afccarl666

Ive tried installing Windows 95B and Windoes 98 to my second HDD to play some old games I have got that dont work in XP (DOSbox doesnt work either). I was using a boot CD to install, as the floppy for 95 had a driver for my old CD drive on it.

I reached the point where I had to reboot to complete setup, and every time it fails with this error: Initializing Device IOS: Windows Protection Error.

I then tried Windows 98, same stage, same problem. MS support mentioned a virus and some other steps, tried these but these failed too.

I then proceeded to install it on Virtual PC in XP. When it copies files to start setup, it displays the message about NTFS volume and cant copy files. The VHD is saved to a FAT32 volume. Both Win95 and 98 I have can use FAT32.

How can I get it to work?

Stevie C

Hi,

This might work for both but more likely 95.
Try installing an older version of MS-Dos to your virtual pc. Once you've done that run DOS and type the drive letter the setup cd is in and hit enter. Then type setup and hopefully it runs the setup without a problem.

This worked when i installed windows 3.11 to virtual box so hopefully its the same for yourself.

afccarl666

Hey Stevie, thanks for the reply.

I havent got an older version of DOS to install.

I used a boot CD to run setup from the Win95 (+98) CD, does this make a difference?

MikenandezNST

Here are instructions from Microsoft Support http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306559

afccarl666

Thanks for the link, but Im not trying to create a dual boot. Well, I suppose I am, but not that sense.

I figured that because I wont really use it too often, Instead of doing all of that dual boot stuff, I simply switch the access mode on my XP drive to none in BIOS, other HD is now HDD-0 and it will boot from this one. That is how I got it to (partly) install on the second HD rather than it attempting to install on the first one.

I have also tried plugging the 2nd HD into the primary slot, but still no joy.

Stevie C

Hi,

You can download a version of ms-dos for free off of this website
http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/dos.html

Download an image so you can use it virtual machine, i think ms-dos 5.0 or 6.0 should do.

blah789

For your specific problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263466

I'd also like to add that Windows 9x has problems with large amounts of memory (lots of strange memory errors, like insufficient memory, or windows protection fault).
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/253912
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/184447
I had that problem when I put my in a pair of 1GB sticks to replace my two old 256MB sticks.
I tried the tweak they mentioned (MaxPhysPage=3000 which sets it to 768MB), but that didn't work for me. I had to go back to 512MB or RAM or less whenever I wanted to run Windows 98.

I'm having trouble following. How did you set up your virtual machine?

afccarl666

I used MS Virtual PC, the new one. I set up a new VPC, called it Win 95 (or 98), then set up a VHD on my FAT32 drive. I set it to maximum 2GB HD space. I installed them using a boot disk to recognise the CD drives, and then typing in R:\setup, like I did when installing as a standalone OS. It stops at the point that it copies the setup files, just before the setup program starts.

Thanks for the links, I looked on the drive and after both installs, the iosubsys folder is missing in both. I tried the option to log the startup, and only about 3 lines of VxDs were mentioned, rather than the list of 20+ that the first link mentioned.

However, my second HDD corrupts the files after a few starts, as Ive had a few problems with it. Its fine as a slave in XP, but otherwise its a no-go. I think now sorting out this pathetic VPC stuff is the way to go.

Oh and Stevie, thanks for that. Its there that I got the 95/98 bootdisks, didnt realise they do DOS too.

blah789

Your setup looks about right.
There's some gaps in your descriptions, so I'll just mention what I think should go there.
This is with Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1. Pick 512MB of memory or less to avoid trouble. For hard drive, use a dynamically expanding virtual hard drive. 2GB would be 2048MB.
For boot disks, I like to use the Windows 98 SE ones. If you use the disk with the RAM drive, the letter for the CD-ROM drive should be E:. Otherwise it's D: I think. (When MSCDEX.EXE loads, it should tell you which drive letter the CD-ROM drive has been assigned to).
It would probably be good to run fdisk then format before you run setup. At first boot from floppy type fdisk to partition (should show 2045MB). Then on the following boot type format c:
Then reboot again (ctrl-alt-del in menu). Now type e: (or whatever drive the cd-rom is assigned) then type smartdrv then type setup /p j (the /p j is for power management - might not be needed for Virtual Machine, but I type it out of habit).

Are you using a Virtual Hard drive (aka an .hdd file) or are you actually mounting a physical hard drive to do this? I can't remember if that's feasible in Virtual PC (I think it's doable in other emulators, maybe VirtualBox or VMWare).

Stevie C

I think you should give virtual box a try just in case it is VPC 07. You said you got those boot disks for win95/98 of that site i gave you? I'll look for them and try it on my VBox and see if i can get it working and report back

afccarl666

Im using a VHD file, not an actual HD. And the boot CD I use comes up the letter R for CD drive (Random I know)

Ive also tried VBox, but that gave the same error message, this time using a .vdi file.

Ive attached some screenshots of both VPC + VBox, to show the errors and how they are set up. The errors and commands I used were the same for both drives.

Attached Images

	Win 95 Loading.JPG (42.0 KB, 5 views)
	Win 95 Error.JPG (28.2 KB, 4 views)

blah789

banana??? normally the device name is mscd001
is this using the boot disk from bootdisk.com? if so which one?

TheOutcaste

You have to create and format the partition first, Win9x setup won't work without an already existing formated partition.
Follow the steps blah789 posted in post #9 to run fdisk and format. Do this while still at the A: prompt, as that disk doesn't set a PATH variable. You have to reboot after creating the partition with Fdisk, but shouldn't have to reboot after the format.
Type smartdrv at the A: prompt, then switch to R: and run setup.

Note that VPC 2007 doesn't officially support Win95. You'll need to use the VM Additions from the 2004 version.

afccarl666

I know, I thought banana was odd too I got it from http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/95.html, it is the b version under automatic boot diskette.

Ive done the format thing and that other command mentioned before, and now Win95 setup starts. This is on VBox btw, as it supports 95. I now get the error on the screenshot below.

I would try Win98, but Ive misplaced the disk. Not lost, just misplaced

Attached Images

Win 95 GPF.JPG (64.5 KB, 4 views)

TheOutcaste

I haven't used VirtualBox, but found this that may help
http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/4249

Basically turn off ACPI, IO APIC and Intel VT-x/AMD-v, don't use more than a 32 GB drive, or more than 512 MB of RAM.
Night also help if you can install MSDOS 6.X first.

FWIW, I've had no problems with MSDOS 6.x, Win3.x, or win9x on VPC 2007, just have to use the 2004 version of the Guest Additions for pre Win98 installs.

I've got a Win98 boot disk that uses Banana as well. I think it's the custom one from www.bootdisk.com, but might have grabbed it from someplace else.
The device name doesn't have to be mscd001 (MicroSoft CD 001). You just have to match the device name in config.sys and autoexec.bat

blah789

I know it doesn't have to be mscd001 (it can be anything you want to type, so long as it matches in config.sys and autoexec.bat). I'm just used to it being MSCD001 on Microsoft boot disks. On my old compaq restore CD it was CPQCD001 (diff driver though).

afccarl666

Thanks guys, its working!

I diasbled ACPI, and its fine. Back to my old games at last!

Just one last question - how do I make the screen size bigger? I have used fullscreen mode but it is still a small rectangle in the middle of the screen.

TheOutcaste

Are you meaning Fullscreen mode in the game, or does VirtualBox have a full screen mode?

You may have to change the resolution on the Host.

afccarl666

VBox has a full screen mode, but the actual screen in the middle stays the same size, it just has a white gap around the edge.

The host is running 1440x900, if that makes a difference.