Installing and using older Windows OS's

[lonesdav000]

I have several things I need help with and I felt it would be quicker to just combine it all into one discussion…

I know floppy disks are obsolete and anything older than Windows XP may seem useless to own, but VMware claims to support everything as far back as DOS and Windows 3.1. I've run out of patients and I just need this stuff to work!

1. I NEED the drivers for the SmartDisk USB Floppy Drive (Titanium Edition) for Windows 3.1 (doubt it exists, but still...), Windows 95, and Windows 98. Every download site I can find just links back to the SmartDisk website, which no longer exists! I have hundreds of disks I need to sift through and I DO NOT want to have to convert ALL on them to disk images just to get them to load!

(I originally needed the floppy drive to install said OS's, but since VMware would only recognize it as just another USB device I could not boot from it... If an OS is listed as "supported", don't you think installing it the logical way would be "supported" too? ...with out the need of extra steps? If VMware would just recognize the floppy drive the same way it does with the internal CD/DVD drive, things would be so much easier!)

2. Windows 95 wont recognize the virtual floppy drive at all. I'm able to boot from it in DOS, but once Windows loads up all I get is an "A:/ not accessible. The device is not ready." error. No matter what disk image I use or how many times I reinstall Windows (using floppy disk images) I can not get it to work!

3. The Soundblaster 16 driver for Windows 3.1 keeps giving me that stupid "Wrong base I/O" message during the install! I've added EVERYTHING people say to add to the vmx file, but nothing works!

(Again, if an OS is listed as "supported", why does something as basic as sound require the user to install third party drivers or manually alter VMware's code? Its the same for most pre2k OS's! Why not just include all the required drivers and proper "VMware tools"? The lack of the "Unity" feature is disappointing too!)

[WoodyZ]

I have hundreds of disks I need to sift through and I DO NOT want to have to convert ALL on them to disk images just to get them to load!

When you plug in the USB Floppy Drive in OS X can diskettes be read?  If yes why can't you just go through them in OS X to recover any files you might want?

2. Windows 95 wont recognize the virtual floppy drive at all. I'm able to boot from it in DOS, but once Windows loads up all I get is an "A:/ not accessible. The device is not ready." error. No matter what disk image I use or how many times I reinstall Windows (using floppy disk images) I can not get it to work!

I have no problem installing Windows 95 booting it from a floppy disk image create with both Disk Utility and dd using an official Microsoft Windows 95 Setup Floppy Diskette so either you're not selecting the right settings and or your media is corrupted and or the USB Floppy Drive is defective.

[lonesdav000]

why can't you just go through them in OS X to recover any files you might want?

I would have no way of knowing the contents of the files until they're accessible by the virtual machine and it's just as time consuming (if not, more) to make copies of each file as it is to make images of each disk.

I have no problem installing Windows 95 booting it from a floppy disk image create with both Disk Utility and dd using an official Microsoft Windows 95 Setup Floppy Diskette so either you're not selecting the right settings and or your media is corrupted and or the USB Floppy Drive is defective.

As I said, I have no problem booting from or installing Windows with a floppy disk image. The problem here is that once Windows 95 loads, VMware's virtual floppy drive suddenly becomes inaccessible ...it has nothing to do with my USB floppy drive.

[WoodyZ]

The problem here is that once Windows 95 loads, VMware's virtual floppy drive suddenly becomes inaccessible

Okay, I can confirm it's the same on my system.

[lonesdav000]

…great! I guess I'm not completely delusional.

[lonesdav000]

Can anyone actually help me? All other similar discussions I've found seem to have been abandoned for several years!!!

[lonesdav000]

ANYONE else care to help??? Like I said, some of these problems have been around for 3 or more years!! Has NO ONE figured them out????

[lonesdav000]

Please??? It's been more than a month!!!! ANYONE?!?!?

[WoodyZ]

Frankly I'd give up with Windows 95 and you're wasting time because it's 16 years old and there is absolutely no reason VMware is going to waste any resources fixing issues with Windows 95 as it's just not a priority of any sorts.  Now I understand you have lots of floppies you're trying to recover information off of however IMO there is no practical reason to be running an OS which is that old and unsupported by Microsoft and problematic in a virtualized environment with the product you're using.  I'd try using at least Windows XP and as mention earlier if you have to make disk images to accomplish the goal then you might have to do that as well.   Also I'd use dd to make the images, not Disk Utility.

[lonesdav000]

Well fine!!! If VMware won't "waste any resources" to actually support it, WHY IS IT LISTED!?!?!?

I happen to like messing around with obsolete systems and abandonware!!! It's a little hobby of mine!!!!!

At this point, all I need it that SmartDisk driver. The site didn't go out that long ago, surely the driver still exists somewhere!

[WoodyZ]

Well fine!!! If VMware won't "waste any resources" to actually support it, WHY IS IT LISTED!?!?!?

Kill the caps lock as there is no reason whatsoever for you to be yelling at me!  What you don't seem to understand is that just because something is listed as supported doesn't mean it's not without any issues!  Just read the product release notes and you'll see not everything works 100% and I doubt that there is any one product or software/hardware combination that works in 100% of all situations/combinations 100% of the time.  In some cases there may be an easy workaround, complex workaround or none at all.  It just depends on the circumstances and that's just the way it has been in the past, is now and probably will continue to be in the future as well.

I happen to like messing around with obsolete systems and abandonware!!! It's a little hobby of mine!!!!!

That's fine, there is nothing wrong with that however it isn't going to change the situation.  Also I though the primary purpose was to get the information off of the floppies and if using a different OS can work when Windows 95 isn't working for you then it's something you might have to consider doing.

At this point, all I need it that SmartDisk driver. The site didn't go out that long ago, surely the driver still exists somewhere!

The drivers for that device may not be legally redistributable and or might be hard to find for older OSes or the device might be supported in a different OS without the need to manually install drivers.

Anyway unless you want some help with a alternative plan to recover the information on your floppies then as far as I concerned I'm done with this thread.

Good luck!

[PotMack]

Did you fix the Windows 95 floppy problem??

I found a (semi) solution. It seems that the protected mode drivers in OSR2 of Windows 95 cause some issue with floppy access in VMWare. This can be proved by restarting the VM in Safe Mode and trying to access the floppy. This should work....

IF the Safe Mode bit works, reboot the VM normally and expeand the Floppy Controller settings in Device Manager and un-check the 'Disbale in this hardware profile' box and press enter and re-start.

All should be working now.

Not sure what the long term upshot of doing this but seems ok sa far.