Windows 3.11 install with VMWare

By dmd3x
in Microsoft (Windows)

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dmd3x

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I got a bit nostalgic recently and decided to install Windows 3.11 under VMWare. The Windows 3.11 install CD is not bootable (bootable CDs didn't exist back then I'm pretty sure).

I misplaced the original floppy that would have kicked off the Windows 3.11 CD-ROM install, so I tried using my Windows 98 boot floppy disk. It seemed to work OK. After I go through the Windows installation, reboot and try to launch Windows, the Windows for Workgroups 3.11 splash screen comes up and it starts cranking away, but it gives up and says "incorrect DOS version". This leads me to believe that the Windows 98 DOS is not recognized properly by Windows 3.11 because it is newer. Any suggestions?

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shuntsu

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I got a bit nostalgic recently and decided to install Windows 3.11 under VMWare. The Windows 3.11 install CD is not bootable (bootable CDs didn't exist back then I'm pretty sure).

I misplaced the original floppy that would have kicked off the Windows 3.11 CD-ROM install, so I tried using my Windows 98 boot floppy disk. It seemed to work OK. After I go through the Windows installation, reboot and try to launch Windows, the Windows for Workgroups 3.11 splash screen comes up and it starts cranking away, but it gives up and says "incorrect DOS version". This leads me to believe that the Windows 98 DOS is not recognized properly by Windows 3.11 because it is newer. Any suggestions?

Get a copy of DOS 6.22

Grand Master

PNWDweller

Posted
Posted

Hmmm...I did that once, but don't remember how I did it. It was quite awesome though, from boot to desktop about 5 seconds or less. Makes me think of how much faster xp or vista or 7 will boot 20 years from now on those computers when we are at Windows XXVI or something. :)

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+BudMan MVC

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  • MVC
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Here are the other things you will need to get networking and sound and cdrom etc working on your virtual machine

http://vmware0.tripod.com/

Don't plan on surfing many websites though -- most of them don't work with the old browsers anymore ;) And there is a driver you will need to enable 1024x768 as well.. Off the top do not recall where I found that info -- but its easy enough to find, just google it.

post-14624-1224157486_thumb.png

Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

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  • Subscriber²
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Oh .. I threw up a little bit just looking at that age-old UI again .. how far we've come, and still we whine..

It's all relative. Windows 3.x was pleasant to look at compared to, say, Windows 2.0:

win203misc.gif

Grand Master

MtnDewCodeRedFreak

Posted
Posted

Yup - IE 5 can be installed on Win 3.1x. Sheesh - hard to believe.

Now we're almost on Win 7 Beta with IE 8.

Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

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  • Subscriber²
Posted
Was IE5 released as 16-bit? :blink:

Yes. IE 5 ran on the following operating systems:

  • HP-UX
  • Solaris
  • Windows 2000
  • Windows 98
  • Windows 95
  • Windows NT 4
  • Windows NT 3.51
  • Windows 3.11

... the latter being a 16-bit version.

There was also a Macintosh version of IE 5 which was based on a different code base, using a different rendering engine.

Grand Master

roadgeek9

Posted
Posted
Was IE5 released as 16-bit? :blink:

Yes, and it's probably the latest web browser (other than Netscape 4) to be 16-bit.

You ain't seen nothing yet. This is one of the colour schemes for Windows 3.11 provided by Microsoft:

<snipped>

That makes my eyes hurt REALLY badly.

Imagine that on a 60 Hz CRT at 640x480x256. :pinch:

what about firefox? 0.0.0.0.01 alpha test?

You mean Netscape?

Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted
what about firefox? 0.0.0.0.01 alpha test?

There is no version of Mozilla or Mozilla Firefox which will run on Windows 3.11. 16-bit versions of Netscape up to version 4.x exist however.

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