Windows Won’t Load

I am trying to install WIN98 as a fresh install, but when Windows runs the first time, it goes to a screen that lets me know that C:WINDOWS\System\vmm32.vxd could not load or does not exist. I have tried different hard drives, fdisking the mbr, re-formating, but have not got this worked out. If you run windows in safe mode, the file is there in the Windows directory, but won’t load properly for some reason. Help?