VMWare won'install OS

[ittiandro]

Hi,
I am on Windows 7 Ultimate and I’d like to use an old software made for Windows 95, for which there is no updated version, so I thought to use VMWare and then install Windows 95 through it.
My VMWare version is Workstation 9.0.1.lite, which, from what I understand, has the VM Tools package already integrated to it.
I took care to insert the Windows 95 CD with the virtual machine OFF and then power it ON to install, as directed in the instructions , but unfortunately, VMWare seems to be unable to connect to the CD Rom drive containing the Windows 95 installation CD, because there is a sort of DOS command prompt in the main window telling me that NO OS has been found,
I know that the old Windows 95 required running a boot floppy diskette prior to installing the CD and this, I thought, might be part of the problem. Since I don’t have a floppy drive in my computer, I put the content of the boot diskette on a CD and ran it in VM Ware before inserting the Windows 95 CD. This didn’t work either, so, as a last resort, I converted both CD’s into an ISO image, as suggested by the VM Ware instructions, but it still doesn’t work. Incidentally, the VM Ware can’t even install an OS as recent as Windows XP, which does have the boot disk issue, since everything is integrated in the installation CD, so I think the problem is somewhere else.
Can anybody help, please?
Thank you
Ittiandro

 

[GhislainG]

You have to install DOS because the Windows 95 installation CD is not bootable. Once DOS is installed and the CDRom drivers are loaded, then Windows 95 can be installed and it completely replaces DOS.

 

[popatim]

You are wrong.
The only reason you need the floppy to install win95 is because the disk isn't bootable and so the pc cant access the drives. The floppy basically contains the boot files, several cd drivers, and about a dozen utilities, iirc. thats it. I've installed win95 thousands of times and I always used a bootable hdd to do it. Its way faster than a cd drive. Win95 will install a version of dos 7.

 

[GhislainG]

You are wrong.
The only reason you need the floppy to install win95 is because the disk isn't bootable and so the pc cant access the drives. The floppy basically contains the boot files, several cd drivers, and about a dozen utilities, iirc. thats it. I've installed win95 thousands of times and I always used a bootable hdd to do it. Its way faster than a cd drive. Win95 will install a version of dos 7.

Installing DOS makes the VM bootable. Then the Windows 95 installation replaces it even though Windows 95 DOS version is already installed. Why would one copy the installation to a hard disk to create a single VM? That doesn't make much sense to me. The goal was to create a Win 95 VM and that isn't as straightforward as installing it on a physical system. I'm sure the OP knew how to install it on a PC.

 

[ittiandro]

1. Download the Win95b_bootdisk.iso file from http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/iso.html
2. Create a new VM and configure it for Windows 95
3. Enter the BIOS and set the boot sequence to CDRom, HD, Floppy (this seems to be the default)
4. Connect the CD to the Windows 95 ISO image
5. Startup the VM
6. After the VM starts, you will end up with an A: drive, wich is actually the CD with the Windows 95 ISO image
7. Execute FDISK and create a primary DOS partition with the full size of the disk
8. Restart the VM. At the A: prompt execute FORMAT C: /S
9. Execute these commands:
C:
MD MSDOS
COPY A:\*.* .\MSDOS /v
COPY A:\CONFIG.SYS
COPY A:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
COPY A:\HIMEM.SYS
COPY A:\CD1.SYS
10. Unmount the CD and restart the VM
11. Mount the CD or ISO containing the Windows 95 installation (you may have to unmount the Win95b_bootdisk.iso again)
12. Type SETUP to install Windows 95.

In a nutshell, that's what I just did and I have Windows 95 running on VMware server 2.0, but I'll never use it as I definitely prefer newer operating systems.

Edit: I used a legit copy of Windows 95.

Hi!

I have finally found a Win95 certificate of authenticity code and now Win 95 is setup and installed beautifully, or almost. In fact, right after the Windows 95 logo pops I get an error message " windows protection error" and I can't continue. It works on Safe mode, though.
I have decreased the RAM to about 250 MB, as somebody suggested in this forum, but it does not work.
Perhaps I should disable Hardware Virtualization, but I don't know how.

Thanks

 

[popatim]

its quite obvious you are wrong because he didn't install dos and I never have either. All you need to do is make the vm drive bootable and able to read the cd drive exactly as he explains. Installing dos 6.x is only to turn around and install dos7/win95 is a useless waste of time. Why can't you see that?

