Windows 98 Welcome Exe On Windows 8.

I found an interesting post on one of the forums about trying to run the Windows 98 Welcome tour on later versions of Windows. If you have used Windows 98, you will know about the spash screen with the nice music you get every time you log into Windows with the short tour of what's in Windows 98.

This is known as the Welcome exe or Windows 98 Welcome.

Well one member on the MSFN forums has actually managed to get it working on his Windows 7 computer. So I thought I would try it myself. First I tried it on Windows XP but it crashed instantly after a few seconds it was run, and the same thing happened when I tried on Windows Vista and 7.

But when I tried it on Windows 8 it worked. Which I am surprised about since I cannot get it to run on any other version of Windows, not even on XP, but it works on 8! 

I think it's because Windows 8 has better, more advanced features that can adapt older software to run on it. One of these is the Program Compatibility Assistant, that detects and adjusts the programs compatibility settings so it can run. Where as the Program Compatibility Assistant on Windows XP,Vista, and 7 cannot do this. And I have been able to run many other programs, from older versions of Windows on 8, that just did not work on Windows 7 or even XP.

Well if you really do want to run the Windows 98 welcome on Windows 8, here is what you need to do. You need a Windows 98 install CD. Windows 98 SE is best and is where I extracted the files from.

On Windows 8 go to your Windows folder on C drive or where ever you have got Windows installed.

Create a new folder called Application Data then inside that folder make another new folder and name it Microsoft. Then inside the Microsoft folder make yet another new folder and name that Welcome. The path should read C/Windows/Application Data/Microsoft/Welcome as shown in my screenshot.

Once you have done that copy the following files from your Windows 98 CD into the Welcome Folder:

Welcom98 wav (soundfile)

Tuneup.wbm

Tour.wbm

Regwiz.wbm

Default.wbm

ICW.wbm

Logo.wbm

MS.wbm

Welcome.dat

Weldata.exe

Win.wbm

This is how it is on Windows 98 and it must be exactly the same for the Welcome Exe to work on Windows 8.

Then copy the other files also from the Windows 98 CD: 

Hhctrl.Ocx

Regwiz.Exe

Regwizc.Dll

Membg.Html

Membg.Dll

Mstask.Exe

Mstask.Dll

Place them in the C/Windows/System folder on Windows 8. Both the  Mstask.Dll and Mstask.Exe must also be placed in the C/Windows folder on 8 as well as in the System folder.

Please note, the above files must be in the Windows System folder NOT System32 as Windows 98 uses the System folder to store it's main files. So will look for the files here.

Now copy the other Windows 98 files: 

Tour98.Exe

Welcome.Exe

Tuneup.Exe

Defrag.Exe

Cleanmgr.Exe

Scandskw.Exe

Place them in the C/Windows folder on Windows 8 as shown here.

You must run the Welcome Exe as administrator in order for it to work. To do this click on the exe and click properties, then click "change settings for all users." Then select "run as administrator," save and close. The Windows 98 Welcome is now working on Windows 8 as you can see from my screenshots.

Yes, there are some bugs, the Registration Wizard does not work when you click on it, neither could it find the Windows 98 tour, even though I have installed it.  And could not find it on my Windows 98 CD on my DVD drive either.

But everything else works, and if you miss the Windows 98 start up and music, you can enjoy it on Windows 8.

Windows 8 was the only one I could get it to work on. Why it did not work on Windows 7 or Windows XP and Vista I don't know. But it works on Windows 8 and should work on 8.1 though I am not sure about Windows 10. As I have not got it, but if it does please let me know.

Many thanks to the members of MSFN Forums for sharing this with us. The thread can be found here.