Windows 98 for DOSBox Pure
I will try to explain how to start a Windows 98 OS using Retroarch with the Libretro core DOSBox Pure. Even though you can go through the step of installing the OS, in this documentation I provide the OS already installed as an image that can be used with the emulator.
RetroArch is a powerful, open-source frontend for emulators, game engines, and media players. It provides a unified interface to run classic games and software across a wide range of platforms.
You can download RetroArch from the official website:
DOSBox Pure is a fork of the MS-DOS emulator, DOSBox. It is built specifically for Retroarch/Libretro. It is mostly used to play games or software in DOS but also has the capacity to run an entire Windows OS and all the applications supported by the OS.
You install this library directly inside Retroarch, by going to Main Menu, Online Updater and Core Downloader from there you find and install the DOXBox Pure core.
You can change the core settings after you start it, you can launch the core directly without any game or software by clicking on Load Core from the Main Menu, then you select the DOSBox Pure core and then you click on Start Core. Since we still didn't prepare any system images, the only thing that you can do is going to command line. We are going to prepare the OS so we can start an Operating System.
These are images of Windows 98 that can be started using DOSBox Pure.
I made a few versions for myself depending on the software that I want to use, I already installed all the drivers necessary to make full use of the OS.
W98 SE - Clean Install
A clean install of Windows 98 without any updates.
W98 SE - Game Ready 2G - Patched
2GB disk, patched with latest updates, Voodoo Graphics Driver and DirectX 7 installed.
W98 SE - Game Ready 4G - Patched
4GB disk, patched with latest updates, Voodoo Graphics Driver and DirectX 7 installed.
You need to place these img files in the folder system of RetroArch, after doing that once you start the core again you can click on Run Installed Operating System, and you will be presented with a list of OS to launch, just click one of them and the OS will start to boot.