So I was able to control if from another PC without needing the laptop screen at all. My 'workaround' was to enable remote desktop connections to the old laptop. In my case the screen had died, but the laptop still worked, so no display. I had same with a Win XP Laptop and software requiring an rs232 port for diagnostics - even with a port conversion post VM the software running did not translate. In many cases, the NAS either can't, or the software on the PC requires the actual port and doesn't translate natively to USB. Since your NAS doesn't have the same ports, you'll be asking the NAS to convert COM to USB. When it comes to running a VM of Win'98, whilst that's achievable your biggest hurdle could be that COM Port. At the very least take an image backup of your C Drive and store that somewhere else (not inside your old PC). I'd suggest watching this great video that Robbie's done as a starting point.īut my first advice would be - clone your existing HDD to a spare disc (same size or larger) - that way if the old PC dies, you still have a spare version of it's full operating structure.
