# Dual Boot Windows 3.1 and Windows 95?



## Smiles n' grins (Jun 8, 2007)

I've heard it's possible, but the problem I'm running into is the fact that Windows 95 sees 3.1 as a potential upgrade and won't let me install 95 separately.

Is it possible?


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## TheOutcaste (Aug 8, 2007)

The links from this post probably have the best information.
http://forums.techguy.org/6431128-post9.html

Are you trying to install 95 to an existing Win 3.1 system?
The first link seems pretty straight forward to do this.

Adding Win 3.1 to an existing Win 95 system?
The last link walks through that. Though it's not clear if that will work on a FAT32 partition, it may have to be FAT, or at least less than 2 GiB in size.


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## Smiles n' grins (Jun 8, 2007)

TheOutcaste! The guru of all things Pre-XP! Nice to see you're still alive! (just joking )

I was trying to install 95 onto a machine with 3.1 (windows for workgroups) already installed. I couldn't do it, though, because 95 kept thinking I was trying to upgrade the 3.1 system. The only way I had around this problem was to install 95 onto a 2 GB FAT16 partition into C:\WIN95, then 3.1 into the same partition with the normal C:\WINDOWS.

Now, the machine will boot straight to 95, and if I want to get to 3.1, I have to put in a floppy with a DOS 6.22 boot disk on it. A couple of commands, and 3.1 is up. However, I looked at that previous post and I didn't think it was possible to only use TweakUI.

Have you ever tried either of those methods and could tell me which one is more efficient?


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## TheOutcaste (Aug 8, 2007)

Smiles n' grins said:


> TheOutcaste! The guru of all things Pre-XP! Nice to see you're still alive! (just joking )


So you're joking about it being nice that I'm alive...

Been so long I can't remember if I ever set my WFW 3.11 box up as a dual boot, or just upgraded it to Win95.
If you have a Win95 Upgrade disk, it won't allow a parallel install, it will only upgrade. And some OEM disks were the same, clean install or upgrade only.

If you already have Win 3.x installed, I would think the method in the first link would be easiest, though editing each .ini file could take a while. Assumes the Win95 disk won't insist on upgrading of course.

Something like Replace Text would make the editing a snap, but I don't know if it will run under Win 3.x.
If the Win3.x box is networked, it should be able to work on them as a mapped drive from an OS it does run under.


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## Smiles n' grins (Jun 8, 2007)

> If you already have Win 3.x installed, I would think the method in the first link would be easiest, though editing each .ini file could take a while. Assumes the Win95 disk won't insist on upgrading of course.


The first link is for plain ol' Windows 95, and the other two are for Windows 95 OSR2. What's the difference? Does OSR2 = Windows 95b? If that's the case, I might have to try one of the other options. If not, I think I could handle the first link.

I wonder though, what if I had installed Windows 3.1 to a different directory in the first place?


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Did this years ago in school. We had all the windows OS's installed on one computer. We used System Commander to accomplish this task.


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## TheOutcaste (Aug 8, 2007)

OSR2=Win95B. Shouldn't matter which of the 12 or so versions of Win95 you use. The main thing will be if the Wini95 disk will let you install if it detects another version of Windows, or if it will insist on only an upgrade.


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## Smiles n' grins (Jun 8, 2007)

> The main thing will be if the Win95 disk will let you install if it detects another version of Windows, or if it will insist on only an upgrade.


OK that's where my problem was...it detects 3.1 and won't let me install because it thinks it needs to be upgraded and not installed as a different OS. I've also heard that TweakUI can display a boot menu without the need for all of the other junk.

Also, I've been trying to get back my original Windows 95 settings and I've forgotten where I can get the Plus! options. I think they were included with like an Internet Explorer 4.01 package, but I probably need to get that confirmed.

Let me try some of the stuff that you gave me TheOutcaste and I'll get back to the thread.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

Have you considered using VirtualBox or VirtualPC instead?


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