Areas for improvement

1. Imgmake included with DOSBox.
2. Vmware VMDK and Qemu image support.
3. DosBox support for larger HD images.
4. CD Support
5. Improved 9x support.
6. NE2000 support

Need to go over guide again.
Need to test machine=vgaonly stability

Need to try LDGFXROM from HAL9000 Megabuild to load S3 BIOS. Possibly would increase 9x stability.

Daemon Tools requires Windows 95B and the USB Supplement.
Also requires IE4 Desktop Update

Networking info

Re: Guide: Windows 95 / 98 inside Dosbox - Accessing files on the host and mount CD images with mapped network drives
Re: Guide: Windows 95 / 98 inside Dosbox - Network over WLAN in Windows 7

Need to mention mounting additional hard drives.
Need to verify Windows 98 installs with FreeDOS system files.

Look into providing smaller images for crazy mobile phone users.

Windows ME reporting as working in yhkwong DOSBox build as of 8-25-2011 by Robertmo

1. Install Windows ME in Vmware\Virtual PC
2. Copy over files to DOSBox .img
3. Run Windows ME in Safe mode.
4. Remove all devices from Device manager.
6. Reboot and run in normal mode.

Mount image files on host:
http://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html
http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/

Video bios usage in DOSBox

DOSBox, NE2000 and OSX
http://www.spam-filter.de/dosbox/dosbox_ne2000

Re: A patch and a report of installing W98SE

Re: DOSBox-X branch

Disk Explorer
Sample usage of a harddisc image in DOSBOX

Guide: Windows 95 / 98 inside Dosbox - Accessing files on the host and mount CD images with mapped network drives

Now that I'm back I'm going to clean up this thread in the following weeks

PCI Bus in Device Manager and Voodoo 1
If you have a hard time installing the 3DFX driver in Windows 95 (fix)

Works towards a minimal install of Windows for games & apps.

Minimal install for DOSBox/95 gaming

Official FreeDOS HD images
http://virtualboxes.org/images/freedos/

DosFreak wrote on 2007-12-15, 22:07:

Windows 9x is NOT officially supported under DOSBox. […]
Show full quote

Windows 9x is NOT officially supported under DOSBox.

*STABILITY OF WINDOWS 9x GUEST IN DOSBOX IS HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON VIDEO DRIVERS. INSTALL THE ATTACHED DRIVERS FOR S3 CARD.
**WINDOWS 9X WILL FREEZE OR CRASH OCCASIONALLY. LEARN TO LOVE IT OR FIX IT YOURSELF.

ONLY USE CPUTYPE=PENTIUM_SLOW in DOSBOX.CONF. USE NO OTHER PARAMETERS

WINDOWS ME DOES NOT WORK IN DOSBOX. USE VMWARE\VIRTUALPC\ETC.

Downloads Needed:
Latest DOSBox version (DOSBox 0.74 as of this guide) or DOSBox SVN (7-23-2011 as of this guide)
HAL9000 Megabuild v6
Gulikoza or Yhkwong DOSBox build (for Glide support)
Winimage\ImDisk or equivalent
WinPcap (for builds of DOSBox with NE2000 support)

GENERIC WINDOWS 9x INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
*WITH WINDOWS 95B+ YOU WILL EXPERIENCE DIALOG ERRORS DURING INSTALL. JUST CONTINUE THE INSTALL

SHORT INSTRUCTIONS

1. Download and install DOSBox 0.74

2. Download 2GBFreeDOS.zip attached to this post. Unzip the contents to the DOSBox directory.

3. Add this line to the [autoexec] section in dosbox.conf
imgmount 2 2gbfreedos.img -t hdd -fs none -size 512,63,64,1023

4. Open the 2GBfreedos.img with Winimage or IMDISK. Copy the 9x installation files to the "9xinst" directory.

5. Execute DOSBox and boot the image with the command "boot -l c"

6. Go to the 9xinst directory on the image and type in "setup /NM /IS" to start the install.

7. When setup is done with the first part of setup it will close DOSBox. (This is normal)

8. Start DOSBox again and run "boot -l c".

9. When setup is done it will go straight to the Windows desktop and you are done installing!.

10. Shut down DOSBox and make a backup of the image so you don't have to reinstall again.

LONG INSTRUCTIONS

1. Download and install DOSBox 0.74 (Overwrite DOSBox 0.74 files with SVN if you want to use the SVN)

2. Download HAL9000 MegaBuild v6 and install: http://home.arcor.de/h-a-l-9000/

3. Execute HAL9000 MegaBuild v6.

3. Create a Hard Drive image by typing "Imgmake test.img -t hd_2gig -nofs -bat" inside of DOSBox. (Refer to the documentation for other options for imgmake)
This command will create "test.img" in the same directory as HAL9000 MegaBuild that is 2gb in size.

4. Make a backup copy of the image so you don't have to bother recreating it again if you wish. (Use NTFS compression on it or compress it with a compression program to save space if needed).

