It seems like FreeDOS mainstream requires on the machine to support some extended CPU command set, not always found on legacy hardware. FreeDOS legacy is probably what you want.FreeDOS supports USB r/w, something that might come in handy if you get in trouble.Especially for it's to be used with legacy hardware MS-DOS was distributed initially on floppies, which makes it quite difficult to burn onto USB.Something that could become a problem later on in the guide if MS-DOS was used FreeDOS appears to natively prefer the modern filename conventions, compared to 8:3 filenames.FreeDOS supports large capacity FAT32 out of the box, MS-DOS will struggle with large-capacity volumes.FreeDOS is chosen over MS-DOS because of pragmatic reasons, such as,.If a solution with rufus found, feel free to switch the guide over to rufus) UltraISO will be used as it doesn't hide the USB contents (as rufus does.Install UltraISO (trial version will do). The newer 32+ GB sticks aren't always recognised by older BIOSĭownload FreeDOS legacy, Windows 9x image, UltraISO.

Note: You'd want to use a 2-4 GB USB stick. The workaround to boot off USB will be posted, but it might be easier to just stop at this point if the computer cannot. The guide generally assumes the computer can boot off your device. Feel free to contribute, as it's likely imperfect This probably isn't the only possible solution, but the only one that worked so far.

Usb flash drive for windows 98