Trying to resurrect a old Win98 hard drive

Short answer​

• VREDIR.VXD is the “Virtual Redirector” driver in Windows 95/98 that handles network/file sharing (Client for Microsoft Networks). If it’s missing or broken, Normal Mode loads fail when networking initializes; Safe Mode works because it skips those drivers.

The practical path to get your files​

Don’t try to boot that Win98 install on today’s hardware—it expects its original motherboard/chipset/drivers and will keep failing (and can stress the old disk). Instead, treat the drive as a data disk and copy the files from a working system.
Do this:
1) Reconnect your Windows 10 drive as the primary boot disk.
2) Attach the Win98 drive as a secondary drive using a USB-to-IDE/SATA adapter or a dock (for 3.5" IDE you need an adapter with a 12V power brick). If you connect it internally, set the jumper correctly (Master/Slave/Cable Select) on PATA drives.
3) Boot Windows 10, open Disk Management. If the Win98 partition (usually FAT16/FAT32) appears, do NOT initialize or format it. If it has no drive letter, assign one and browse it in File Explorer.
4) Copy the likely locations for family files:

• C:\Windows\Desktop
• C:\Windows\Profiles\<your name>\My Documents (or simply C:\My Documents on some setups)
• C:\Windows\Profiles\<your name>\Desktop
• Photos/music might also be under C:\Program Files\…\ or custom folders
• If you used Outlook Express: C:\Windows\Application Data\Identities{GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express\ (DBX files) and the address book: C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\ (*.WAB)

If it doesn’t show up or looks “weird”​

• Clicking, spinning up/down, or many read errors: stop and consider a data-recovery service before it gets worse.
• Windows says “you need to format” or shows 0 bytes: the disk may use DriveSpace/DoubleSpace compression or an old BIOS overlay (OnTrack, EZ-Drive). Look for DRVSPACE.BIN/DBLSPACE.BIN in the root. In that case, you’ll likely need an older PC or a specialized workflow—post back and we can guide next steps.
• Booting the Win98 CD: most modern PCs require Legacy/CSM enabled and Secure Boot off, and even then it’s not helpful for file copy (Win98 has poor USB support). Better to avoid booting 98 altogether.

If you can, let me know:

• Is the old drive IDE/PATA (40‑pin ribbon) or SATA?
• Do you have a USB-to-IDE/SATA adapter?
• Any unusual noises from the drive?

I’ll tailor the next steps based on your answers.