The -c flag applies aggressive compression, reducing an 16 GB virtual footprint down to a highly portable file often under 1 GB.

A (QEMU Copy On Write) file is a virtual disk format that is highly efficient, supporting features like compression and snapshots. A pre-configured Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) qcow2 image offers several advantages over doing a clean install yourself:

If you prefer using the command line for maximum control, use the following optimized script to fire up your updated QCOW2 image with sound, graphics, and network support:

The terminal blinked. Leaked cluster 1147 referenced. Repairing.

qemu-system-i386 -m 384 \ -drive file=win98.qcow2,format=qcow2,if=ide \ -cdrom Win98SE.iso \ -boot d \ -vga cirrus \ -net nic,model=rtl8139 -net user \ -soundhw sb16

: Windows 98 SE OEM Floppy Image (IMG) for partitioning.

For the most stable performance on modern x86_64 hosts, launch the VM with these optimized flags:

He clicked 'Launch'.

What you are using (Linux, Windows, macOS?)

2026 © Evorim. All Rights Reserved. Privacy | GTC | Disclaimer | Imprint