 

[GhislainG]

Provide a procedure that works with VMware and I'll test it. The procedure has to work when no floppy or CDROM is available, i.e., the installation is done from ISO files.

Edit: Read the whole thread and you'll realize that he had DOS installed and the CDROM was drive R: (same as my installation).

 

[ittiandro]

Provide a procedure that works with VMware and I'll test it. The procedure has to work when no floppy or CDROM is available, i.e., the installation is done from ISO files.

Edit: Read the whole thread and you'll realize that he had DOS installed and the CDROM was drive R: (same as my installation).

1. What do you mean by " provide a procedure"? Can you be more explicit?

2. Also, how can I install a Cd-Rom drive in Win 95 VMWare? I show none in My Computer, not even removable drives. Is it because I am on Safe Mode?

 

[GhislainG]

1. What do you mean by " provide a procedure"? Can you be more explicit?

2. Also, how can I install a Cd-Rom drive in Win 95 VMWare? I show none in My Computer, not even removable drives. Is it because I am on Safe Mode?

1. I was replying to popatim who wrote that the procedure you used is not correct and that you didn't install DOS in order to install Windows 95.

2. Does your VM include a CD/DVD drive in it's configuration? Does it use the correct media? Are the cdrom drivers loaded in Config.dos? Does Autoexec.dos contain a line like "MSCDEX.EXE /D:banana /L:R"?

R: is the assigned CD/DVD drive letter (as it was in the DOS image), but that can be changed in Autoexec.dos.

 

[ittiandro]

1. I was replying to popatim who wrote that the procedure you used is not correct and that you didn't install DOS in order to install Windows 95.

2. Does your VM include a CD/DVD drive in it's configuration? Does it use the correct media? Are the cdrom drivers loaded in Config.dos? Does Autoexec.dos contain a line like "MSCDEX.EXE /D:banana /L:R"?

R: is the assigned CD/DVD drive letter (as it was in the DOS image), but that can be changed in Autoexec.dos.

Ghislain,

Yes, my VM includes a CD/DVD drive. I tried both the physical and the virtual configuration, to no avail.

By " correct media" do you mean the Ms-Dos boot disc and the OS installation CD's? If so, yes, I have the correct Cd's.

How do I know if the cdrom drivers are loaded in Config.dos? Where is it located?

No I don't see anything like "MSCDEX.EXE /D:banana /L:R"? on the screen and I don't know where Autoexec.dos is.

Thank you
.

 

[GhislainG]

Did you use the file and procedure that I suggested on 01-17-2013 at 07:36:35 PM? That's what I did and it works perfectly.

Config.dos is in the root folder once Windows 95 is installed.

 

[ittiandro]

Did you use the file and procedure that I suggested on 01-17-2013 at 07:36:35 PM? That's what I did and it works perfectly.

Config.dos is in the root folder once Windows 95 is installed.

Thanks

Just to let you know that I was finally able to install Win 95 in VMware by using the physical CD-Rom drive for both the Ms-Dos boot and the OS setup. It went in like a charm .I just removed the Ms-Dos CD once completed the fdisk and format c: stages and replaced it with the Windows installation disc For reasons which elude me, VMware wouldn't allow installation either from image files or from a USB flash drive , even though the BIOS was setup correctly and the Ms-Dos files on the USB stick were exactly the same as those on the CD ( which works).

I still have some fine tuning to do, though, withe the display settings.
I installed VM ware Tools, but there are a number of files ( driver files, I suppose), which I am prompted to install from drive c:\ but which cannot be found and I am given the option to skip them. They are about ten files or so..
The system does not seem to be affected by skipping those files, but every time VMware reboots, they reappear as missing files and I have to scroll down with the "enter" key in order to enter into Windows 95. I wonder what these missing files are all about and how can they be installed.

Ittiandro

 

[GhislainG]

Can you provide the name of a few missing files?

 

[ittiandro]

Can you provide the name of a few missing files?

The missing files are:
Vnetsup.vxd
nwlink.vxd
nwredir.vxd
nscl.vxd
vredir.vxd
vnetbios.vxd
ndis2sup.vxd
ndis.vxd
Every missing file is preceded by the following caption:
“The windows registry or system.ini refers to this device file but the device file no longer exists.
..Try uninstalling the associated application…or try reinstalling the application to replace the missing file
Press any key to continue.

