virtualbox.org

Greetings!
I am trying to install Windows 95 as a guest on my VirtualBox version 4.1.10 r76795
I am using a MacBook Pro Model 3,1 with 2.2 Ghz Core2Duo & 2 GB Ram. I use OS X 10.6.8

The Windows 95 CD is not bootable, so I used a bootable dos image file to boot. I built the machine with the default settings, except I made the hard drive 500mb & the CPU usage to 40% maximum. I made anISO image of the Windows 95 Install CD, attached it to the virtual machine & started the operating system.
I went to Drive "R" & received an error message:
CRD103: CD ROM Not High Sierra Or ISO-9660 Format Reading drive R

So I got smart & made a new image. This time, the error came when I tried to mount it to the controller:
COuld not get the storage format of the medium VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED

Next, I tried attaching a blank ISO image & the hard disk image for Windows 95's machine to Windows XP. In XP, I moved, folder by folder, each one to the blank ISO image. I disconnected them from XP & attached the new ISO to the Windows 95 machine.
When I started the machine, drive R was blank.

To verify the original CD was good, I opened it in FInder & could see all the files. Do any of you have any tips or tricks I may have missed?
I've attached the logs. There were 4, so I changed the names to get them to upload. (Example- Vbox.log1 is now Vbox1.log)
I could only attach 3 of them.
Thanks, I appreciate the education!
Paul

What is wrong with booting into DOS with CD support and using the original install CD (mounted in the host's CD drive)? That is how you had to do it on a physical machine back then. Bootable CDs did not appear until very late in the W98 cycle. You had to boot into DOS then install Windows from within DOS.

Using an ISO instead of the original CD should work fine as long as you convert it properly (and DOS has CD support).

PJB wrote:the CPU usage to 40% maximum.

Don't do that. In fact don't touch that setting unless you fully understand all the implications, and certainly not until your guest OS is fully set up and working.

I made an ISO image of the Windows 95 Install CD

How?

, attached it to the virtual machine & started the operating system.
I went to Drive "R" & received an error message:
CRD103: CD ROM Not High Sierra Or ISO-9660 Format Reading drive R

Without seeing the ISO image, it's impossible to say whether you were supposed to receive that error message or not.

So I got smart & made a new image. This time, the error came when I tried to mount it to the controller:
COuld not get the storage format of the medium VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED

It's a good guess that it wasn't a valid ISO image.

Next, I tried attaching a blank ISO image & the hard disk image for Windows 95's machine to Windows XP. In XP, I moved, folder by folder, each one to the blank ISO image. I disconnected them from XP & attached the new ISO to the Windows 95 machine.
When I started the machine, drive R was blank.

Are you aware of things like ISO-9660 vs. Joliet vs. Rock Ridge file names on CD-ROMs? Unless you had "DOS compatible" filenames on the CD-ROM, DOS won't see anything even though any modern OS will.

What is your Windows 95 install CD, anyway? Is it an upgrade version which must be installed from an existing DOS/Windows 3.x setup? If it isn't an upgrade version, it would have had to come with bootable floppies.

General advice. Don't even try Windows 95 in a VM unless you know very well what you're doing. Windows 95 has serious problems on "fast" machines (anything past 300MHz or so). As you found out, it's not trivial to install, either. Windows 3.x runs much better on a fast system (i.e. without crashing/locking up).

If you insist on Windows 9x, one of the worst operating systems in the history of computing, then I'd recommend starting with Windows 98 SE on a bootable CD-ROM. That's at least not that hard to install.

Thanks for the advice, BillG & Michain!
The ISO was made with Disk Utility in OS X, just as I made the one for Windows XP. I made a dmg as unencrypted CD Master. Then I manually changed the extension to 'iso'. Worked for the W-XP disk. I cna't remember where I heard about that method.
For my next trick, in Terminal, I typed
hdiutil convert /path/to/filename.dmg format UDTO -o /path/to/savefile.iso
Guess these didn't work out too well. I did use a DOS compatible file name. I tried booting to DOS with CD support & using the actual CD disk. For some reason, the same error about High Sierra & ISO came up.

The CD is a full version, to be installed over DOS. I never thought to actually use the bootable floppies that came with the Windows 95 disk. What a dope!

f you insist on Windows 9x, one of the worst operating systems in the history of computing, then I'd recommend starting with Windows 98 SE on a bootable CD-ROM. That's at least not that hard to install.

I'm having trouble with the 98SE installation, too. (Crashes at "Setting Up Install Shield WIzard") I haven't attempted too much diagnosis on it yet.
Installing Windows 98SE was an attempt to get Windows 9x for the programs I have that won't run on XP. When it wouldn't behave, I went to W95.

General advice. Don't even try Windows 95 in a VM unless you know very well what you're doing. Windows 95 has serious problems on "fast" machines (anything past 300MHz or so). As you found out, it's not trivial to install, either. Windows 3.x runs much better on a fast system (i.e. without crashing/locking up).

That settles it! Good Thoughts! I'm abandoning the W95 project. Perhaps I will try to buy a used copy of Windows 3.x or figure out how to make my old programs run on XP. (Unless I can get W98SE to cooperate- Then I'll go with that.) I have never used 3.1, so it could be fun to learn.

Thank you both again. I appreciate the words of wisdom and experience! I enjoy working with VirtualBox & learning about it- as well as the system in general.
Paul

PJB wrote:Thanks for the advice, BillG & Michain!
The ISO was made with Disk Utility in OS X, just as I made the one for Windows XP. I made a dmg as unencrypted CD Master. Then I manually changed the extension to 'iso'. Worked for the W-XP disk. I cna't remember where I heard about that method.
For my next trick, in Terminal, I typed
hdiutil convert /path/to/filename.dmg format UDTO -o /path/to/savefile.iso
Guess these didn't work out too well. I did use a DOS compatible file name. I tried booting to DOS with CD support & using the actual CD disk. For some reason, the same error about High Sierra & ISO came up.

The OS X Disk Utility is a good tool for this, but you should either:

a) create an unencrypted CD master image, change the extension to .iso, and use that with VirtualBox, or
b) create a default compressed DMG image of the CD and use that with VirtualBox directly.

There is never any need for running hdiutil unless you wish to convert existing ISO images to compressed DMGs, but then you should use '-format UDZO' (preferred) or possibly '-format UDBZ' (much slower).

Thanks, Michain!
I didn't realize that VirtualBox could use a compressed dmg directly. I must have missed it in the reading I did.
It seems that doing it this way will have less intervention by me, thus less chance for goof-ups.
Paul