5. Move "test.img" and "test.bat" to the DOSBox 0.74 directory (if you are not going to use HAL9000's DOSBox Build to run the OS)

6. Next you will next need a floppy image of MS-DOS. I'm not sure that it matters which version, as long as it's MSDOS 5.00+ then you should be good to go.

If you don't already have an image then use Winimage to create one or you can download an image from the internet. http://bootdisk.com/

7. Name the floppy image something small like "dos622.ima".

8. Copy the floppy image to the DOSBox directory.

8. Copy the Windows 9x CD to a folder in the DosBox directory. Put it in a directory with a short name like "9xinst".

9. Open DosBox.conf and make sure that the [Autoexec] section looks like this: (use the values from "test.bat" for -size)

imgmount 0 dos622.ima -t floppy -fs none
imgmount 2 test.img -t hdd -fs none -size 512,63,xx,xxxx

(This will automatically mount the image whenever you launch DosBox)

10. Execute DOSBox and verify that it mounted the images correctly. If it didn't then you have done something wrong. (Either bad images or you still have it open in another program)

11. Type in "Boot -l a" to boot your floppy image.

12. Go into FDISK and partition your HD. Close DOSBox

13. Open DOSBox and execute "Boot -l a".

14. Run "format c: /s" to format the HD and to make it bootable.

15. Exit DOSBox

16. REM the below line in the [autoexec] section in dosbox.conf since it is no longer necessary:

imgmount 0 dos622.ima -t floppy -fs none

17. Open "test.img" with Winimage and copy the 9x folder you copied to your hard drive to the image. (or you could mount the image with DOSBox and copy the files over but DOSBox may become unresponsive so you may think it froze...using a program like Winimage you will see a progress bar or similar so you know that it's actually working)

18. Execute DosBox and type in "Boot -l c" to boot your HD image.

19. Go to the directory on the image where you copied Windows and type in "setup /is" to install Windows.

20. When setup is done copying Windows files it will close DOSBox. (This is normal)

21. Start DOSBox and run the command "boot -l c" again to resume setup.

22. When setup is done it will go straight to the Windows desktop and you are done installing!.

21. Shut down DOSBox and make a backup of the image so you don't have to reinstall again.

INSTALLATION ERRORS

DOSBox 0.74 and 7-23-2011 SVN

Windows 98SE
Will throw up error during "Updating System Settings".
"An error or exception occurred while calling the function "DllRegisterServer" in "C:\Windows\system\mshtmled.dll'.
After that you will receive a ton of error dialogs. Keep hitting close.
Using core=Pentium_slow will reduce most of these errors but not all.

Windows 95C
May experience an error or two during the "Control Panel - Startmenu, Windows Help, etc screen.

Windows 95\95A
Only versions of Windows to complete the installation process without errors.

May experience an error on first logging into the desktop.

POST INSTALL

VIDEO

AFTER INSTALL IMMEDIATELY BOOT INTO SAFE MODE AND INSTALL THE S3 VIDEO DRIVERS.

For some Windows versions you may have video corruption when you boot to the desktop. This is due to the video driver that Windows 9x is trying to use (it's not compatible with the video card that DOSBox emulates)
Change the color depth to 16 colors until you can install a better graphics driver. (This way you'll at least be able to navigate the interface).

When installing the S3 drivers use any model from the list. The driver does not care.

Other video drivers to try: http://www.navozhdeniye.narod.ru/vbe9x.htm
Use the "Universal" drivers.

AUDIO

The audio card emulated by DosBox is a SoundBlaster 16. Windows 95C detects the sound card just fine but the included Windows audio drivers are old dated 8-24-1996. Attached are SB16 drivers from 3-20-1997 (v4.35.21) and they seem to work fine.

The last version of DirectX to include drivers for devices was Direct 6. After installing DirectX 6 the SB16 may not work anymore. DirectX 6 may update the audio drivers to v4.37.00.0155 which is incompatible with DOSBox.

SO DO NOT INSTALL DirectX 6 AND IF YOU DO REINSTALL THE AUDIO DRIVER

CD EMULATION

Windows 9x under DOSBox does not support CD emulation so you need to use a program like Daemon Tools to emulate a CD-ROM.

Use Daemon Tools 3.47. (Requires Windows Installer v2.0)

TCP/IP SUPPORT

Verify that WinPCap is installed on the host.
Verify that DOSBox.conf is configured correctly

INTERNAL D3D\GLIDE SUPPORT

For Glide/D3D support download yhkwong DOSBox Build: http://ykhwong.x-y.net/

1. Unzip yhkwong DOSBox Build.
2. Copy your Windows .img to the same directory.
3. Add "imgmount 2 x.img -t hdd -fs none -size 512,63,xx,xx to the [autoexec] section of DOSBox.conf
4. Change glide=true to glide=emu in dosbox.conf
5. Download attached Voodoo 1 drivers.
6. Add Voodoo driver to image.
7. Boot DOSBox.
8. Extract driver to C:\TEMP
9. Run "Add New Hardware" Wizard and then reboot. (It should install "PCI bus" which is needed for the Voodoo card)
10. Go into Device Manager and install the Voodoo driver.

