Any1 help out a newbie. Trying hard to install Windows 3.1 on VM ware

By kolakube
in Microsoft (Windows)

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Neowinian

kolakube

Posted
Posted

Hi,

I have this old piano teaching software that I used to use over a decade ago. I now have a one year old daughter and would love for her to someday try the same software I had. Im certain it used to run in Win 3.1

I already have VM ware but am not very fluent at it.

I have however set up a virtual Win 3.1 PC on it.

No matter what I do I cant get it to see my .iso file of win 3. I can select it from the CDROM window so the drive chooses that file but when i start the simulation i get a "windows - drive not ready" box and thats that.

If anyone could offer any direction Id be very grateful.

Neowinian

kolakube

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Hey, welcome to Neowin.

Now, do you have DOS installed on the VM before Windows? That's kind of a rule for Windows 3.1.

Hi there.

No, all as I have done is set VM ware away to make a win 3.1 virtual pc. I wrongly thought Win 3.1 would just be on there. Cant see a point in selecting win 3.1 otherwise.

I have an iso image or 7 dos disks but these are not floppy images. Cant work out how to make them into images to try.

I havent done a thing with VM ware so if it doesnt auto install then I havent done it.

Neowinian

kolakube

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Ok some progress made here after many hours of plugging away.

I have downloaded an img file of DOS 7. After loading this up my VM ware virtual PC can now see my CD drive. After another hour of finding out how to change the drive to the CD and yet another hour of finding out how to launch the thing (type setup.exe) I now am at yet another brick wall. You know, people slag windows off but really, it isnt that bad at all compared to DOS!!!!!

I have used Fdisk to format a virtual drive (I hope) another two hours to find out how to do this and marked the partition as active. Cant believe people had to do all this back then. Thank god I had an Amiga instead.

OK now when I type D:/setup.exe i am taken to the CD that works fine Im pleased to say, even if it took 5 hours to get this far (All of which takes seconds on windows - jeez)

Now the installer asks me where I want to install wind 3.1 too.

I tell it C:\windows and it tells me

"set up is unable to create the specified directory on the specified drive"

Is there any guru on here who can tell me what I am to do next. Ive already wasted half a day of my life with this yet I am determined.

If no one can I will continue to update this thread so other people may benefit but keep in mind I have no clue what the hell im doing here. Just researching for hours and pressing a few keys.

Unless someone replies and saves me, ill no doubt be back with an answer in 5 hours time

Experienced

McSmiggins

Posted
Posted

Ok, you've partitioned the drive using fdisk, did you format it?

Essentially you need to get to a state where the system can boot from the C drive without using any CD/Floppy images.

You need to make sure you've done the following before you can install Windows, this is the pretty complete list, where are you on it?

Partition the hard drive

Format the hard drive

Make the hard drive a system disk (bootable)

Install DOS

Setup the CD/Mouse drivers

Install Windows

(I think I know where you are, can you just type the following:

c: <enter>

dir <enter>

and post the results?

Thanks

Grand Master

capr

Posted
Posted

if all this doesn't workout let us know what the software is, maybe we can help you get it running on another version of windows.

also if you are using vmware it should let you pick an iso image to boot from and when creating a virtual hard disk using the vmware wizard it will make and format the partition depending on which version of windows you choose... if you choose the older ones it will make you a Fat partition... otherwise NTFS partition....

Grand Master

roadgeek9

Posted
Posted
if all this doesn't workout let us know what the software is, maybe we can help you get it running on another version of windows.

Yeah, I think Windows 3.1 applications can work using Windows 95 compatibility mode in XP.

  • 4 weeks later...
Veteran

Zirus

Posted
Posted (edited)

I thought about installing windows 3.11 in a virtual machine (was bored) a few months ago. When I read the OP I thought it would just be easier to get an appliance you can import in to vmware, and after a google search I came across this: http://wiki.oldos.org/Windows/InstallWFWinVMware

Its not exactly what I was looking for instead its a guide on installing. I didn't read all of it, but it looks decent to start.

EDIT: https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...682882&st=0

Edited by Zirus
Mentor

dmd3x

Posted
Posted
I thought about installing windows 3.11 in a virtual machine (was bored) a few months ago. When I read the OP I thought it would just be easier to get an appliance you can import in to vmware, and after a google search I came across this: http://wiki.oldos.org/Windows/InstallWFWinVMware

Its not exactly what I was looking for instead its a guide on installing. I didn't read all of it, but it looks decent to start.

EDIT: https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...682882&st=0

You quoted my thread! I also tried to achieve a similar thing, I finally got it, and then quickly lost interest. It is interesting for learning and historical purposes. Perhaps to aid in learning legacy systems archaeology..

...although Microsoft only recently stopped licensing Windows 3.11 Embedded. :D

  • 2 weeks later...
Grand Master

MrA

Posted
Posted

I think I should call child protection services. You want to subject your one year old to Windows 3.11, thats TORTURE!!! :p

On a more serious note, have you tried running the program under something newer like Windows 95 or 98. I'd suspect both of those are much easier to install than 3.11.

Grand Master

roadgeek9

Posted
Posted
On a more serious note, have you tried running the program under something newer like Windows 95 or 98. I'd suspect both of those are much easier to install than 3.11.

Even Windows 9x can't run some Windows 3.11 programs, though.

Have you tried Virtual PC? I used that to install Windows 3.11 a while ago.

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