dc_carguy wrote on 2023-06-30, 03:44:Constructive suggestion
-Add a automated answer file to help speed up the install process
I believe the serial key can be put in […]
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Constructive suggestion
-Add a automated answer file to help speed up the install process
I believe the serial key can be put into the answer file.
https://msfn.org/board/topic/26389-how-to-95- … up-answer-file/
Automated installs are definitely nice! I've spent quite a bit of time trying to automate them fully, e.g. using AutoHotkey to close dialog boxes that can't be bypassed via the .inf file.
You can put a serial key in the answer file, but there's no point for Windows 95, as far as I've seen. From my notes, I found that for Windows 95 Upgrade, simply passing an .inf file on the Setup command line skips these parts of the setup process which would normally be seen in a manual install:
1. Prompting for product key
2. Checking for existing qualifying products for an upgrade
For Windows 95 OSR 2 and 2.5 (or possibly any Windows 95 OEM version), 2 would not occur anyway, but 1 does occur even when an .inf file is passed, and setting ProductKey in the [Setup] section of bsetup.inf doesn't prevent the prompt from appearing.
As documented at https://www.techrepublic.com/forums/discussio … inf-parameters/, Windows 95 Setup does not accept an OEM product key for the ProductKey in bsetup.inf, but the presence of an msbatch.inf file with the contents shown in the first post you linked to above prevents the prompt from appearing, so you don't have to provide a product key either in the file or interactively during Setup. It's weird that Microsoft provided the option to bypass the product key completely!
Warlord wrote on 2023-06-30, 17:06:
wonder why anyone who wants to use 95 shell would ever chose 95 over 98 LITE sleek.
For the same reason I don't run lots of other pieces of software: I know nothing about 98 LITE or the people who made it, whereas Microsoft is Microsoft, and I've had decades to learn what bad things Microsoft's versions of Windows 95 and 98 might do to my computer. That's just me though.