Solved Trying to create a Windows 95 VM in Virtualbox

I have tried all day. I tried the FIX95CPU patch to modify the setup files and even a ready-modified vdi, but it fails with an ios error. I am using Virtualbox 7.2.18.

test this

From here you can download VM's for VirtualBox in VDI-format. Ready to import and run.

VirtualBox

@maur0

Thanks, but I was looking foe an ISO mofified to run on a modern processor.

@Repairman

Thanks. Unfortunately, I get the same protection error when initialising IOS. I did follow the instructions on RAM and resetting but to no avail.

kelper said:

@maur0

Thanks, but I was looking foe an ISO mofified to run on a modern processor.

Click to expand...

@kelper
there's on the Internet Archive website the "Unofficial Windows XP SP4" with SATA drivers - USB2 though is the best you can get --


There might be a similar Win 95 collection on the same archive link.

Worth browsing to see what you can get -- the XP runs brilliantly as a VM on an i7 gen 13 processor etc !! !!!!! I haven't tried Win95 though.


cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

@kelper
there's on the Internet Archive website the "Unofficial Windows XP SP4" with SATA drivers - USB2 though is the best you can get --

Windows XP Unofficial Service Pack 4 : harkaz : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Windows XP official support has ended. Many users - including me - who won't be able to upgrade their old machines to a newer OS would like to easily install...

archive.org

There might be a similar Win 95 collection on the same archive link.

Worth browsing to see what you can get -- the XP runs brilliantly as a VM on an i7 gen 13 processor etc !! !!!!! I haven't tried Win95 though.

Windows 95 English : Microsoft : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

This is Windows 95, released on August 24, 1995More info on this Operating System: https://betawiki.net/wiki/Windows_95

archive.org

cheers
jimbo

Click to expand...

Thanks. Yes, I have XP SP3 running well as a VM.

@kelper

Check out the 'HowTo Guide at Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes - virtualbox.org (if you haven't already)

in the comments (23 Feb 2023 and following) there are some actions/recommentations on getting iso installations to work on "newer" CPUs that Win95 wasn't designed to work with.

I will mark this as solved. Even when Win 95 runs, it won't run the old program I wanted to test. It was Regcleaner, written by the bloke who developed JV16.

maur0 said:

test this

https://github.com/felixrieseberg/windows95/releases/download/v5.0.1/windows95-5.0.1-setup-x64.exe

Click to expand...

I tried it and it's not for me. I uninstalled it with RevonPro and it totally hides my laptop. I knew it was bad when revo removed overv380,000 registry entries! My laptop is unrepairable according to Windows. I booted from a Macrium Reflect USB SSD ok, but now my backup folders are not found on the SSD. But I can reinstall Windows and then I should be able to restore from a Macrium backup.

I don't know about newer CPUs, but I had no issues creating a Windows 95 virtual machine in VMWare Workstation on my main PC (see 2nd system specs). I then added Plus! for Windows 95 to get high color icons support and all the games and screensavers. I then upgraded it to Windows 98 and added Plus! for Windows 98 to also get all the games, wallpapers and screensavers. I could play all games but some apps required at least Windows XP, do I eventually upgraded it to Windows XP. I recently upgraded my nVidia graphics drivers which changed the way Vulkan works and VMWare gave me a black picture when I was running this Windows XP virtual machine with 3D acceleration enabled. With the help of Google AI I edited the machine's .vmx file and added a specific line to prefer DirectX over Vulkan, so now I have image again with the 3D acceleration enabled.