Try win98-quickinstall as it has built in support for some modern devices like USB 2.0, AHCI SATA and NVME. It also doesn't use the standard installer process so it skips issues that occur during the traditional installer on modern systems.

https://github.com/oerg866/win98-quickinstall

Edit: I will mention that Z77 is extremely out of the support window for win98 and you will struggle to get it working correctly even with modernisation patches like that included with win98-quickinstall. If that is the oldest system you have, you would be better off using a virtual machine.

DE: Die Hardware ist doch viel zu neu für Win98. Warum machst du das? Da passt XP vielleicht besser.

Xp hab ich auch installiert . Problem ist jedoch das ich alte Sachen die mit QuickTime /Macromedia arbeiten (z.B. Simpsons virtual Springfield , Star Trek Technique Manual , usw. ) unter Xp nicht zum laufen bekomme. Die Engine zickt dann rum. Das gilt auch für einige andere Sachen.

This is an English forum, so posts and replies must be in English.

Oliverlpz wrote on 2026-05-24, 22:15:

Today, I tried unsuccessfully to get Windows 98SE running on my Z77A-G43 motherboard, paired with an Intel i5-3070K processor. For graphics, I have a 7900GTX card installed, featuring 512MB of RAM. My IDE DVD-ROM drive is connected via an IDE-to-SATA adapter. The setup process starts and completes without issues. I have set the necessary RAM limitation. Windows boots up, and I am able to open everything using the keyboard; however, the mouse is acting erratically—it constantly gets stuck along the top edges of the screen and moves at an extremely high speed. This is likely due to the USB mouse being detected as a PS/2 device. If I disable "USB Legacy Support" in the BIOS, Windows fails to detect *any* keyboard or mouse whatsoever. Which brings me to the next problem: absolutely no USB devices appear in the Device Manager—not even listed as "Unknown Device." Nothing at all; if I plug in a device, nothing happens. My PCI sound card—an ESS Solo 1—is also not detected; there is no trace of any PCI devices. The graphics card is detected merely as a standard VGA adapter, without any PCI-E recognition. Consequently, I am unable to install the NVIDIA drivers. Furthermore, my DVD-ROM drive is currently functioning only thanks to DOS drivers.
Could a "QuickInstall" utility for Windows 98SE potentially help me resolve these issues?

I think QuickInstall will work for you. I had positive experience with a H97 board which is newer than yours, using the 98Lite Micro profile (with DirectX 8.1).

Just a caveat. Looks like your board (Z77A-G43) has only one serial (COM) port. QuickInstall by default configures two COM ports in the hardware profile which will make the second, nonexistent one occupy IRQ3 and this will prevent any onboard device using it from working citing a "conflict". That excessive COM port must be removed for any device using IRQ3 to work. If you use "Add New Hardware" wizard to let it scan for non-PnP hardware, Windows will remove it for you.

On the other hand, QuickInstall has ACPI disabled by default, which is necessary for Win98 to work correctly on newer chipsets. You'll need to manually shut down system ("It's now safe to turn off your computer"), however.

By the way, the 98Lite Micro profile uses Win95-era Explorer which doesn't depend on IE (and it has IE stripped). Also, it doesn't have most of the stuffs that come with Win98 like games, wallpapers and desktop themes, though they can be added back via "Add/Remove Programs" if desired.