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Did you know that you can still install Windows 95 on a PC? If you can get your hand on a Windows 95 installation disk, check out our guide on installing this vintage version of Windows on your computer.
Steps
Part 1
Part 1 of 4:
Preparing for installation
Part 2
Part 2 of 4:
Installation
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1Wait for the screen message to appear. When this screen appears, press ↵ Enter.
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2Configure. If you haven't already allocated a partition to your hard drive, make sure 'Configure unallocated disk space' is highlighted and ↵ Enter.
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3Select whether you would like large disk support.
- This is a matter of personal preference but 'Yes' was chosen in this tutorial.
- This message may not come up if your hard drive is smaller than 512mb.
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4Ensure the Windows 95 Boot Disk is in Drive A and press ↵ Enter.
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5Press ↵ Enter to continue with the installation.
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6Click Continue to continue with the installation.
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7Accept the license agreement.
- It's a good idea to read the agreement so you know what you're agreeing to.
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8Click Next
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9Select where on your hard drive you want Windows 95 to install and click Next >.
- Normally it is best to choose where Windows recommends.
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10Select what kind of setup you would like and click Next >
- For this tutorial, 'Typical' was chosen.
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11Type in your product key and click Next >
- The product key should have come with your Windows 95 setup disks.
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12Type in your name and click Next >.
- It's not essential to put a company in
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13If you have any of the hardware, click the check boxes which relate to your hardware and click Next >.
- For this tutorial, none of the check boxes were selected.
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14Choose whether you want to install the most common components for Windows or to choose the components yourself and click Next >
- For this tutorial, 'Install the most common components' was selected.
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15Choose whether you want to create a startup disk or not and click Next >
- The startup disk is a disk which can be inserted into your computer should Windows fail to boot and can then repair or reinstall Windows.
- For this tutorial 'No' was selected.
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16Click Next
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17Remove any disks from their drives e.g. floppy disks as well as the installation disk and click Finish
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18If you get confronted with this error, please see Method 4 ' Fixing "Windows protection error"'
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19Click OK
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20Type in a Computer name and a Workgroup and click Close
- Computer description is not required.
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21Reinsert the Windows 95 installation disk and click OK
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22Ensure your date and time settings are correct and then click Close
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23Decide whether you want to install a printer.
- If so click Next > otherwise choose Cancel (Cancel was chosen in this tutorial).
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24Remove any disks in your computer and click OK to restart your computer.
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25The Windows 95 installation is complete. Enjoy.
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Part 3
Part 3 of 4:
Shutting down
Part 4
Part 4 of 4:
Fixing "Windows protection error"
If you see this error, chances are your processor is too fast to run Windows 95. Fortunately, there is a cure.
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1
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2Scroll down until you see FIX95CPU_V3_FINAL.ZIP and click this hyperlink to begin the download.
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3Click the little arrow next to FIX95CPU_V3_FINAL.ZIP as shown in the picture and click Show in folder.
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4Right click the folder, and extract using the default Windows service by click Extract All... to a destination of your choosing.
- You can also use a 3rd party program such as 7-Zip.
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5Read the readme.
- This is so you can decide which file you need to use:
- FIX95CPU.ISO and FIX95CPU.IMA is for use in a virtual machine
- FIX95CPU.ISO can be used to burn to a CD
- FIX95CPU.EXE is for writing to a floppy disk
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6Make sure the file you want to use is in the appropriate format (e.g. a CD), insert it into your computer and boot the computer and press any key to continue when confronted with the message shown in the picture.
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7Decide whether you want to read the readme by press Y for Yes or N for No.
- No was selected here as the readme is exactly the same as the one in the zip folder.
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8When confronted with this message, press any key to continue.
- This will begin to fix the processor issues.
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9Press any key to restart the computer and remove the 'CD' from the computer.
- If you don't remove the 'CD', it will begin an endless loop into this setup screen.
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Community Q&A
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QuestionI can't continue after the first reboot, there is an error saying "Invalid system disk". All my files and subdirectories are in 8.3 format (?). What am I doing wrong (FAT16?)?Community AnswerMake sure the Windows disk is working. You may have to remove the disk(s).
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Warnings
- Unless the installation says otherwise, do not turn off your computer under any circumstances during installation. It could corrupt the process and require you to restart the entire installation.⧼thumbs_response⧽
- Since the operating system is unsupported, it is not advised that you go on the internet as you could be more at risk to viruses, etc.⧼thumbs_response⧽
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Things You'll Need
- Windows 95 installation disk and product key
- Blank Floppy disk (not required, unless you want a startup disk)
- Computer with the following specifications:
- Intel 80386DX CPU that runs at any speed
- RAM: 8MB (while 4MB is the official recommendation, Windows 95 may not boot with that amount of RAM)
- HDD: 55MB
References
About This Article
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