Windows 95/98 Boot disc

[Agent Orange]

It just allows you to select a boot device, if the CD is bootable with DOS 7 (Windows 95 DOS - all of mine are) you select the CD-ROM drive from the list and it will boot that. It's basically just a small Linux OS with a bootloader and a few other features.

I also found it useful for dual-booting hard drives with systems that didn't support it - for example, a system running Chicago that has a different build on a second drive, I rarely use the other build and going into the BIOS is tedious, the disk removes that requirement.

I suppose if your Windows 95 CD wasn't bootable the floppy would be useless.

@Caluser2000; Setup.exe isn't on the Atlantic floppy, but the MINI folder is absent from the CD-ROM, perhaps there's a second floppy I never inherited - it was from my father's old machine years ago, there was no special stuff in the OS anyway, not even branding. Only reason I kept it was because it was a bit of a curiosity. Plenty of bundled software went missing so it's entirely possible a floppy disappeared, he jumped ship to Windows 98 on launch day anyway... I didn't like Windows 98 back then.

At the time WIN 95 was introduced, bootable CD's were not yet in full fashion, IIRC. Most Microsoft installation packages for WIN 95 and early WIN 98, included an installation start-up disk. This is not to say that the CD wasn't capable of booting, only that a majority of the PC BIOS's did not support the CD boot function at that early date. Even some early Xp system installations required the use of the WIN 98 start-up DOS disk to access the CD because of BIOS limitations.

 

[bettablue]

Try and think outside the square a bit. Call me old fashion but I find it hard to believe you don't have a bootable floppy 3.5" floppy disk of some sort. After all the previous posts you've made and Ed doesn't have a few laying about. You do promote a Dos web site on a regular basis after all.

Have you tried formating the floppy disk in win7 using a cmd prompt and /s switch? That should make it bootable. You should be able to transfer fdisk etc over from the installation cd to it adding cdrom support from files and instructions readily accessible on the internet.


Another option:
Use an MS Dos 6.x boot disk/disk set
You can use fdisk from MS Dos 6 to create a 2 gig fat16 partition.
You can make that bootable and set it up with cdrom and network support as required. You can use the win 7 usb fdd to add the needed files to a floppy and transfer them to the PB by sneakernet.
You can create a directory on the partition to transfer the installation files from the windows installation cd to it. Name the directory wininst or something similar.
You can most probably transfer the windows installation files from your main machine using dos networking. Covered quite a number of times on VCF.
Go to the wininst directory and run the installation file. Follow the prompts. Running the windows installation from the hdd means you don't have to bother looking for installation cd each time you make a system change. Installation will be quicker as well.
That will give you the files to configure your system assuming the PB bios supports larger hard drives.

Basicly there's certainly more than one way to skin the cat so to speak.

You are correct, we do have an awful lot of DOS programming, but even with all of the stuff we have on our web site, believe it or not, neither of us have a bootable floppy. In fact, the only floppy drives we have between us for PC, are the one portable, and one in the newly assembled PB. There are a ton of internal 3.5" disc drives, and several other computers we could assemble, but then we run into the same issue all over again. :blush:

I'm going to try to make another DOS disk, which seems like a doable option, and when/if I can get to where I can get Windows installed, one of the first things I'll do is create a new Windows Boot disc.

I see where everyone is going now. For some reason, I just couldn't think into it far enough to connect the dots. I've got it now though, and will let y'all know what happens when I get started. Yes, I see the light! :lightbulb:

Now, I'll get back to work. :chainsaw:

Thanks everyone.

 

[Caluser2000]

@Caluser2000; Setup.exe isn't on the Atlantic floppy, but the MINI folder is absent from the CD-ROM, perhaps there's a second floppy I never inherited - it was from my father's old machine years ago, there was no special stuff in the OS anyway, not even branding. Only reason I kept it was because it was a bit of a curiosity. Plenty of bundled software went missing so it's entirely possible a floppy disappeared, he jumped ship to Windows 98 on launch day anyway... I didn't like Windows 98 back then.

