Win95 on Qemu
My experience with using Qemu to run Windows 95. Please read all notes below before trying any of this.
The result is basic working installation of Windows 95. The display works at standard VGA 800x600. Have not tested much yet.
Host used:
- MacBook Air (M1) macOS Sonoma version 14.4.1
- QEMU emulator version 9.0.0 (homebrew)
Command to create disks:
qemu-img create -f qcow2 win95.img 200M
Command to run qemu:
qemu-system-i386 -nodefaults -drive file=../Downloads/Microsoft\ Windows\ 95\ OSR2\ -\ Boot\ Disk\ \(Dell\ OEM\)\ \(3.5-1.44mb\)/disk01.img,format=raw,if=floppy,index=0 -drive format=qcow2,file=win95.img,index=0,cache=none -boot a -cpu pentium-v1,l3-cache=off -m 128 -display cocoa -vga cirrus -rtc base=localtime -accel tcg -machine hpet=off -serial none -parallel none -cdrom ../ISOs/win95b_osr2_swe.iso -machine acpi=off -machine isapc
Install
Since the Windows 95 install CD is not bootable the procedure is slightly more.
- Create boot disc C: as described above
- Run qemu
- In the DOS bootmenu select
Without cdrom support
- In DOS run
fdisk. Use default settings to partition first disk with a primary DOS-partition covering all space.
- reboot
- In the bootmenu select
Without cdrom support
- In DOS:
format c:
- reboot
- In the bootmenu select (default)
with NEC IDE CDROM
- In DOS:
D:
setup.exe or install.exe
- If using the above boot disc with an older version of Windows 95, you may have to Allow install without scandisc
- During install don't check boxes for sound, network nor microsoft services like network, mail or fax.
- Choose default for components.
- When install is finished and Windows says it will reboot first time, let it try. If it fails force shutdown of qemu.
- Change "-boot a" to "-boot c" in commandline before continuing with patch and then for use.
- Create data drive:
qemu-img create -f raw data.img 200M Use format raw to have a drive that is easy to mount in MacOs.
- add data drive to qemu command line:
-drive format=raw,file=./data.img
Notes
- The Windows CD I used is probably Windows 95A Swedish
- Assumes the Windows CD is not bootable.
- The qemu window may appear behind other window.
- Windows 95 will install but at first reboot it will fail with an error about Windows Protection Error. This can be resolved by replacing the Windows CD with FIX95CPU.ISO, reboot, let it patch the system and then remove it. That is change -boot from c to d. Also change -cdrom from win95 to fix95cpu.iso.
- Neither shutdown nor reboot seems to work properly. On next boot Windows will detect unproper shutdown and run scandisk. So far I have not seen it detecting any errors.
- There may be a delay on start where it seems to hang but it will continue soon.
- After install about 70-75MB is used.
References
©Jonas Svenssonlysweb3@jonass.user.lysator.liu.se
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This page was last modified July 2024.