Installing Windows 95 on a VMware Virtual Machine

I'm sure you're asking yourself, why would anyone want to run Windows 95 these days? Well, if you're like a coworker of mine it's because you have an old game that you want to play. Or perhaps you're a bit nostalgic and like having things around that remind you of 1995-96. Anyway here is how I installed Windows 95 Second Edition on a VMware virtual machine:

Materials I used:

1. VMware Workstation 6.05
   
2. An "original" Windows 95SE disc
   
   1. I converted this to an ISO image before I began
      
3. Windows 95 Boot Disk image (from http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/95.html)
   
4. VMware support reference page: http://www.vmware.com/support/reference/common/guest_win95.html
   
5. Windows 95SE serial number: http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t312136-product-key-help.html
   
   1. If you're like me and didn't keep the sticker from your original Gateway 2000!
      

I started by creating a new virtual machine in VMware Workstation (my version is 6.05), choosing Windows 95 as the operating system. Edit the virtual machines settings. You can keep the settings for Ram and Hard Drive, 64MB and an 8GB respectively. Change the CD ROM drive to reference the ISO image (or choose your drive letter if you didn't convert to an ISO) and for the Floppy drive give the path to the boot disk image. Your Windows 95 CD or image won't boot without the boot disk "in" the floppy drive.

Now start your newly created virtual machine. You should see the machine checking your CD drive, loading drivers (be careful to note if any new drive letters are assigned, my CD changed to R from D) and then you should be given the prompt of your boot device A. Using your Windows Boot Disk run the FDISK command. Follow the on screen instructions to create and partition a primary drive/disk.

Once FDISK is complete restart your virtual machine. When you get back to the boot disk prompt run the command: FORMAT C:

This will format your drive and allow you to assign a name to the drive (name is optional). Remember Windows 95 won't run if you don't format the drive after partitioning. After the formatting is complete you are now ready to run the Windows 95 setup program. You can either run the command directly from your boot device: A:> R:\Win95\Setup or you can switch to the CD Drive and run it there. If you get an error that says something to the effect there is no drive found, check to make sure your virtual machine didn't assign a new drive letter to the CD drive and/or image. I assigned the drive to an image so it gave me a random drive letter "R:" and I found this by watching the boot information.

Before setup starts Scandisk will run and check your disk for potential problems. Then the "original" Windows 95 setup screen will appear and you can proceed with your regular Windows installation process. You will most likely be prompted for a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) and a serial number. You can use the link above to grab an old serial code if, like me, you don't have your original system documentation lying around. Answer the questions as you are prompted. During the installation process I had a few issues with files not being found on the disc, I tried changing the drive letters on my CD Drive but nothing I did seemed to solve the problems. In the end it didn't seem to matter.

With Windows 95SE running, I installed the VMware Tools, then sound drivers, network drivers and display drivers. There you have it – Windows 95 on a VMware Virtual Machine!

Friday, May 1, 2009