Attempting to run Windows 3.1 within DosBox \ VOGONS

Attempting to run Windows 3.1 within DosBox

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First post, by Aleniums

Posted on 2006-12-17, 04:06

Aleniums Offline

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Hardware/software specs:
I'm running Windows XP Professional on a Dell Latitude CPX laptop with 1024X768 screen resolution, and 500 MB of RAM.

Problem:
It keeps telling me that there's a display driver problem no matter what I try, could someone help me please?
I need to get this windows version running within the DosBox somehow so I can run certain games which only accept this version of windows.

I've literally tried every driver it lists in the setup.exe in windows directory, and I've gotten an error from every single one. Anywhere from "cannot load display.drv" to "incorrect MS-DOS version" to something like "unsupported HIMEM.SYS memory extention not availavle" (not sure, I got sick of the errors and that was one of the first ones)

Is there a patch or something, or can someone give me a windows 3.1 driver that it'll freaking accept?

thanks for listening

Reply 1 of 10, by leileilol

Posted on 2006-12-17, 04:07

leileilol Offline

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Try setting EMS=false

Also, run setup, and just pick the VGA driver.

long live PCem

Reply 2 of 10, by Aleniums

Posted on 2006-12-17, 04:14

Aleniums Offline

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Using your suggested settings, I got this when I typed in win.com:
"Video initialization failed. You need to run the Setup program again."

thanks for trying tho

Reply 3 of 10, by leileilol

Posted on 2006-12-17, 04:23

leileilol Offline

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Well yeah, you must choose the VGA driver in Windows setup.

long live PCem

Reply 4 of 10, by Aleniums

Posted on 2006-12-17, 04:27

Aleniums Offline

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"Using your suggested settings"

I did, I selected "VGA" in the video options as well as changing the conf file.

I've tried every alteration and every combo of every alteration I can think of.

thanks tho for trying. 😀

edit: removed extra [/b] tag which was auto inserted for some reason

Reply 5 of 10, by collector

Posted on 2006-12-17, 05:15

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Check out the some of the Win3x guides in the DOSBox guides.

Reply 6 of 10, by Aleniums

Posted on 2006-12-17, 19:25

Aleniums Offline

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😮 holy hell you're right!

thanks! 😁 greatly appreciated!

BTW, if you're looking to get a copy of windows 3.11 that everyone can use, I can provide one.
...I really don't think it's illegal in the least anymore, Microsoft has long since completly stopped supporting windows 3.1x at all, and doesen't seem to care about it's use.

Reply 7 of 10, by Aleniums

Posted on 2006-12-17, 19:31

Aleniums Offline

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btw you should include in the guide that it's advised you keep config.sys and autoexec.bat in whatever you're going to mount as the root of your virtual C drive in dosbox, since windows goes straight after them to modify them when installing and might run into problems if it thinks operating system files is missing.

Reply 8 of 10, by DosFreak

Posted on 2006-12-17, 20:41

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It's nice to be in a fantasy world where if you think something then it must be true but alas this is the Real World. Distributing copies of Windows because Microsoft doesn't support it anymore is still illegal and will continue to be so until Microsoft or the copyright on the software expires.

Last edited by DosFreak on 2006-12-17, 22:49. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 9 of 10, by Kippesoep

Posted on 2006-12-17, 20:42

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Aleniums wrote:
...I really don't think it's illegal in the least anymore, Microsoft has long since completly stopped supporting windows 3.1x at all, and doesen't seem to care about it's use.

It's quite illegal in the most. Don't offer again, please.

Reply 10 of 10, by mirekluza

Posted on 2006-12-17, 21:59

mirekluza Offline

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The fact that a program is no longer supported does not mean that it is free to distribute it... It may be logical, but it is a legal nonsense in any normal country. The copyright is valid regardless of whether the product is available or not, supported or not, unless the copyright holder EXPLICITLY says otherwise...
In other words: if you forward your version of Windows to anyone, it will be a clear case of a software piracy...

For people who would like to say that is unjust or so: it is just like that whether we like it or not, argue with your MPs to change laws...

Mirek

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