works fine...just loaded my quake 2 dir from 2004 and ran quake2.exe
First screenshot is of q2e.exe quake2evolved... much better version
The 2nd bigger one is of the 1998 3.20 version running full screen on my dual screen setup...thats why it looks funny
I suppose if you never got a newer version and want to run it off the cd you might try a emulator... vmwares player has opengl extensions and new processors should be able to run it full speed, and reports of it working in software mode in virt pc xp mode.
here are some better versions...
Vertigo: Quake II .NET Quake 2 High Resolution Texture Packs
btw I used to run hotwires ctf back in the day ....

miss the good ole days