Windows 95 preinstalled disk image .img

[Smkfnaf]

Can someone please put a 500mb Preinstalled Windows 95 image so I can save stuff to it because I can't install it in v86 as it runs into issues. Copy, if you're reading this, can I have your disk image?

[Smkfnaf]

if anyone could provide a 500mb windows 95 hard disk image that works in v86 that would be appreciated.

[chschnell]

Windows 95 is tricky, and also buggy.

Last night I've managed to build me a custom Win95 Setup CD (OSR2.0) including the patchset from patcher9x. Using this CD and qemu I was able to install it into a 512M image and it boots under v86, but only when using Boch's Bios.

If I boot using SeaBIOS it boots directly into the Win95 shutdown screen showing the It is now safe to turn off your computer message (in text mode). I've seen this very often while trying other ways of installing Win95 into v86 in the past. Does anyone know if there's something that can be done about this?

I thought maybe I can find hints in AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS of the current Win95/Win98 images at the v86 main site so I booted into them and looked, but both files are empty in both images. Am I missing something here?

I will add a CDROM driver to this image and then upload both images (.iso and .img), if you're interested.

[SuperMaxusa]

Does anyone know if there's something that can be done about this?

Try disabling ScanDisk on startup: https://www.pro-face.com/otasuke/qa/can/pl/scandisk.htm

[Smkfnaf]

yes please, add this image please :)

[Smkfnaf]

and cd too

[chschnell]

Things started off really great yesterday with the tip from @SuperMaxusa (we should add this fix to the docs), but then I hit a wall when trying to enable CD-ROM support, see issue #1556 where I posted my findings.

Until this is fixed I don't think it makes sense to give you any image, it doesn't really work.

[Smkfnaf]

thank you so much

[Smkfnaf]

It worked like a charm, once again, thank you so much!

[chschnell]

You're welcome! :)

I could convert the CD image into a HD image, then you could mount it on HDB. It might happen that Windows asks for this CD when you try to install a device driver.

Let me know if you need it, this takes just a couple of minutes.

[Smkfnaf]

nice, do you mind making a new windows 95 hard disk image but 256gb instead of 512 because I don't have a lot of space on my computer. and when it says name on install put smkfnaf please

I mean hard disk as in the one you uploaded before just in case you got confused.

[AdrianIsGoat67]

Well I am trying to run the whole pre-installed Windows 95 os IMG in DOSBox but when I type the command boot WINDOW~1.IMG it says error loading operating system

[chschnell]

Here is the full release:

• Windows95b_p9x-0.9.91_512MB.img.7z [34.5 MB]
  Windows 95 (OSR2.0) disk image (512 MB), supports: Soundblaster16, NE2000 and CD-ROM device (OAK driver)
• Windows95b_p9x-0.9.91_Setup.img.7z [387 MB]
  Windows 95 (OSR2.0) Setup HD (650 MB), patched with Patcher9x (source: windows95b.iso)

So instead of a Setup CD we have a Setup HD, to be mounted in v86 on HDB.

Note that the Setup CD (and the HD) supports the autorun-mechanics of Windows 95, so if you double-click on D: then a little setup-program is executed. Right-click on D: and select Explore in order to browse the disk with Explorer. Screenshot (the D: icon looks like CD-ROM device, but it's a HDD, it integrates nicely):

Here's a nice archive with Windows 95 software I found: https://vogonsdrivers.com/

[Smkfnaf]

nice, do you mind making a new windows 95 hard disk image but 256gb instead of 512 because I don't have a lot of space on my computer. and when it says name on install put smkfnaf please

[Smkfnaf]

I mean hard disk as in the one you uploaded before just in case you got confused.

[chschnell]

do you mind making a new windows 95 hard disk

Well, I think it's better to describe how to create the Windows 95 hard disk image with v86, meaning without qemu (!). It's quite simple and quick, and you can customize it any way you want.

You need to download two files, the Patcher9x boot floppy image patcher9x-0.9.91-boot.ima, and a patched Windows 95 Setup image (patched with Patcher9x v0.9.91), either:

• Windows95b_p9x-0.9.91_Setup.img.7z [386 MB]
  Windows 95 OSR2.0 Setup HD (650 MB, source: windows95b.iso)
• Windows95c_p9x-0.9.91_Setup.img.7z [368 MB]
  Windows 95 OSR2.5 Setup HD (650 MB, source: Win95_OSR25.iso)

qemu build instructions for these patched images

# these instructions for Win95 2.0 are identical for all Win9x Setup CDs

# create 650M HD image file
qemu-img create -f raw Windows95b_p9x-0.9.91_Setup.img 650M

# boot from floppy with HD and CD images mounted
qemu-system-i386 -m 128 -M pc,acpi=off \
    -drive file=Windows95b_p9x-0.9.91_Setup.img,format=raw \
    -cdrom windows95b.iso \
    -fda patcher9x-0.9.91-boot.ima -boot a

# create partition table
FDISK

# reboot, then format HD image
FORMAT C:

# copy all files from CD to HD
XCOPY D: C: /E /H /V /I

# patch files on HD
PATCH9X C:\WIN95

1. Create C:\ and start Windows 95 Setup

Go to https://copy.sh/v86/

• Floppy disk image: patcher9x-0.9.91-boot.ima
• Hard disk image: create an empty disk, for example 256 MB
• Second hard disk image: Windows95b_p9x-0.9.91_Setup.img

Boot v86, always select the second menu item (2 - FreeDOS EMS/CMS without CD-ROM), then at the DOS prompt enter FDISK and hit ENTER. For all questions asked, choose the first option, then press ESC to exit back to the DOS prompt.

