Hi, I am trying to install Windows 95 since I would like a seperate computer just to use for old software and prefer that over Windows virtual machine.

After Windows 95 was finishing setup, I clicked Finish and the system rebooted. I did see the screen that reads getting ready to run Windows 95 for the first time. After about 10-20 secs the screen went black and read - while intializing device IOS: windows protection error. You need to restart your computer

I have tried several times to restart normal and safemode with the same error reoccuring.

The computer I am using has the following:

Dell optiplex GX240
Seagate 20GB Harddrive
512 MB ECC SDRAM
1.70Ghz Pentium 4 Processor
3.5" disk drive
CD-ROM

I used win95 start up disk, then fdisk to create a bootable partition. I could only make a FAT16 partition that was for about 2 GB. Then I formatted. Next since the windows 95 CD is not bootable I made a bootable CD with windows 95 on it from the original windows 95 CD through Nero. I then copied the files to the C: drive and from there went to the setup file and installed.

I dont have another 3.5" disk drive other than the one on that computer so I was not able to make a win98 start up that i believe would have CD ROM support, so that is why I used the bootable CD.

I did one time get the windows 95 setup to go to the next steps, setting up hardware, time zone and printer wizard, then had to reboot again and got the same error. Since then I tried another clean install thinking it was a software issue but I still get the same problem but have not got it back to the furthest step as the first install.

Also in bootlog.txt I noticed:

[001634A2] Loadfailed=vshare

Sorry for the long read, I just wanted to explain in detail as hoping someone who understands this better me can help figure out what I can do to fix this windows protection error.

Thanks for your time! Kevin