All the OEM windows 95 I have came without cd drivers and don't have setup.exe on them at all. .There was only ever one 3.5" boot disk that came with the OEM packs I've got. Some system builders such as PB/compaq et el had an extra boot disk for bios setup and/or access a system recovery partition. I've also had the full install of windows 95b on floppy disk but sold that to a chap that had a laptop without a cdrom drive. The Aptiva P100 boot disk I created from the original restore cd is kind enough to give the option of exiting the restore to the A:> prompt. I find this useful at times because IDE cdrom support is loaded and in can be used on most of my machines. Recently used it on a Celeron 2 gig box with only a fdd for the hell of it which has a 40gig hdd. Being win95a I was able to create a 2 gig fat16 primary partition no worries, as you'd expect, so at least it boots to something useful It does support booting from usb thumb drives but thought I'd do sommut ol skool.

Edit: Just been rummaging through my software this morning and I do have Windows 95/a upgrade on 3.5" floppies. Not quite sure how I got them though. Re not liking Windows 98- the integration of IE into the shell got a lot of peoples backs up iirc but there where/are programs that turned most, if not all of it, off. It seems to be the perfect in between OS these days if you've got older kit you play with.

 

[bettablue]

That won't help you. It doesn't work that way. You can't zip a bootable system disk and expect it to work when you unzip it to another disk. All the files will be readable once the computer is running but it *will not* boot the computer. That's why I offered to send you the image(s) of those disks if you wanted them. With an image (.IMG) file you can make a floppy that *will* boot the computer. So, is that what you want? Are you able to make a disk from an image file? It's not difficult and if you're not familliar with the process there are several ways (programs) that will do it and someone here, if not I, can and will explain it if you want.

Actually, that will work. When I get the zipped files, I will extract them on my Windows 7 computer, then write them over to my external floppy drive. I've done that many times previously, and previous to when I got into vintage computing. I just need the files sent to me in a single compressed zip file, regardless what format they are in a compressed in, WinZip, 7zip, WinRAR, etc. They are all the same to me. I can extract the compressed files, and write them directly (not compressed) to my floppy. As long as I can get the zipped file, I CAN do the rest.

However stone, with that being said, I did finally get things figured out, and am in the process of creating a boot disc from DOS 6.0 with the disk tools I need to set up the drives, and begin the install process: i.e. Format.com, FDISK.com, and whatever else I may need. I just didn't think before when people were suggesting that I try using a DOS 6.0 floppy. Now that I've got things somewhat straight in my muddled mind, I have pretty much what I need.

I would still appreciate it if you can send me the contents of a 98 boot disc though, just in case.

Thanks stone.

I'm signing off the computer for the day, as I have to open my Model M keyboard and get all the food out from under the keys. Its starting to not like me too much! LOL...

Later everyone, and thanks again.

 

[Lutiana]

Actually, that will work. When I get the zipped files, I will extract them on my Windows 7 computer, then write them over to my external floppy drive.

What exactly is in the Zip file?

If this works then I am guessing the floppy you are copying the data to already has the boot sector on it and therefore it boots. If you were to take a brand new disk and simply copy files onto it then it most certainly would not boot. The other option is if the ZIP file has some sort of floppy image in it, and you are using an imaging utility to write it to the floppy, and that image has the boot sector in it, then yes that would work.

BTW those EXE images you mentioned (that auto image to the disk) are merely ZIP files with a small program to write out the image to a floppy (a: by default), and as I said if you opened it up in a zip utility (like 7 zip) you'd actuallly see a disk image in it that you can extract and use with an imaging software; so in essence they are ZIP files, merely specialized ones.

 

[Caluser2000]

However stone, with that being said, I did finally get things figured out, and am in the process of creating a boot disc from DOS 6.0 with the disk tools I need to set up the drives, and begin the install process: i.e. Format.com, FDISK.com, and whatever else I may need. I just didn't think before when people were suggesting that I try using a DOS 6.0 floppy. Now that I've got things somewhat straight in my muddled mind, I have pretty much what I need.

To speed things up a bit run adisk cache such as smartdrv.exe. http://www.computerhope.com/smartdrv.htm It will make a noticable difference when installing MS Windows.

 

[Stone]

Edit: Just been rummaging through my software this morning and I do have Windows 95/a upgrade on 3.5" floppies. Not quite sure how I got them though.

I've got WIN 95 full install on floppies. The first disk is not bootable -- it only runs from DOS. And, I'm quite sure of how I got them.

 

[Caluser2000]

Not sure if this upgrade set is bootable either. Must give it a shot. I do know my old win 95b disk 1 was though. I kinda skipped the whole windows 95 thing in the day. You could say the whole "Start me up!" thing just wasn't appealing at all. The Pentium(TM) 75 Compaq all-in-one system I've got came with the original Dos/Windows 3.1 restore CDs/disks as well a win95 upgrade cd. The PO installed the upgrade and considering it has 8megs of ram it runs quite nicely.

