# Windows 95 Floppy Reading [Help!] (Woo First Post!)



## Doctor_IP (Nov 29, 2008)

Hello All!
This is my first post! Woo Hoo!

Anyways, I found some good ol' DOS Games and I'm attempting to run them in VisualBox. Now here is the strangest thing: Floppy is happily read in DOS mode of Windows 95 A, but in Windows, it just fails with the Device Not Ready Error. So, if anyone could shine some light in my direction, it will be greatly appricated!

Thanks!

--Doctor_IP


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

You mean while VirtualBox is running? The floppy is usually assigned exclusively to the virtual machine.


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## Doctor_IP (Nov 29, 2008)

Elvandil said:


> You mean while VirtualBox is running? The floppy is usually assigned exclusively to the virtual machine.


Allow me to clarify, I'm using a "Virtual Floppy" Image.. And for some strange reason DOS is able to read it, while Windows Fails....

Thanks!

Edit: This Is What's Happening


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

So you have no physical floppy drive?

Is the virtual drive in Device manager? Which one are you using?


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## Doctor_IP (Nov 29, 2008)

Elvandil said:


> So you have no physical floppy drive?
> 
> Is the virtual drive in Device manager? Which one are you using?


No, the virtual Floppy is not "Attached" to the Host System; Its emulated to the Windows 95 System.

Thanks!

Edit: I edited the wrong post :3

See the above post by me to see what's happening...


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

What displays when right-click on the floppy drive in the status bar? Did you verify the image is still mounted after Windows 95 loads?


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## Doctor_IP (Nov 29, 2008)

DoubleHelix said:


> What displays when right-click on the floppy drive in the status bar? Did you verify the image is still mounted after Windows 95 loads?


Yes, I just double checked it, and it's still mounted, I've even reset the VM and mounted it when Windows 95 has fully loaded, but to no avail.

Thanks!

--Doctor_IP


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## SDFOX 7 (Apr 29, 2007)

Does the floppy have to be the target drive for the game?

If not, can you just copy the files from the A: while at the DOS prompt--copy to *C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP*.

At the DOS prompt, the proper syntax would be *copy a:\filename c:\windows\desktop* This is assuming the virtual floppy is located at drive A:. If not, replace with the proper drive letter.

Then when you boot 95, the floppy files will be on your desktop and you can put them wherever you want after that.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

You might try posting in the support forums at www.virtualbox.org. Windows 95 is not listed as supported guest operating system. It's possible it just doesn't work.


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## SDFOX 7 (Apr 29, 2007)

> Windows 95 is not listed as supported guest operating system. It's possible it just doesn't work.


They must have gone through a lot of trouble to make sure it didn't, LOL. It's rather odd that DOS, Windows 3.x, NT 4.0 and 98 _are_ listed as being supported, and 95 isn't.

According to the home page, _"Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), Solaris and OpenSolaris, and OpenBSD."_


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Virtual or not, it should be listed in Device Manager and have the normal floppy controller driver loaded. You do not see it there? It needs to be "attached" to the system or it will not be accessible.

I haven't used VB in a while, but in VMWare and Parallels Workstation virtual machines, there is a setting to allow or disallow "exclusive" access of the VM to attached hardware, or to allow them to be shared with the host OS.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

I don't even know how you got Windows 95 installed on VirtualBox. I couldn't get the install to read the CD (or image) on the first start following the install. It seems VirtualBox doesn't enable the CD drive during the setup process. After skipping several system files, it eventually started Windows 95, but it does not read a floppy image.

Elvandil, the image file _IS_ attached, mounted, and readable in DOS. VirtualBox does not read it under Windows 95.


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## Doctor_IP (Nov 29, 2008)

DoubleHelix said:


> I don't even know how you got Windows 95 installed on VirtualBox. I couldn't get the install to read the CD (or image) on the first start following the install. It seems VirtualBox doesn't enable the CD drive during the setup process. After skipping several system files, it eventually started Windows 95, but it does not read a floppy image.
> 
> Elvandil, the image file _IS_ attached, mounted, and readable in DOS. VirtualBox does not read it under Windows 95.


Hehe that was the fun bit (actually installing windows 95). I just grabbed my old archive of Windows 3.1 and installed it, then upgraded to windows 95 using an upgrade disk... Apparently, I can install the games from dos, but i cant _run_ them... (due to the fact that himem doesn't like to allocate the full 512 MB) If anyone can help me out there, that might just solve my problem...

Thanks!

--Doctor_IP


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

If you described what you're actually trying to accomplish, there may be a better solution. Since the problem can be duplicated on multiple systems and Windows 95 isn't listed as a supported operating system, chances are good that it just doesn't work.

Have you posted the problem at VirtualBox.org?


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## Doctor_IP (Nov 29, 2008)

DoubleHelix said:


> If you described what you're actually trying to accomplish, there may be a better solution. Since the problem can be duplicated on multiple systems and Windows 95 isn't listed as a supported operating system, chances are good that it just doesn't work.
> 
> Have you posted the problem at VirtualBox.org?


OK, well I'm trying to install "Challenge Pack 1" By The Software Toolworks. It has several games in one (Robo Cop 3D, Push-Over, and Chessmaster 2100, to name a few), and it needed a "Data Disk" of tools from DOS 6x. The installer / Games can and are supposed to run in DOS... I just wanted Windows 95 for the fact that its a GUI, and I stare at a Linux Command Prompt all day... So, Memory management in stock DOS with himem doesn't like my config (the installer reports that there isn't enough memory to play the game) So that's where I am, not much going on.... If anyone can figure this out, good luck, lol... I might just switch over to windows 98, just because it would be easier to use, and i can just run in DOS 7...

Thanks!

--Doctor_IP


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

I would definitely try Windows 98. Always start with the most recent operating system and work your way backwards.

I was able to install Windows 95 on Virtual PC 2004 and access a floppy image.


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## Doctor_IP (Nov 29, 2008)

Ah, I see... Well, I will go post on VisualBox's Forum, and see what's up, but I will most defiantly try Windows 98 out now...


Thanks!

--Doctor_IP


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