MiSTer FPGA Forum

I've got a solid noob question for you guys: how can I boot Windows from DOS? I have DOS 6.22 all setup and working, but I'm more insterested in Windows 95/98.

I tried downloading the Win95.vhd from the everdrive pack on archive.org. It gave me an error "Disk I/O error. Replace the disk, and then press any key".
I then tried downloading a vhd from vhd-hustle (http://vhd-hustle.weebly.com/windows-95.html), and that one gave me a different error: "Boot failed: not a bootable disk".

I also tried downloading img files from WinworldPC. It showed more premise, showed the Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu, and asked whether I wanted to Start computer with or without CD-ROM support. If I start *with* CD-ROM, I get error "Device driver not found: MSCD001". If I start *without* CD-ROM, I get a message "Windows 95 has detected that drive C does not contain a valid FAT or FAT32 partition. There are several possible causes..."

Four different attempts, four different types of failures. What am I supposed to do to run Windows?

If you have access to the floppy disk images of the Windows 95 install disks it's pretty easy, but a little time consuming.

Since you have a working Dos 6.22 setup, make a copy of that VHD and name it something like Windows95.

If you want to keep the contents of your existing hard disk just boot to Dos like normal, insert the floppy labelled disk 1 and run the setup.

If you want to wipe the hard drive clean you need to boot from the floppy labelled boot, no CD-ROM support. Go to the created D: drive and format the C: drive using "format C: /s". Now insert disk 1 and run setup.

Everything is pretty automatic from that point, mostly just clicking next or a few options that are pretty self explanatory. Hope that helps.

as a rough guide..
-create a hard drive using the disk management tool in windows10.. stick to 2gig hard drive file for win95. once created save the *.vhd to your sdcard
allocate this hard drive file to the primary hard drive option in the on screen display of the a0486 menu
set the boot options fdd/hdd
and boot from a boot floppy, check out philscomputerlab website you can download a boot floppy *img
once booted. type fdisk and create an active partition on the drive
the system will reboot back to the a: prompt and you can then type format c:
once formatted, you can then install dos6.22 on the c: drive
after that.. return the sdcard back to windows10 and attach the formatted drive using the disk management tool
then create a folder called 'win95cd' and copy the content of win95 cd into it.
then reload the sdcard back into the mister
make sure your boot options are now set to hdd/fdd, set your hard drive in the primary options of the menu
boot up your hard drive with dos6.22
you should have a couple of folders on the c: drive.. navigate to the 'win95cd' folder
the type 'setup /nm /is'
windows should now start to install.
warning this will take an hour+ to install..

hope this helps.