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I have a removable/portable Samsung DVD drive that I want to access from a machine running Windows 98 in MSDOS mode. Does anyone know where I could get a driver to make that feasible?

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— short, practical summary that expands the replies from , and and gives a working route.

If the Samsung unit is a USB external DVD: running the drive from Windows 98 (normal mode, not plain MS‑DOS) is usually easiest — Windows 98 SE can use generic USB mass‑storage support if the system has the right USB host/controller drivers installed (many retro builders use the community “NUSB” packages or vendor chipset drivers to add USB‑2.0 support). See Microsoft’s notes on how USB mass‑storage devices are handled and why the host/controller driver matters. (Microsoft: USB storage / usbstor.sys).

Accessing a USB DVD from a true MS‑DOS prompt is different: DOS has no native USB stack, but there are community DOS drivers that will make a USB CD/DVD visible to DOS (examples: Panasonic’s USBASPI and the DI1000DD helper). Those two drivers are typically installed from CONFIG.SYS and will assign drive letters for USB mass media, but there are important limits (FAT16/size limits, hot‑plugging and BIOS quirks). Practical how‑to notes and driver packages are collected by several retro resources. (DOS Days: USB support in DOS; summary and driver ZIPs / examples).

Minimal example (put the extracted DOS drivers on a boot floppy or bootable USB image, then add to CONFIG.SYS):

DEVICE=C:\DOS\USBASPI.SYS /w /v
DEVICE=C:\DOS\DI1000DD.SYS

(After reboot the driver will scan and, if supported, assign a letter. If the CD needs MSCDEX you may also load a USB CD helper driver + MSCDEX — see linked guides above for exact AUTOEXEC/MSCDEX syntax and options.) For getting USB‑2.0 host support in Win98 (if required), community NUSB packages and the NEC/host‑chipset drivers are commonly used. (See community walk‑throughs for installing those on 98SE machines.) (VOGONS: NUSB / Win98 USB guides).

Cautions and tips: confirm the drive’s interface (USB vs slimline SATA/IDE), enable BIOS “USB legacy” if present, plug the drive in before booting if drivers don’t hot‑plug, and prefer copying files from the DVD while in Windows 98 rather than relying on a DOS session unless you need DOS specifically. If it’s only a one‑off task, using a modern PC to rip files or burn a CD is the least headache.

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Member Avatar for Rik_

Microsoft no longer support windows 98 and haven't done for quite some time. I very much doubt you will find a driver for it.

Member Avatar for jingda

As Rik said, there is no driver for windows 98. Maybe you would like to upgrade your OS to windows 7. it is much better, you can just get the installation disk.

Member Avatar for Rik_

There's no way windows 7 will run on a windows 98 machine. Windows 98 had a maximum of 64meg whereas windows 7 needs a gig or more and that's just for starters.

Member Avatar for caperjack

I have a removable/portable Samsung DVD drive that I want to access from a machine running Windows 98 in MSDOS mode. Does anyone know where I could get a driver to make that feasible?

perhaps there re other alternatives ,what exactly is it you want to use the dvd drive for ,is it for continuous use or just a sort of one time use

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