Hello, I have dosbox setup. I have found an image file online with windows98. I did not like it because it was to big for what I want to do with it. But I have no clue how to create disk images with the bochs tools. I tried and tried to find a windows GUI app that can work and format new hard disk images. But as strange as it sounds. I can't find anything 🙁
The closest I found is an application for windows that I can open and edit hard disk files. But I can't create a new volume. So I took this 500some meg win98.img file and with the windows application. Deleted all content. So I have a blank disk.

Once dosbox starts up. I mount my C drive to this blank image.
I extracted the contents of the windows 95c iso to a directory that I have also mounted in dosbox as drive D.

So once I go to D:\setup windows starts and does its thing, Then complaints that the harddrive is not properly configured. Some generic error that keeps popping up. Forces exit of setup.

So I found some windows 95 boot disks. Various versions.
I can load them up with dosbox boot command. From there. I can switch to C:\ just fine. and dir shows no files like it should. But just to be safe. I first load up fdisk from my booted win95 disk. It works fine. I then create a primary fat16 dos partition. It does its thing. I reboot and boot back to floppy and do a format C:\ and that works fine.

Problem is windows 95 boot disk cd rom drivers dont dectect dosbox D: drive as a CDrom. Even mounted as an iso just show up as a normal drive so the drivers fail to load. This is why I then mounted my extrated windows 95 iso directory as dosbox D:

Once switched to D:\
setup starts yet complaints once more that the drive is not formated properly and exits. Sais that I should boot from the cd instead and start setup from there. Yet once setup exits. I can switch to c:\ or load A:\fdisk and view the partition as active primary fat16 partition so what the heck??

Back in the day with real computers, Thats how I did it. Boot from cd and then fdisk and then format and then setup. Worked flawless everytime!!

But I can't seem to find a way to make dosbox boot from an iso file direct. This way here I could start the "fdisk" that comes with that specific windows version as crazy as it sounds since its so "picky" 🤣. As far as I know a primary fat16 dos partion is the same if its created with dos 6.22 boot disk or a windows 95a. But I guess i'm wrong.

So in my case it seems that I am SOL until I can find a way to boot from the iso file. For some reason the windows 95 boot disks online dont seem to work/match with my required windows install....

any hints would be great 😀
thanks 😀