get that vitual pc 2007 to boot it.

VMMs (Virtual Machine Managers) don't boot .iso files. You also don't
say if the ISO is for the setup config of files (i.e., bootable disc
with setup.exe) for Windows 98 or if it is a copy of an already
installed instance of Windows 98 (but the disc must be made bootable
since you won't be reading the boot sector and boot loader code from the
HDD when booting from the disc), and whether either ISO is an unfettered
full version or an upgrade version (neither have been installed anywhere
else).

I play with the bios and it just won't boot from a virtual cdrom.

Requires that the disc in the optical drive be bootable. .iso files do
not make a disc bootable. Depending on what the ISO actually contains,
you will have to burn it *contents* to a disc. But first what the ISO
contains is a needed detail.

When you insert a bootable disc for something ELSE, do you see a prompt
during the computer's startup (after the POST screen) saying to hit
[some] key to boot from the disc? Just setting the BIOS to specify the
boot order has CD/DVD before HDD doesn't preclude the boot sequence from
issuing the prompt to boot from CD/DVD, timing out, and moving on to the
next device in the BIOS boot order (i.e., HDD). Some computers boot so
fast that the prompt to "hit a key to boot from CD/DVD" may flash on and
off too quickly for you to notice or get masked by clearing the POST
screen and Windows starting to load before the video shows the boot from
disc prompt. Check what the manual says for your motherboard or
pre-built computer to find out what key (if a special one instead of any
key) will have it boot from the optical drive if it is listed in the
BIOS boot order before the HDD. You might have to wait until the POST
screen disappears and immediately start tapping the key to tell the BIOS
to boot from the disc instead of timing out and proceeding to the HDD;
i.e., you will have to hit the trigger key in the blind.

Or a floppy either for that matter.

That must be a bootable diskette, too, not just containing data files.
That device would have to be listed first in the BIOS boot order
sequence (before the optical and hard drives).

Does anyone know how to deal with this thing or suggest another
virtual machine ?

You haven't identified what is the contents of the ISO "thing".

Virtual box I can't get to work because it says something about COM.

Is "it" Virtualbox issuing the error? Or is the Windows 98 installer
issuing the error?

And an error.

Oh, a secret error. Can't help with those.

It's a full version of 98 se cd. I have booted and virtually installed
this with other older versions of virtual box. Virtual Box doesn't want to
run on my xp x64 pro now. I don't know if this helps or not.

Bill