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Virtual PC 2007 (SP1) and Windows 95 Guest Operating System Support


With Windows Vista and the iminent launch of the Windows 7 Operating System, playing those old legacy games just is clearly not going to be possible anymore. Without Virtual Machines that is!

Yes, I know Windows 7 Ultimate edition includes "XP Mode" - a Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 special edition of Windows XP ready for use with those legacy applications. But, did you need an older guest OS for your games and/or apps? Perhaps you need MS-DOS and the Windows 9x (95, 98, Me) platform?

OK, So Windows Vista and Windows 7 is NOT compatible with Virtual PC 2004. Why is this a big deal? Because Virtual PC 2004 supported legacy Windows and MS-DOS. Virtual PC 2007 drops this support.

So here's the deal... Guru Guy has kindly provided not only the guide below on how to implement Windows 95 (and other legacy Guest Operating Systems) support in Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, but has also included the necessary downloads!

To run Windows 95 on your Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer, you need to download as listed below and you need to follow the guidance set forth.

Pre-requisites


Windows 95 Guest OS on Windows 7/Vista Step-by-Step

  1. First, install the Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 software onto your Windows Vista/Windows 7 computer along with Service Pack 1;'
  2. Once installed, load the Virtual Machine PC Software. We are going to create a new Virtual Machine, so in the console click "New" to initiate the Virtual Machine Wizard as below:
    Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 - New OS Wizard
  3. Click "Next" and click "Create a Virtual Machine" on the options page;
  4. Name it something useful like "Windows 95 Virtual Machine" and click Next;
  5. Off the Operating System list choose "Windows 98", or if your OS is listed choose that;
  6. Use Recommended RAM (64MB), click Next, and create a new "Virtual Hard disk";
  7. Check the proposed location of the file and name it if applicable. This is a file that will act as the "Hard Disk" inside the guest OS. It's great - you could have a 600MB file that is the whole hard disk for Windows 95, and you could back it up or restore an entire OS, installed etc, as quickly as it takes to link it in and boot it up!!!
  8. Click "Finish" to exit the wizard. You now should see your new "Windows 95" Virtual Machine in the Virtual PC Console. Click the "Settings" button to edit the Virtual Machine properties;
  9. Here, we need to edit the Networking Adapter properties - we are going to change the "Number of Network Adapters" to 0. It's not explainable, but on some PCs having the Network card in the Virtual Machine stops it booting from a CDROM/ISO file;
  10. Download an MS-DOS with CDROM support ISO if your Legacy OS is not a bootable CDROM. I recommend AllBootDisks.com's Windows 98 SE Bootable CDROM;
  11. Start the Virtual Machine, and allocate the Windows 98 boot-disk ISO as the "CD Drive" by going to CD -> "Capture ISO Image". Select the ISO in the "Browse" list and reboot (Action -> CTRL + ALT + DEL) the Virtual Machine;
  12. It will boot from the ISO and a menu will appear. Select "MS-DOS with CDROM Support". Once loaded, we need to run "FDISK" from the command prompt. This will load the disk partitioning software to create a FAT32 hard disk inside the Virtual Machine. Without doing this, it is just a "new" unformatted, unusable Hard Disk;
  13. Once you've created your drive, reboot and load back in with CDROM support. This time your drive E (as C is the HD and D is the RAMDISK) is your CDROM. First, format the newly created FAT32 drive by typing: format c:
  14. Go to CD and this time insert your Windows 95 CDROM into your computer and select "Use Physical Drive X" (Whatever drive letter it is) or use an ISO image of Windows 95 using the Capture ISO Image link;
  15. On the "E" Drive (or whichever is your letter), copy the Windows 95 setup files to drive C. This will avoid you ever having to load the "CD" in the Virtual Machine if the Windows Installer needs the original installation files. (Which I warn you, it does, alot! It's not like Windows 7/Vista which pulls everything from the Windows Directory!). First, make the Windows 95 Install directory on the C Drive by typing: MD C:\Win95
    After this, copy all the Setup files from the "CDROM" to this directory by typing: copy e:\Win95\*.* c:\Win95
  16. Once this is complete, you can eject the CD and load the Windows 95 Setup file by typing: C:\Win95\Setup.exe
  17. Install Windows 95 and optionally install the following Network protocols in the Windows Setup: "TCP/IP" under provider "Microsoft" and "IPX-SPX" (which may already be in the list) for some legacy games support;
  18. Once Windows 95 is booted, you may notice the display refresh rate and mouse pointer is very slow. This is because it is in dire need of the Virtual Machine additions to help integrate the Host OS (Windows Vista/7) with the Guest OS. Since Virtual PC 2007 SP1 does not support Windows 95, you need the Virtual PC 2004 SP1 Virtual Machine Additions ISO. Guru Guy has provided them here for convenience!
  19. Using the CD->Capture ISO Image, select the Virtual Machine Additions ISO and run the installer inside the Guest OS. Reboot once or twice (I recommend shutting down, and then starting Windows 95 back from Virtual PC Console) and voila - you now have Windows 95 on your Windows Vista/7 computer with full networking (even Wi-Fi), Mouse Pointers, and integration with the Host OS!
Windows 95 Virtual Machine running on Virtual PC 2007 SP1


Other Virtual Machine Additions files that are most helpful for your legacy OS's are:

Related Pages:

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