DOS and/or older windows?

N

nicka

Member
Has anyone been successful in installing a version of DOS or and older DOS dependant version of windows, sucj as 95 or 98? I have been unsuccessful in multiple attempts at doing so. Whenever I try to format or partition the drive using fdisk to set the active DOS partition, when I reboot it freezes and simply says: partition signature !=55a

Anyone have an idea of what 'm doing wrong based on the error code, or anyone the was successful and could give a decent step by step of getting a working DOS partition ready to install older versions of windows?

I tried using an image of DOS 6.22, and full copy of FreeDOS. DOS 6.22 just didn't seem to do anything, FreeDOS did, but gave that partition signature !=55a notice.

Thanks for any direction.
Nick
 
Hmm.. May you tell me how to reproduce it step-by-step ? And also, may you tell me full configuration of your VM ?
 
Hi. I have got the same issue when trying to install Windows 3.11 (I am nuts for trying but what the heck).

Basically my VM settings are set as Windows - Windows 3.11. No Shared folders, 128 MB of RAM (it's Windows 3.11 why add more?). Hard drive: plain 200 MB Parallels drive. Bridged ethernet, enabled; not connected at startup. Audio set to defaults. Boot order set to: floppy, hard drive, CD-ROM. VM Acceleration: High. VT-x enabled.

I've got a 1.44 MB FreeDOS disk image (from the FreeDOS site) which I have connected for startup (there is no system on the plain 200 MB drive). Using this I can FDISK a new main partition using the maximum size. I set it active and reboot. That's when I get the error that the original poster gets.

Also, if able to get into setup, it can't read the partition on C:\ and must exit.

But I'm having a blast trying to make it work! :-)
 
I've been running a number of DOS 6.22 items, including some embedded stuff.

The worst that I've seen is some interesting loading and timing issues when the DOS program is in a processor-intesive loop and when waiting ofr interrupts from the hardware PIT timer and serial ports. Not too surprising given it's a VM.
 
running Windows98se well, but with a few issues

I've been running Win98se since Beta 2 with minimal problems. Some of the features don't work, but the basics are working fine. I created an image of my Win98 CD and used that for the installation. I'm using an iMac with 1GB RAM.

Things working:
1. Up until Beta 6 Parallels tools worked without a hitch. It is working with Beta 6 as far as I can tell, but there is an error message about a missing driver on start up.
2. 1024x768 24bit screen resolution works well.
3. Mouse moves smoothly.
4. Applications run fast.
5. High speed internet works.
6. OS X can see C: drive via SMB sharing.

Things not working:
1. Custom screen resolutions (allowing native full-screen size).
2. Sound.
3. Shared folders (but SMB sharing gives you the same ability).
4. Automatic mouse switching to/from VM with movement of mouse over VM window.
5. Printing (I haven't put much effort into this, so it might work with a little tweaking).

Overall, I am thrilled with the functionality. It does 90% of everything I want. For beta software, I am impressed with the work.

Older versions of Windows aren't getting much attention in the forums, but I understand that Parallels needs to focus on the majority of users with XP right now.
 
sharing with Windows98

Someone messaged me about sharing, since the Parallels Shared Folder feature isn't working with Windows98. In case anyone else is interested, here is how I set mine up:

1. Set up file sharing in Windows 98/ME:

http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/FileSharing/Windows/win98me.html

2. In OS X, look in Network and your shared drive or folder should show up. If it isn't there right away, wait a minute and see if it shows up. I've noticed it takes a little while sometimes.

3. Click on the shared drive or folder. If you used a password when you chose a shared drive or folder, you will need to click the Authenticate button. Keep in mind that Windows 98 uses 8 character passwords, so if you tried to enter something longer, it would have cut off at 8 characters. This happened to me and it took me a while to realize what was going wrong.

4. The Windows 98 shared drive or folder should be mounted as a drive in OS X. Copy files back and forth like you would with any Mac drive.
 
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