Hmm...
Windows 98 usually doesn't need drivers when it's being installed (it simply doesn't work most of the time regardless if you have preped drivers beforehand or not). Tip : You REALLY should copy Windows installer CD files and needed drivers BEFORE windows installation, using Hiren's boot mini XP and a pendrive [for example] or another PC/newer OS.
At the end of the day, if IRQs/RAM and IDE are set, it's mostly a configuration at the end (config.sys/boot.ini tweaks) that is required.

Windows XP always needs AHCI driver or USB 3.0 driver, get a GOTEK emulator or External USB floppy, if you don't like slipstreaming drivers before WinXP installation.
And it works "out of the box" with any IDE/USB 2.0 capable MB.

Win 7 ?
Doesn't need drivers (you can download them later or on another PC).

I don't understand? When installing win98 (or any other) you don't need a graphics card driver as it will simply do it's thing at 640x480 and 8bit color or so and after the installation you can install your graphics card driver which is always a better idea than using Microsoft's drivers...

so..., what's the problem?

You need the chipset drivers regardless. A lot of add-in cards will not work properly without the chipset drivers installed first.

In any case, trying to only have hardware that is supported out of the box by Microsoft's bundled crappy drivers is definitely not the best course of action.

Just install the drivers afterwards and you won't have issues.

Unpack the cabs and extract the information from the plaintext .inf files to get the list you want.

retardware wrote:

Unpack the cabs and extract the information from the plaintext .inf files to get the list you want.

Which files specifically and what program converts the hardware ID to a useable name?

To everyone else, this isn't a "best course of action" it's just a tool I want to add to my toolbox.

RetroFyre wrote:

Which files specifically and what program converts the hardware ID to a useable name?

The .cab files are Microsofts compression format, and can be extracted with various unpackers.
In the .cab files you will find many .inf files.
If you ever had looked inside an .inf file, you would know that there are clear-text descriptions and names of all the hardware for which drivers are present.
Microsoft even published their specifications for the .inf files, as everybody who wants to add a driver needs to make an .inf file.

retardware wrote:

The .cab files are Microsofts compression format, and can be extracted with various unpackers. In the .cab files you will find m […]
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RetroFyre wrote:

Which files specifically and what program converts the hardware ID to a useable name?

The .cab files are Microsofts compression format, and can be extracted with various unpackers.
In the .cab files you will find many .inf files.
If you ever had looked inside an .inf file, you would know that there are clear-text descriptions and names of all the hardware for which drivers are present.
Microsoft even published their specifications for the .inf files, as everybody who wants to add a driver needs to make an .inf file.

Seeing some inf files i seen that lots of "name" strings have different locations, for example.
sisraid2.inf

1[strings]
2; Localizable Strings needed for HBA naming in Windows 7 UI
3SiS="Silicon Integrated Systems Corp"
4PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_0180&REV_01.DeviceDesc="SiS 180 RAID Controller"
5PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_0182&REV_01.DeviceDesc="SiS 965/966 182/1182 RAID Controller"

xinputhid.inf

1[Strings]
2ProviderName                     = "Microsoft"
3Disk_Description                 = "XINPUT HID Filter Driver Installation Disk"
4xinputhid.SvcDesc                = "XINPUT HID Filter Driver"
5Bth_Bus.DeviceDesc               = "Bluetooth XINPUT compatible input device"
6Gip_Hid.DeviceDesc               = "XINPUT compatible HID device"
7VID_045E&PID_02D1.DeviceDesc     = "Xbox One Wireless Controller"
8VID_045E&PID_02DD.DeviceDesc     = "Xbox One Wireless Controller"
9VID_045E&PID_0B06.DeviceDesc     = "Xbox One Wireless Controller"
10VID_045E&PID_02E3.DeviceDesc     = "Xbox One Elite Wireless Controller"
11VID_045E&PID_02EA.DeviceDesc     = "Xbox One Wireless Controller"
12VID_045E&PID_0B0A.DeviceDesc     = "Xbox One Wireless Controller"
13Managed_Hid.DeviceDesc           = "Managed HID Gaming device"

oem26.inf

1[Strings]
2DeviceName = "Arduino Gemma"
3VendorName = "Arduino LLC"
4SourceName = "Arduino Gemma installation disk"
5DeviceID   = "VID_2341&PID_0C9F"
6DeviceGUID = "{933CF80B-FABF-4AA1-8AB0-384AB4CA35FA}"

Those are some examples of inf files present in my Windows 10 install.

If there is a logical way to always find the string for the devices, it should be easy to extract the cab files and make a report of the devices present on inf files, programatically, cause doing one by one its a really big work.