Reboot (press the Send Ctrl+Alt+Del button at the top), then enter FORMAT C: at the DOS prompt.

Finally, after formatting, enter D:SETUP to start the setup.

• When the Setup Wizards asks which devices (CD-ROM, Network, etc.) to install, DO NOT select any device (leave all checkboxes unchecked), you can do this later but at this point the hardware detection causes crashes
• When asked, do not create a startup (floppy) disk.

At the end: DO NOT remove the floppy disk before rebooting.

2. Patch installation

After rebooting, back in the DOS prompt, enter c: and hit ENTER, then edit AUTOEXEC.BAT and enter this content:

@echo off
c:\windows\smartdrv.exe

Save and exit, then enter edit CONFIG.SYS with this content:

DEVICE=c:\windows\himem.sys
LASTDRIVE=F

Save and exit, then export the hard disk image by pressing button Get hard disk image at the top.

3. Finish Windows 95 Setup

Reload https://copy.sh/v86/

• Hard disk image: use the image file you just exported
• Second hard disk image: Windows95b_p9x-0.9.91_Setup.img

Boot v86 and finish the setup procedure, setup will reboot one more time at the end.

Make file C:\MSDOS.SYS writable (right-click and select Properties, uncheck attribute Read-only), open it in Notepad (right-click, Open with... and select Notepad) and append this line at the end of section [Options]:

AutoScan=0

Save and exit, make MSDOS.SYS read-only again, and you're done. Remember to export your hard disk image again when all is set and done. I recommend to shut down Windows before exporting the hard disk image.

You only need to boot your system with the patched Windows 95 Setup CD/HD mounted if you want to install additional software, otherwise you can boot with just your hard disk image file.

In case of a crash during installation, consider yourself unlucky and simply repeat your last step.

Further reading

• docs/windows-9x.md -- covers some other issues related to Windows 9x and v86
• Windows 95 Tips -- collection of tweaks
• VOGONS Vintage Driver Library and WinWorld -- Windows 95 drivers and software
• softgpu -- GPU driver for Windows 9x Virtual Machines.
  Works, DOS-Box glitches in windowed mode but works in fullscreen. Full installation needs lots of disk space, 256MB image was insufficient but 512MB worked.

[Smkfnaf]

It didn't work. :( Fuck that SUWIN error on krn386.exe. Can you please create the 256 mb windows 95 image for me since this didn't work (as you see above the error I cursed at lol.)

[SuperMaxusa]

Press "Reset" and re-run the installer.

[Smkfnaf]

It doesn't work, can you please create a 256 mb disk image so I don't have to endure this torture of getting stopped by the fucking suwin error

[chschnell]

Yeah, the first phase of the Windows 95 setup is really quite unstable, the crashes are unpredictable and probably vary from one host system to the other.

Here are two 256 MB Windows 95 images with your username, the first is 0SR2.0, the second OSR2.5 (see my post above for their Setup images):

• Windows95b_p9x-0.9.91.img.7z [34 MB]
• Windows95c_p9x-0.9.91.img.7z [75 MB]

As before, SoundBlaster and Network are enabled.

I also improved the build instructions above, maybe it would work for you now.

[Smkfnaf]

thank you

[Smkfnaf]

Now that this problem is solved, I'm eternally greatful and even though it is solved, I'm going to keep this discussion open so that in case anyone else has this problem we can help or if you all just want to discuss other things related to win95 installation. Thank you all for your help and support

[NonaSuomy]

How do you get networking working with the web browser? My build always shows it is looking for DHCP on boot no matter what option proxy wss or wisp or inbrowser etc ?

<!doctype html>
<title>Windows 95</title>
<!-- Switch back to libv86.js for custom headless/minimal templates -->
<script src="../build/libv86.js"></script>
<script>
"use strict";
window.onload = function() {
    // libv86.js exposes 'V86', NOT 'V86Starter'
    var emulator = new V86({
        wasm_path: "../build/v86.wasm",
        memory_size: 32 * 1024 * 1024, // 32MB as per your QEMU config
        vga_memory_size: 8 * 1024 * 1024,
        screen_container: document.getElementById("screen_container"),
        bios: { url: "../bios/seabios.bin" },
        vga_bios: { url: "../bios/vgabios.bin" },

        // Mapping your drives from the vhd/ folder
        hda: { url: "../vhd/qwin95osr25.img" },
        hdb: { url: "../vhd/win95_large.img" },
        cdrom: { url: "../vhd/win95_osr25.iso" },

        // Clean networking definition for libv86
        net_device: {
            type: "ne2k",
            relay_url: "wisps://wisp.mercurywork.shop/"
        },

        autostart: true,
    });
};
</script>
<div id="screen_container">
    <div style="white-space: pre; font: 14px monospace; line-height: 14px"></div>
    <canvas style="display: none"></canvas>
</div>

My goal is for an app on the machine to connect to another server on the network ir a local ip or a server on the internet what method would you use to do this?

(I have this working in qemu)

I saw there is a tcpip.js but not sure how to use that or if that is viable for windows 95?

[chschnell]

See networking.md for the user guide to networking in v86.

In your configuration, type: "ne2k" is correct, however for relay_url you need a proper backend URL that points to a server that you're allowed to access (try wss://relay.widgetry.org/, I believe that's a public relay).

For performance reasons I recommend to set up your own, private backend relay.