what i'm trying to avoid, i think, is the ntvdm. i've got these separated in my mind as "9x is 16-bit, nt is 32 bit" but that's not quite right, of course. it has to do with the underlying treatment of dos. this was a long time ago...

so, i want the last version of windows before that, which may have been 2000 sp 1?

let me try in 98 from the disc.