Edit:Disk 1 of the win95 upgrade clearly states to run setup.exe from Program Manager (or no dought dos) and it's certainly is not bootable. I've also got disk images of win95a in the client directory of my NT 4 server cd.

 

[Stone]

My first (and only) WIN95 was on a machine that also ran WFW 3.11 (and DOS). They were on different drives on my VLB 486DX2-66.

 

[Caluser2000]

Any progress at all Thomas?

 

[bettablue]

You'll have a PM in a couple of minutes.

 

[bettablue]

If it's not one thing its another. Now that I have the files I need, my external floppy drive refuses to work with any of the floppy discs I put in it. So, in other words, I'm right back where I started. I need a boot floppy in order to install Windows 95, period!

Can I make a deal to have one sent to me? Of course, I'll pay postage, and for the floppy disc.

Please send me a PM if you can help. I'll have to see about trying my external drive on another computer, or possibly, just buy another, but for now, I'll need a boot disc. I'll get another disc drive when I get the chance.

 

[Stone]

You know you can boot to DOS 6.xx to install Win95. You don't need a WIN95 boot disk.

What size floppy and what version of Win95?​

 

[bettablue]

You know you can boot to DOS 6.xx to install Win95. You don't need a WIN95 boot disk.

What size floppy and what version of Win95?​

Regardless, I need something to boot the computer to do the install of Windows 95 C. The floppy I need is a standard 3.5" floppy diskette with SOMETHING on it to boot the Packard Bell. The computer's BIOS is strange, in that it doesn't allow the computer to set the boot order. It really wants a floppy to boot from.

Hope that helps.

 

[luvit]

Here, using win image to create a diskette, use this image I just converted for you.
I tested it in VirtualBox and it discovered the virtual CD-ROM drive.

 

[Caluser2000]

It was pretty standard for that era machine to not to be able to boot from cdrom.

 

[MikeS]

Regardless, I need something to boot the computer to do the install of Windows 95 C. The floppy I need is a standard 3.5" floppy diskette with SOMETHING on it to boot the Packard Bell.

You mean that with all the hardware you've bought, traded, had donated, assembled, etc., you don't have a system capable of writing a 3.5" diskette? Hmm...

37 posts and counting... ;-)

 

[Stone]

Any existing 3½" system disk should be able boot it. He shouldn't even need to write one.

 

[Caluser2000]

You mean that with all the hardware you've bought, traded, had donated, assembled, etc., you don't have a system capable of writing a 3.5" diskette? Hmm...

37 posts and counting... ;-)

Unsure what version of Dos is on his XT but even that should be able format and make a disk in the backback drive that should boot on the PB. Disk sets of dos should be cheap enough if one wants to be pedantic.

 

[bettablue]

You mean that with all the hardware you've bought, traded, had donated, assembled, etc., you don't have a system capable of writing a 3.5" diskette? Hmm...

37 posts and counting... ;-)

Believe it or not Mike, you're right! For some reason I just don't have anything, and neither does Ed, that has a 3.5" floppy disc drive, with one exception. I have a Mac SE HDFD with a 3.5" drive, but all I can do is format the diskette on that. I still have no way to write a simply boot disc, be it Windows, DOS or otherwise. One of the things I'm going to be looking for after getting this Packard Bell computer up and running, is a backup computer with basic 3.5" and CD ROM, and a single hard disc. At least than I'll have something to fall back on, besides the sward!

It just never crossed my mind that I would need a diskette. But then I forget my own setup, and it's sitting right next to me. Alice, my 5150/5161 system has that 3.5" 1.44 MB Backpack drive on it! The bad thing here is that I still don't have any way of bringing over the files needed to create the disc. Then too, the backpack drive needs drivers in order to function, or I would just connect it to the Packard Bell.

Damn, I can be such a(insert derogatory term here) at times! I just remembered that I have a friend who lives here in Vegas, and is also a member of the Forums. I'm going to contact him later on today to get a boot disc from him. Hopefully, he has something. Just in case anyone is curious, he goes by the nickname of "Oldcomp". He's not very active in the forums, but at least he's not too far away; about a 30 minute drive from my place. I'll let y'all know what I come up with.