These are the Windows 95 boot disk images available from AllBootDisks. Download the diskette image you need, and if you need assistance creating a bootable diskette from this image, visit the how-to page. Thanks to Ed Jablonowski from Bootdisk.com for creating these disks. Note: Windows 95 on DOSBox is just a toy. It's not recommended for any serious work. Those who need Windows 95 for some productive purpose, or even for running games, are most likely better off using something like Virtualbox or Qemu. Get a boot disk. First off, get an MS-DOS boot disk. You'll need a.img file.
This command creates the Windows 95 Virtual Hard Disk Image which will be used as the target image for installation files. This file can be found in the same directory as 'DOSBOX.CONF`. If you cannot mount the image, use a folder instead. Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cLPTkd3zcWdrRzJtb6mJyx6ne8UoRZx/view?usp=drivesdk. Then go to DOSBox folder. 7a.For default Windows Zipper: Right click on w31.img in the zip you opened, click copy, then go back to the DOSBox folder, paste it there. 7b.If your using zip utilities like WinRar, drag the w31.img in the zip file you're opened and in to the DOSBox folder.
24) File Transfer Methods
I will discuss two methods for accomplishing file transfer between your virtual hard drive and your host file system.
Method 1 is the use of the computer management tool available in Windows Vista, 7 and 8. I cannot verify that it will work correctly in Vista or 8. Method 2 only uses DOSBox, so should be a universal solution.
25) Boot into DOS
Start DosBox Daum and your autoexec should give the same results as we save in the last section of the guide.
Boot into DOS by typing 'boot -l a'. This should give you the same message and lead you into the same screen we have seen previously.
26) Change to your C: Drive
Now that we are booted into DOS, we want to view our C: drive.
To swap to the C: drive simply type 'C:' at the command prompt. You may also type 'dir' to view basic information and contents of your drive. At this point it should only be the folder containing the Windows 95 CD.
27) Enter the Windows 95 CD
Switch into the folder containing your Windows 95 CD by changing directory. This is done via the 'cd' or change directory command as shown.
Your prompt should now say something similar to 'C:WIN95CD', showing that you have successfully changed directories.
28) Installing Windows 95
You must execute the setup program for windows 95. This is located in the primary directory on the Windows 95 CD. Thus once you are in that directly you can begin simply by typing 'setup' or 'setup.exe'.
However, we will be using a few parameters to make the installation easier and faster to complete. Type 'setup.exe /nm /is' and it should begin immediately.
29) Follow the Prompts
The Windows 95 was designed to be simple and easy to follow and complete. For the sake of this guide I will point out a few areas and make some recommendations.
Simply hit continue to begin the installation.
30) Directory Choice
This is best simply left at the default option of 'C:Windows'.
There is no reason to change this setting for our purposes.
31) Setup Options
While not necessary, I would recommend you use the 'Custom' choice. You may choose one of the others if you wish. It won't make much of a difference.
You can, however, eliminate some of the less useful programs by choosing custom.
32) Authentication
Simply enter the authentication key for your copy of the operating system. Note there are universal keys available, in the event you no longer have yours available.
There are ways to circumvent this authentication. I will not be going into that in this guide, but you may locate this information on your own if you choose.
33) Computer Analysis
When prompted to let Setup analyze and detect your hardware, the best option is to simply allow Setup to automatically detect by selecting 'Yes (recommended)'
34) Computer Analysis con't
Make these selections when prompted.
At the this time you cannot utilize the emulated CD-ROM while you are in the Windows 95 operating system. This is a result of currently incomplete IDE emulation.
ATTENTION: Occasionally you will see extreme slow down at around this point. Simply wait a minute or two for it to pass. The Windows Setup is running some checks in the background.
35) Selecting Components
If you chose to go the Custom installation route, you will be prompted with the ability to pick which programs you want to install.
This is entirely up to you, you may pick all of the programs, none of the programs, or anything inbetween. Explore the menus and see what might be interesting. It won't affect our install much, if at all.
