How to set up printer in windows 95

[stosh86]

Vmware does not support virtual printer for windows 95. Can someone help and tell me how to set up a printer for win95.

[continuum]

What do you really need to do ?

A. you have documents inside your win95 VM and want to have a printed copy.

B. install a printer inside a win95 VM that runs on a modern host such as Win10.

If it is A then the easiest approach is to send the files to be printed to a system that already has a printer - can be your Workstation host.

You can use network for that or do the same virtual floppy drives.

If it is B then you should regard it as a challenge that you accept as such.

Trying to find a physical printer that can be connected to your host and at the same time supplies drivers for win95 is quite a challenge.

Using a parallel port for the printer on a Win10 host will be another challenge.

In other words ... if you just need some docs to be printed - then send the docs and print elsewhere. You can get results with that approach in the next half hour.

Printing from win95 is a task that may take days or weeks until you have results.

[stosh86]

Thanks. Its output from an app running on win95. Will have to look up how to connect to internet to send file.

[continuum]

If the file is not larger than 1.4 MB - add a virtual floppy image to the VM and then read the floppy-image with a tool like WinImage on your host.

That may be easier than setting up a Windows-share with a modern host OS.

Sending the file per mail from Win95 sounds easy too - but when trying to browse the internet with a very old browser you will not have a lot of fun.

If the file is larger than 1.4 MB use zip and split the archive into pieces smaller than 1.4 MB - then you can still use the floppyimage procedure.

[stosh86]

Thanks again. I'm a tech dummy. If I  add floppy to vm (vm-->settings-->hardware--.add floppy, can it then be accessed in win95's "a" drive?

[continuum]

If you add a newly created floppy-image it will appear as A:

You then have to format it and then it will be ready to use.

You can reuse those images if you want ...

It is also possible to create 2.88 MB floppy drives but I dont know if that is exposed in the GUI.

Use the Add Hardware wizard > select Floppy > select "Create a blank floppy image" > give it a name like "floppy-1.flp" and then hit ENTER

[stosh86]

I'm using pro 15 and don't see a hardware wizard. To add floppy, I do edit vm settings--->hardware tab-->add>hw types = floppy drive, does not have a way to name it, there are two radio circles 1) use physical drive 2)use floppy image file

[stosh86]

Found wizard -- VM-->settings to add floppy gets same results as above

[wila]

Hi,

Press the "Create" button, type a filename in the dialog that pops up, click save.

--
Wil

[stosh86]

Thanks very much for your help. I created the floppy that shows up in vmware as myfloppy.flp.

I initialized it in win95 and put some data in it (notepad.txt file). How do I access the txt file in the host (place where vmware is installed) so I can print it?

[wila]

Hi,

Shutdown your VM so that the floppy is properly written to and the files are closed.

Then open it using a program such as 7zip.

--

Wil

[RDPetruska]

Shutdown your VM so that the floppy is properly written to and the files are closed.

Can also just right-click on the floppy icon in the Workstation status bar, and disconnect.

[wila]

Robert,

Will that flush the write buffers on Windows 95 to the floppy?

In that case I would suggest the topic starter to use "eject" from within Windows 95 before clicking there.

--

Wil

[RDPetruska]

I'm not 100% certain, so yes, eject within the guest OS, then disconnect from Workstation.  Then it will be fully written/closed, and safe to open in the host.

[stosh86]

Thank You everyone for your help.