Windows 3.1

[desdgl]

Windows 3.1 + ISO

I happened to find my old windows 3.1 cd-rom and want to install it on my pc. i am running win xp pro and when i open setup its says i am trying to install windows 3.1 from within windows and that i need to type "setup" and the ms-dos prompt. unlike windows 98 i cant restart the computer in ms-dos mode. can someone please help me install this!?!?!


I can send you an ISO of this if you email me desdgl@aol.com
it is about 14mb

Removed because TS does not condone piracy. Please keep it off the boards Poertner_1274

I made the MS-DOS start-up disk and i get the A:\ prompt. now i need to now how i change that to be my cd-rom drive. I typed in "prompt D:\" and it does but when i type D:\setup it says bad file name or something

 

[agissi]

Im not sure TS condones this, but I sure have nothing against it (just watch, here come the flames). Ah, I just look down, and Poet has taken your list off. It was a nice list, though I already have it all :grinthumb I even used the same word as him, 'condone', lol...anyways, this should help you:
--

[center]Create A MS-DOS Startup Disk[/center]


Since XP was released there has been a lot of confusion about startup disks, boot disks, and also MS-DOS startup disks. A MS-DOS startup disk is not a substitute for the boot disks that you might be familiar with from Windows 95/98/Me. It performs one function and one function only. It gets you to the A:\ prompt from a cold boot. The following list of files is placed on the MS-DOS startup disk when the procedure listed below is performed.

[center]Directory of A:\

AUTOEXEC.BAT
COMMAND.COM
KEYB.COM
MODE.COM
EGA.CPI
EGA2.CPI
EGA3.CPI
CONFIG.SYS
DISPLAY.SYS
IO.SYS
KEYBOARD.SYS
KEYBRD2.SYS
KEYBRD3.SYS
KEYBRD4.SYS
MSDOS.SYS
[/center]

Insert a 3.5 floppy in the floppy drive.
Click [Start] [My Computer] then highlight the A:\ drive and right click.
Click [Format] to open the window below.

[center]

[/center]

Check [Create an MS-DOS Startup Disk], [Start] and follow the prompts.

Note: The MS-DOS startup disk only allows the system to boot into an MS-DOS prompt. The disk contains no additional tools and is not a substitute for Windows XP Setup Boot Disks.
Credit: The Elder Geek

--
I would ask you for the ISO, but I dont know how to setup dual boot n' all. I wish someone made an app where you just show it the directorys of the OSs and it did its stuff.

 

[DigitAlex]

Originally posted by ---agissi---

I would ask you for the ISO, but I dont know how to setup dual boot n' all. I wish someone made an app where you just show it the directorys of the OSs and it did its stuff.

???????????

 

[agissi]

You ever heard of "Dual Boot" before. Or "Dual Booting"?

Most probbly I'll try it again:

An application to setup a "Dual Boot" for you would be cool. Say power up the application, show it the directorys of the OS's, press "OK" and reboot...Then upon bootup, have the menu (that pops up) popup, asking you what OS to load

*Ta-Da*

Now someone go make that :haha:

 

[Nic]

As far as I am aware, you first need to install MSDOS before you can install Windows 3.1. Windows 3.1 runs on top of MSDOS and will not install on its own. A start up disk will be of no use, though you could use it to copy the MSDOS install files to your hard drive (something that you could also do from your existing OS. After installing MSDOS you should be able to run setup.

 

[DigitAlex]

they are not directories for the OSes but drives

and i don't think there will be any app like this

there also are NTDLR and tools like BootMagic etc

 

[acidosmosis]

Yeap, you will need to install DOS first, because Win3.1, unlike your XP is not a stand alone operating system, nor really an operating system at all.

Though, the real question here is WHY are you installing Windows 3.1 on a computer that is capable of running Windows XP?

 

[alphnumeric]

IF you are not going to use a boot-loader like partition magic you will have to start over and install windows 3.1 first, that is after you install dos. If you can get it to install and if you can get it to work, then install XP and it will install a boot-loader with a menu to select which OS you want to boot to. I have done it with 98 and 2k, 2k and XP also. Its oldest to newest, 9X OS's first then NT based OS. Right now I am using Star-tools Partition Star and Boot Star to dual boot 98 and 2k. Whichever one I chose boots up as C: and the other is hidden. I don't think you will get win 3.1 to work, your PC is too good for it. Windows 3.1 probably can't handle all your ram, 95 and 98 chock if you have more than 512meg, and may not be able to handle a large harddrive. I think it needs a fat 16 partition also. Good luck and have fun. Doing a google search for "old windows versions" turned up some interesting stuff.

 

[desdgl]

Windows 3.1 File List

Does anyone have a list of what files go on what floppy so thati can make floppies out of my cd-rom version of windows?

 

[Nic]

Windows 3.1 will also not work properly with CPUs that run above 350 MHz, though I believe there is a fix available somewhere.

You don'y need to make floppies - you just need to get the install files into a temp directory on your hard drive (the one you intend to install on) and run setup from there (after installing dos).

 

[boeingfixer]

The next big question is are you going to be able to find drivers for all your componants and I believe Win 3.1 is incapable of seeing and using big hard drives. Someone help me on this one please.

But I want to know what everyone else wants to know, WHY put Win 3.1 on a machine capable of using XP. I burned my 3.1 years ago!!!

 

[alphnumeric]

Originally posted by boeingfixer

But I want to know what everyone else wants to know, WHY put Win 3.1 on a machine capable of using XP. I burned my 3.1 years ago!!!

Because you can. maybe At least he thinks he can

I almost have enough junk kicking around to put together a 486DX2 50, I'm going to put 3.11 on it just for fun. I'll fire it up and put it in the corner when company calls. Then I'll just sit back and see how long it takes before somebody has to go over and play with it.

I still have my Dos 6.22, windows 3.1 and 3.11 floppies. Office 4 too on 25 3.5's. I just couldn't throw them out.:grinthumb

 

[boeingfixer]

They are great for target practice!!

 

[Justin]

Originally posted by Nic
Windows 3.1 will also not work properly with CPUs that run above 350 MHz, though I believe there is a fix available somewhere.

No, that was Windows 95 and it was specifically the K6 processor series. Pentium 2, Celeron, Athlon, and above, do not suffer from that.

Windows 3.x will run perfectly fine on faster machines, in fact I have (had) it running on my athlon XP 2000+

 

[Nic]

Windows 3.x will run perfectly fine on faster machines

SH: It seems my statement was incorrect. The patch is only required for Win95 OEM SR2, together with AMD K6-2 350MHz and above, as you pointed out. Other versions of Win95 together with K6-2/350 may give intermittent errors, but unfortunately there is no patch is available to fix this.

AMD K6-2/350 Patch

However, you may find that some older software will not run correctly on todays fast PCs, but there are several speed reducing utilities available to help solve this issue.

 

[boeingfixer]

Which brings us right back to the point.....WHY??

 

[poertner_1274]

Originally posted by boeingfixer
Which brings us right back to the point.....WHY??

Wow man, haven't seen you around in quite a while. Glad to have you back.

Ok sorry to get off topic, just had to say hi to Boeingfixer.