The above caused Windows to freeze and graphics corruption with Windows 95 and 95a. Works fine with 98SE.

EXTERNAL GLIDE SUPPORT

1. Use a glide enabled build (Gulikoza or yhkwong)
2. Verify glide=true in dosbox.conf
3. Download glide2x.zip from here: Glide patch
4. Copy glide2x.dll to where your game is located in the DOSBox image.
5. Modify autoexec.bat on the image. Add set glide=0x600. (No voodoo drivers required)

*Only some glide and MiniGL games supported.
**Change glide2x.dll on host windows to any other wrapper if you want.

List of Glide Wrappers:
dgVoodoo
Nglide
PSVoodoo
OpenGlide
Zeckensack

JOYSTICK

Joystick needs to be set manually
Windows wants to use address 200-207, but it needs to be 201-201.

Go to Device Manager->Joystick
Switch from "Basic Configuration 1" to "Basic Configuration 0" in "Resources" in device properties for joystick.

WINDOWS UPDATES AND ADDONS

Windows 95

Install Windows 95 SP1
Install DirectX 8.0
Install DCOM95

NOTES

HOW TO INSTALL WINDOWS 9x USING FREEDOS
http://www.freedos.org/freedos/news/technote/228.html

ALTERNATE WAY TO COPY FILES TO A .IMG USING DOSBOX
(Not recommended due to DOSBox appearing to hang and being very slow at copying the files)

Close DOSBox
Edit imgmount like in DOSBox.conf to look like this:
imgmount d x.img -t hdd -size 512,63,x,x
Open DOSBox
Type in "Mount c ." to mount your host DOSBox directory.
Switch to D:
Type in "MD "9xinst".
Switch to "C:" and go to where you copied your Windows files.
Do a "Copy *.* D:\9xinst" to copy your Windows files to the HD image.

S3 driver is really for PCI video card but driver does not require it.

"Voodoo" output in DOSBox console does not mean the game is using Glide. Could be either D3D or Glide.

If you see "Glide:Activated" in DOSBox console then game uses Glide.

Only HAL9000 DOSBox build can autodetect image parameters. When not using his build you MUST specify the size parameters.

As of DOSBox 0.74 the emulated video card in DOSBox is a S3 Trio64 PCI NOT a Trio64V+ which are not driver compatible. The drivers included with Windows will appear to work but will cause issues. -- Need verification on model of emulated video card.

MSDOS.SYS modification
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/118579

2GB image template uses 512,63,64,1023
The first always has to be 512 (should be omitted imo), the second can't be more than 63, the third is limited to 255 and the 4th to 1023. These are the old BIOS limits DOSBox also implements. To get disks larger than 500MB the number of heads has to be increased.

DOSBOX ISSUES WITH GUEST OS

WINDOWS ME

INSTALLATION IN DOSBOX

May receive error during install about disk issue. Quit to DOS and run scandisk.

Install will eventually freeze.

USING COPIED OVER WINDOWS ME INSTALL

1. Install Windows ME in Vmware
2. Mount vmdk in Host OS
3. Copy ALL files on the vmdk to the .img file
4. Mount Windows ME bootable floppy and .img in DOSBox
5. Run SYS C:
6. Freezes DOSBox in normal and safe mode.

Tested with 0.74, 7-23-2011 SVN, HAL9000 Megabuild 6, yhkwong 7-5-2011.

ERRORS

DXDIAG will crash DOSBox.

If Windows constantly crashes causing Scandisk to always run and you want to disable Scandisk then read the following. (THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED)

Windows 95

Download TweakUI for Windows 95.
Install TweakUI
Open TweakUI
Go to "Boot" Tab.
Select "Autorun Scandisk".
Select "Never"

Windows 98+
Open "MSCONFIG", Click the Advanced button.
Select "Disable Scandisk after bad shutdown"

If you receive the following error message then either your IMGMOUNT settings or your image are incorrect:

"Message SU0013

Setup cannot create files on your startup drive and cannot setup Windows 98."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attached are 4 2GB images created using IMGMAKE from HAL9000 Megabuild (Thanks HAL!) . These images are provided so that you do not need to bother with creating, partitioning, formatting and making bootable your own image.

2GBPartitioned = 2GB .IMG parititioned with MS-DOS 6.22 FDISK into one Primary.
2GBFreeDOS = 2GB .img partitioned and formated FAT16 with FreeDOS system files.
2GBFAT16NO-OS.zip = 2GB .img partitoned and formated FAT16.
2GBunpartitioned = 2GB .img not paritioned and not formated.

Hello there

Is this S3 vga/video driver working better with windows 98 than the one they have by default??

Im asking because this driver has an older date than the one is been installed by windows

Thank you