h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've already asked this on 'How do I...?', but that forum doesn't get as much traffic as Ask h2g2, so here it is again.

I have an old PC running Windows XP and I want to downgrade to Windows 95. I have the original Windows 95 CD, but it's not bootable. I also have a Windows 95 start-up disc, but the PC doesn't have a floppy drive and it doesn't recognise my portable floppy drive when I connect it.

I've tried various virtual machine applications but they all have problems. I was able to install Virtual PC 2007 on my Windows 7 laptop and get 95 running with that, but mouse movement in the virtual machine was so slow and jerky that it was unusable. 95 wouldn't install on VMware on my laptop, nor on Virtual PC 2004 on my XP PC. I got the same error both times: Windows setup requires 7342000 bytes for installation on your C drive. (The number may be wrong but it's that kind of value.)

I haven't looked too deeply at the BIOS for my XP PC, so I don't know if it would accept a floppy drive. I suspect not. It doesn't offer the option to boot from floppy, probably because there isn't a floppy drive there to start with.

I guess there are a number of questions here:

1. Is there a solution/fix for the 'number of bytes' error?
2. Is it possible to do fdisk (or equivalent) on an XP PC an then install from a CD? If so, what would I need on the bootable CD?
3. Should I abandon the XP PC and see if I can resurrect an older PC (currently without hard drive and power supply, but at least it has a floppy drive!)? Could I then swap the hard drive with 95 installed to my XP PC or would there be issues with the hardware/firmware/whatever being different?

RSVP, as I'm in danger of tearing my hair out!

Interesting... if the hardware can run it at all, here are the tricks I would try.

1) Go into BIOS and see if it shows you the external floppy drive (when it is connected) and allows you to set it as "bootable" or allow you to add it to the sequence of bootable devices.
2)Create a bootable CD from the floppy. You will need an program that makes bootable CDs (there are lots out there) but this should be reasonably straightforward as you have all of the files you need already on the floppy
3) Do a byte by byte copy of the floppy to a USB flash drive and boot from that (there are instructions on the internet)

I hope that suggestion works. I can't imagine a scenario where I would need to go *back* to Windows 95, though. Okay, an end of the world scenario, which assumes I would be one of the few who survive. Yeah, right!

Old hardware that won't/can't work with an OS later than 95.

If you have pre-service pack Windows 95 it only installs on FAT16, this may be the source of the available space issue, if the virtual disk is some other format.

I still have a physical machine in my office that has Windows 3.1, Win95 and RedHat 8. It has a floppy drive (yes and 5.25").

Good point - you may need to make sure your disc is formatted to be no bigger than 20Megs (to start with).

"Old hardware that won't/can't work with an OS later than 95"

I get it. In 1997, when I was shopping for my first ever PC, someone made the case that I should go with a somewhat pricey IBM model that was built tou8gh enough to last a very long time. This might be the consequence of a purchase that looked prudent at the time, but turned out later to require some tightrope work 17 years down the road. Good luck.

It's not a hardware issue, it's software. I have some programmes, mostly games that I miss playing (sad, I know, but that's how it is) and they won't run on an OS more recent than Windows 98. I've tried Compatibility Mode on XP and Windows 7. Neither works. I used to have a PC that ran Windows 98 but I only had a recovery disc, not a full copy CD. I do have a full copy of 95 from a PC I had many years ago.

If need be I can download a copy of Windows 98. Microsoft haven't supported it for years, so it's abandonware and available online. I should be able to put a copy on CD and I should be able to create a bootable CD. The issue is still how to get at Dos from XP so I can do fdisk before trying to install the new OS.

You can run a command line of "format D: /FS:FAT" I believe (where D is the drive you want to format)

Good luck. If you do manage to get it working, I would strongly advise you not to connect it to the Internet. Older Windows versions (actually any old unsupported software, Windows or anything else) is dangerous online.

TRiG.

The machine is so old that I had to connect it to the modem the last time I used it with the internet - no wifi. That was only possible with the modem in the same room as the PC. Now the modem is in a different room there's no way I could use the PC online, even if I wanted to.

Thanks for the advice so far.

I hope you're not going to try this...
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/5/6910791/least-useful-hack-ever-puts-windows-95-on-your-smartwatch

That'd be making a smartwatch into a dumbwatch then.

Are you sure that 95 is a downgrade? From Vista for instance?

PP.

I don't think I ever had to endure Vista. Was it that bad?

You






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awful.





PP.

My laptop used to run Vista and I found it almost unusuable. I pre-ordered Windows 7 and installed it the day it arrived. It's the only time I've ever had the latest version of Windows on a machine. I had Windows 95 towards the end of its life, and I had to argue with the salesman to get Windows 98 on my new PC (the latest version at that time was ME, which I knew had issues). So, yes, Vista was that bad.