Multiple problems with Windows 98

I recently created a Win 98 vm and I'm running into several problems. Also, while it works in general, the lack of many of the Parallels Tools features makes it fairly annoying to use.

Issues:

1) Parallels Tools mouse synchronization is missing, so every time you want to leave Parallels, you have to hit the ctrl+alt keys. This is more of an annoyance, but after using Parallels in Win2K and XP, it's too bad that functionality isn't here. Also, clipboard synchronization is pretty flaky. I've tried it quite a bit - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Win=>Mac, it seems to help if you copy text from notepad in Windows.

2) As has been stated elsewhere in these forums, the video driver causes Parallels to freeze/crash. When restarting/shutting down Parallels freezes at a blank black screen every single time. When Windows turns off the monitor using energy saver settings, it crashes Parallels completely. That one can be stopped by setting "Turn Off Monitor" in Window's Energy Saver prefs to never, but that's just a workaround.

3) Windows Update is not working for me. Somehow, the Windows Update site is recognizing my user agent platform as a Mac and rejecting me at the door. I've tried with IE 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0, all with the same results:

"Thank you for your interest in obtaining updates from our site.

This website is designed to work with Microsoft Windows operating systems only.

To find updates for Microsoft products that are designed for Macintosh operating systems, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/mac/."​

I have no idea how this could possibly be happening, but it is. Could it have something to do with bridged networking? I've tried multiple solutions like registry edits and browser upgrades, but nothing has worked. Also, this hasn't happened for me in my XP or 2K VMs.

Thanks in advance!

 

I've also run into this problem intermittently. I can't remember exactly how I got around it, but you have to have upgrade to IE6 before you try. It also seemed that I had better success getting Windows Update to think I was on a PC instead of a Mac if I attempted it first thing after booting into Windows. I also seem to remember having to either use the Window Update link in the start menu versus just navigating there manually via IE6 (or it might have been vice versa). Anyway, I remember that it didn't happen all the time, so it was hard to determine just which of my "fixes" actually worked.

I just tried it via the Windows Update icon in the Start menu and had no problems.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I've tried pretty much everything you described there with no luck - installed IE6, clicked link in Start Menu, typed URL directly into address bar, etc. Also, it was the very first thing I tried after completing the install.

 

No help here, but I just want to share my own experience. I am using Parallels on a white Core 2 Duo Macbook with 2GB memory.

When I was using build 1970, I cannot get Windows 98 SE installed no matter how I tried. The setup program always bombed when it reached the point when it was ready to copy files.

After I upgraded to build 3188, I tried again and this time I could get Windows 98 SE successfully installed. But as you have noted the lack of many Parallels Tools features like mouse sync made it pretty annoying. And Windows 98 locked up every time when I attempted to shut it down. I have to kill it myself, and that brought up a message that Windows 98 was not properly shut down the next time I started it.

I have since removed Windows 98 from the Macbook and just uses Windows 2000 and Windows XP (Corporate version), which works pretty well. On my Windows XP PC, I have Windows 98 running well in VMware Workstation and Virtual PC 2007, so it is not much of a problem for me.

 

You've probably already tried this too, but have you done a complete power down and reboot of the Mac, and then try Windows Update first thing?

On a side note, when I experienced this problem, I don't remember making any changes to the network settings--like I said, it was and intermittent problem that seemed to clear up on its own.

Now that I think about it, it seems like I might have rolled back the video driver to "Standard PCI Graphics Adapter (VGA)" so that the crashing at shut down wasn't an issue, and then did Windows Update after a successful, clean shut down of Windows 98.

I can't see how they are related, but my logic was that since Windows Update frequently requires a restart, I wanted this to happen as cleanly as possible without the lock-up/hang/freeze that occurs with the Parallels video driver for Windows 98.

It also seems that I may have uninstalled Parallels Tools or not installed it at all prior to doing Windows Update. In other words, I installed Windows 98; installed IE6; then did Windows Update; then Parallels Tools, sound & video drivers last.

Edit:
A work-around for the video driver problem has been posted here.