36) Verify Computer Settings
Setup will correctly identify all of your emulated hardware. There is nothing to change here.
You may choose to look through this list to get an idea of what is being emulated. Again there is nothing to change here.
37) Start-up Disk
Be sure that you do not make a start-up disk. You already have one of these, it is your Boot Disk.
If you choose yes it will simply overwrite your 622c.img boot disk. While the disk it creates will be less effective, you can simply re-extract the original boot disk image.
38) File Copy
Wait for the file copy to complete, this should only take a few minutes at most. Continue when prompted.
39) Switching DosBox Versions
Please notice: we have switched from DosBox Daum to the official DosBox 0.74 release.
Copy your hard drive image from the Daum folder into the 0.74 folder for ease of use. This switch is only temporary!
40) Preparing for the First Boot
You can manually enter the imgmount line. We will only be booting into Windows using the the official release 0.74 twice.
If you have used a different size disk or disk name, please adjust those accordingly. Boot the operating system using the command 'boot -l c'
41) The Final Setup
Enter a user name, you may enter a password if you wish. If you do not enter a password you will not be prompted each . I recommend only entering a user name.
Please note that your mouse (at this point) will simply be a black square. Navigate with it as best you can. We will fix this shortly, it results from certain shortcomings within the emulation itself.
42) Time Zone
Pick your time zone. You will have noticed by now that the screen isn't displaying 'correctly'. Navigate as best you can.
If prompted for printer setup, simply select no or cancel. You have no need to install a printer.
43) Remount and Reboot
Your system will restart, or attempt to restart. If it does not successfully restart, simply close DosBox and start it again. (Short-cut to force a close: Alt + F9)
Enter your imgmount and boot commands as before. This is the last time we will boot using the official 0.74 release.
44) Welcome to Windows 95
Simply close the Welcome dialogue box by hitting the 'Close' button.
Naturally you will immediately notice the screen is displaying very poorly. This is OK! We are going to solve this problem now.
45) Solving the Problem
Right click on your desktop and go into properties. We will change the color depth.
Our display corruption is a result of a less than complete bios resulting in unhandled XGA calls, at least without the proper video drivers installed.
46) Changing Color Depth
Go to the 'Settings' tab at the top of the screen.
We want a 16 color palette with an an area of 640x480. For now this will allow us to actively use the interface and install better drivers.
47) I Can See Clearly Now
You will observe a usable display at this point.
Congratulations! You are now running a most basic form of Windows 95.
48) Shut Down
Click on the Start menu and shut down the virtual machine.
We are now finished with DosBox 0.74. We will be moving back into DosBox Daum for the rest of the guide.
Our goal is to eventually make DOSBox-X a complete DOS emulation package that is both fully-featured and easy to use. We implement new features with each official release, and also try our best to deliver a consistent cross-platform experience for users. In order to help improve the general DOS emulation and also to aid retro-development, it is our desire to maintain and implement more accurate emulation, but at the same time we are also making efforts to improve emulation quality, speed, and usability for end users. DOSBox-X features a flexible configuration, as we believe a better way to emulate the DOS platform is to give users all the options to configure the DOS virtual machine. We hope to improve the out-of-the-box experience for new users who want to run DOS programs or games, as well as implementing emulation that is accurate enough to make retro-programming possible with confidence the program will run properly on actual hardware.
A few examples of DOSBox-X's unique features are available in the DOSBox-X's Feature Highlights page. Below are some screenshots of DOS programs and games running in DOSBox-X.| Word for DOS running in DOSBox-X | Tomb Raider 3dfx running in DOSBox-X | Windows 98 guest running in DOSBox-X |
DOSBox-X maintains a Wiki system (see also guide page list) which explains how to set up DOSBox-X and configure various software to run in DOSBox-X. Also, as DOSBox-X is an open-source project, we strongly encourage users to contribute to DOSBox-X in order to make it work even better as a complete DOS emulation package. Please visit our project website on GitHub for more information.
Windows 95 Image
| View Wiki Guide | View Issue Tracker | View Project on GitHub |
