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Not long ago, I discovered a fascinating retro computing project – QuickInstall – that brought me back to the 90s when I happily installed Windows 98 on my PC.
Remember when we patiently waited for Windows 98 to install on our machines, diskette by diskette, or with a CD-ROM if you were lucky enough to have a reader? Those installs took forever!
QuickInstall creates optimized Windows 98 SE installation ISO images for lightning fast setups. It leverages an installed Windows 98 system with added drivers and tools to customize and expedite the process. Running on Linux with its formatting and partitioning tools turbo-charges the installation.
Based on initial testing, an optimized Windows 98 SE install can complete in just 60-90 seconds on a Pentium III machine with ATA/ATAPI Ultra DMA. Supported operating systems include Windows 98, 98 SE and Windows Millennium. International versions are untested but should work. Windows 95 is not supported.
To use QuickInstall you’ll need an i486 processor, at least 24MB RAM, and a Linux-compatible IDE/SATA/SCSI controller. Booting the Windows 98 QuickInstall image can be done via CD/DVD-ROM, 1.44MB floppy with DOS (dosflop.img) or tiny kernel (floppy.img). Bootable USB images are also possible using the system preparation script.
You’ll need Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11, recent Linux, or WSL and Python 3.5+ to create QuickInstall images. Tools like mkisofs, wine, and disk image extractors (7zip) must be installed too.
The sysprep.py system preparation script handles creating ISO and/or USB images. It takes parameters like image creation, Windows 98/ME system root directories, extra drivers, and more.
To install, set up Windows 98/ME in a VM using the recommended config. Ensure the network driver is not installed to avoid issues. Shut down the VM, image the Windows 98 partition, copy desired drivers to the directories, then run sysprep.py with instructions to create the image.
For bootable ISOs use –iso with sysprep.py. For bootable USBs, use –usb. Write the image to USB with dd (Linux) or ddForWindows/Win32 DiskImager (Windows).
QuickInstall can also create multi-variant installs with –osroot. An install menu lets you pick the variant. It’s a retro computing goldmine!
If you just want to test Windows 98, click here instead of installing it.
QuickInstall blends Windows 98 nostalgia with modern, optimized, rapid installation. Retro computing fans – discover more about this interesting project here.
