Can someone help me install Windows 95 B ?

[Borg20001]

I have been having problems with Windows 95A (16 bit) OS on an old system (Cyrix 6x86L PR200+, with 20 gig and 4.3 gig Maxtor drives, 64 Meg ram, Stealth II S220 & Monster 3D 4Meg card, 24X CDROM, ISA SB pro 2 sound card, pci winmodem.)

Since Windows 95A bit the dust recently, I was going to wipe my 4.3 gig HD and install Windows 95B (the 32 bit OS). The reason I am installing Win95B instead of Win98SE is that someone gave me his old cd of Win95B and at this point I'd rather not spend the bux buying Win98SE on a pc that will be replaced this fall with a new pc.

Anway, I ran the MaxBlast util that came with the hds (after copying the contents of the 4.3gig drive onto the 20gig drive.) and had the option of wiping the drive. However after reading the directions on Maxblast, it said I could then install my OS by inserting the disks or CD into the PC.

I took a look at the CD that I have and it is called Windows 95 Companion with USB support. I could not find an install or setup executable on the CD. I then looked into the Windows 95 subdir on the CD and there were no plain setup or install executables there either.

It does contain a bunch of .cab files (28 for Win95 plus three others) and the only exe files are: cs3kit.exe, extract.exe, scandisk.exe, scanprog.exe, setup25i.exe, setup32.exe, smartdrv.exe, swinst4.exe, wb16off.exe, wowkit.exe and xmsmmgr.exe.

I first thought that either of the setup files would work, but when I tried them, they were both for setting up AOL.

There are also 3 com files called deltemp.com, format.com and save32.com.

Can anyone give me some guidance as to how to install Win95B from this CD-ROM onto my 4.3 gig drive? I tried to contact the guy who gave me this CD, but he doesn't know how to install from the disk. (It was from an old PC that he bought a while ago and has since moved on to a newer system - but he kept the CD they gave him with the system already installed on the pc as a back-up).

Is there anyplace I can find out more info on this and can I install Win95B from this Windows 95 Companion CD-ROM?

Thanks much for your advice.

 

[Jeff H]

Borg20001, I'm looking at my Win95B (the one w/ USB support) CD right now, via Windows Explorer, and I find a setup.exe file in the root directory of the CD, along w/ a setup.exe file in the win95 folder on the disc.

How is your CD identified by Windows Explorer? FWIW mine is win95_full-ar. The files Setup25i.exe and Setup32.exe are for install of AOL. cs3kit.exe is for CompuServe, and wowkit.exe is for a short-lived experiment by CompuServe called Wow.

My CD is an OEM, meaning that it's looking to be fresh installed. Simply copy the win95 folder to your hard drive and execute the setup.exe from within that folder. If your disc is an upgrade (and I don't think MS made such an upgrade disc), then it will look for proof of a previous installation. If that's the case, simply copy any small file (such as a text file) to a floppy and rename the file win.cn_. When the install asks for the proof, point it to the floppy.

 

[kd7fhd]

The companion disk IS NOT the W95B install disk. It is exactly what it says it is: a companion disk. You'll have to ask the person who gave you the disk if he has the W95B disk.

 

[Borg20001]

Thanks for all the information Jeff,

I think I have the same CD as you, it too is identified by Win Explorer as W95_full_ar, but I can not find a setup.exe anywhere on either the root dir or the Win95 subdirectory.

I am not sure if it is an OEM CD. It states on the disk that it is for distribution only with a new pc (which fits since my friend received it with his new PC).

But I just do not find the setup.exe file in either the root or win95 directories.

Help!

 

[Borg20001]

Actually, now that I look at the CD again more closely, I notice that along with there being no setup.exe file, I also do not have Win95_01.cab file in the Win95 subdirectory. I only have Win95.cabs from 2-28 plus two other cabs called mini.cab and precopy1.cab and precopy2.cab.

So can I install at all from the files on the Win95 companion disk or is it just for finding any missing files in cabs 2-28?

 

[5mudge]

Borg20001:

Check out this thread from last month:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=34&threadid=437670

Once I read the word companion, my feeble mind recalled seeing this thread. Hope this sheds light on your current situation. If you're really stuck, you can buy the OS for $25:

DirectDeals

This doesn't include shipping....

 

[Borg20001]

5mudge,

Thanks for the response. I checked out the thread and some of the links and may have found an answer here on trying to install from the Win95 Companion disk:

http://www.netpathway.com/~kramer/companion.html

Has anyone ever tried this?

Will either try this or see what the For Sale/Trade forum can provide.

 

[Borg20001]

Anyone ever installed Win95B by copying the files from the win95 subdir on the Windows 95 Companion CD onto the hd and extracting? See previous post for link suggesting this..

Thx

 

[Borg20001]

Any help?

 

[Borg20001]

Last bump for the day

 

[GeneW]

copy win95A to hard drive(just win95 folder)
then copy Win95B over it run setup