Thank you for your help

 

[GhislainG]

If there are no issues with those missing network driver files, you could get rid of the warnings by using the procedure suggested here: http://www.winbookcorp.com/_technote/WBTA12000481.htm

 

[ittiandro]

If there are no issues with those missing network driver files, you could get rid of the warnings by using the procedure suggested here: http://www.winbookcorp.com/_technote/WBTA12000481.htm

Understood. I have one more question, though. I have two computers: a recent one with a n Intel microchip and an alder one ( Dell) with an AMD-64. My Windows 95 apllication works perfectly with VMware on the Intel computer, but it is flawed on the AMD-64 computer. While on the Intel computer I am able to read the full text display of various literary works, with various features ( scroll up and down, go back or forward, ESC) on the AMD 64 the text display is incomplete and I lost all the control features.In short I can't use the application to the fullest. No big deal, since I have the other computer, but I wonder why. Is it because of an incompatibility between AMD and VMWare?

Thanks

Ittiandro

 

[GhislainG]

VMware is compatible with AMD, but was the VM on the AMD built on that system or on the Intel?

 

[ittiandro]

VMware is compatible with AMD, but was the VM on the AMD built on that system or on the Intel?

No, I installed VMware on the Intel computer, then I removed the HD, connected it to the AMD computer, I made a drive image of it and I restored the image to the " native" HD of the AMD computer. May be this the problem!
I'll try to reinstall VMware directly on the AMD computer and see if i works. I'll let you know!

Thanks

 

[ittiandro]

This is a follow up. I have reinstalled VMware on the AMD computer and it works, finally!
I still have, however, a problem with the display SVGA driver.

After selecting “ Have disk”, I enter Step 5 of the SVGA driver installation . Here I click O.K. on “ C:\Program Files\VMware \Vmware tools\Drivers\Video” to install the driver. The driver shows under the name "framebuf.drv.win95_06.cab" in the left pane and I get a message that this name is not valid when I click O.K..
Strangely, if I search drive C:\ directly from My Computer on the Win 95 desktop, the driver in the VIDEO folder has a different name: vmx_svga. Its Dos name in PROPERTIES is VMX_SVGA.inf. Why does it show as framebuf.drv.win95_06.cab when I do the manual installation?

Thanks for your help

 

[GhislainG]

I don't know because I didn't bother to install the VMware tools. Can you install from the C: drive?

 

[moburg]

I'm glad this is a fairly recent thread, so I can still ask a related question.

After other issues, I was basically following these steps using a Win95 BootableCD ISO Image. I was able to create the VM, boot it off the ISO, I ran FDISK and created the primary Partition. It said I had to reboot, as your instructions also show, but when I reboot, it must not be using the bootable ISO any more. I get the message "Missing Operating System".

So I'm stuck here. The settings indicate the VM should still be booting off the CD ISO. But it won't boot up. So I can't format the C drive, and therefore can't install Windows 95.

What am I missing??

Are you following this procedure to install MSDOS 6.22?

1. Setup VM to boot from the MSDOS CD/Floppy/ISO.
2. After the machine as booted exit the setup program (F3).
3. Type fdisk and create a partition and make it active.
4. Reboot again with the CD/Floppy/ISO.
5. After the machine as booted exit the setup program (F3).
6. Type format c: /q /s
7. Reboot again with the CD/Floppy/ISO.
8. The setup program will now allow you to install MSDOS.
9. Reboot again with the CD/Floppy/ISO.
10. Select option 2 to install the CDRom drivers.

You can now boot MSDOS from the harddisk.

Once the CDRom drivers are installed, you'll be able to install Windows 95 from an ISO file (presuming that's where you have it).

 

[GhislainG]

Why would you install Windows 95?

At step 3, did you make the partition active?

I haven't done it since January 13th, but steps 4, 7 and 9 probably require the console to be open in order to select "Boot from CD". Did you open the console before rebooting the VM? If not, the VM tries to boot from the virtual disk that won't have an OS until step 10 has been completed.

 

[moburg]

I thought I made the partition active. I'll have to start over with a new VM and make sure I make the partition active.

As to why Win95? Its for a friend who wants to play an old game. It will not load on Win7, Vista, XP, etc. Online forums for the game say it will only run on Win95. So they are going the VM route before buying someone's old Win95 laptop.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Why would you install Windows 95?

At step 3, did you make the partition active?

I haven't done it since January 13th, but steps 4, 7 and 9 probably require the console to be open in order to select "Boot from CD". Did you open the console before rebooting the VM? If not, the VM tries to boot from the virtual disk that won't have an OS until step 10 has been completed.