USB doesn't work in Windows 98 SE

Hi,

has anybody managed to create a Windows 98 SE VM with working USB-Support? I did to full installs using the original CD, everything works EXCEPT USB. USB drives or other USB storage devices aren't even noticed - the hardware manager shows a missing driver for the PCI Universal Serial Bus, but it isn't on the Windows CD - and 98SE USB devices shouldn't need a special driver, afaik. Please help!

 

My understanding is that USB support in Windows 98SE was NOT well developed. Hence many USB devices shipped with their own Windows 98 USB drivers. This issue was fixed with Windows 2000.

Unfortunately, I have only had spotty success getting USB devices to work under Parallels and Windows 98. For example, with my original build of Parallels (Build 1970) my USB flash drive and its drivers worked fine, but my USB printer connection wouldn't. In later builds (3188 & 3214), this scenario was exactly reversed. In the most recent builds (4560 & 5060) the VM hangs every time I try to print via USB. Because of this I'm currently using Build 4128.

Apparently Parallels has decided that the missing Windows 98 device drivers reported by Device Manager (PCI Bridge & PCI Universal Serial Bus) aren't necessary for Windows 98 to function properly under Parallels.
I expect that if they were, they would at least be included in vmtools.iso. Some have tried downloading new chipset drivers directly from Intel. I haven't had much success with this as Intel's chipset detection tools can't seem to find an internet connection from within the Windows 98 VM, and I haven't noticed a difference in performance/functionality by manually installing the recommended chipset drivers. Again, my expectation is that all the necessary drivers for Windows 98SE should be included in vmtools.iso. Hopefully this is exactly what Parallels is doing.

 

Hello!

Have you already installed (reinstalled) Parallels Tools via Actions menu?

Best regards,
John

 

Hello and thanks for your replies!

jbh001 ->
I completely agree with your description of the current USB-situation (using build 4560). The missing device drivers could be the source of the problem. Since I also use Parallels with WinXP, changing back to the original build (1970) is no option for me. Well, it seems I have to cross my fingers and wait for Parallels to reevaluate the device driver question for Win98 - I can understand, it isn't the top priority with Vista and all the other stuff - but perhaps there will be a bug fix in some future build...

John:
I did reinstall Parallels Tolls via Actions menu and directly from the vmtools.iso - both to no avail :-(

Martin