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Answer: You can use the startup diskette created by Win95 (My Computer|Control Panel|Add/Remove Programs|Startup Disk|Create Disk) with a few additions. You will need to include the realmode (i.e. DOS) drivers for your CD drive on the diskette. Depending on how much stuff you have to load, you might want to be able to load them high, also.
To find which drivers you need to load for CD, look in the config.dos and autoexec.dos files (copies of the respective startup files from the previous operating system) in your root directory and find out where the drivers are located. If you don't have any .dos files, you might also be able to find lines in the current config.sys and autoexec.bat files, if any, the \Windows\Dosstart.bat file, from the properties of your \Windows\Exit to Dos .pif, or from the diskettes or docs that came with your CD drive.
Next, make a subdirectory on your startup diskette called A:\Drivers (for example) and copy the drivers there. The CD driver will be a file similar to nec_ide.sys or whatever is used by your drive. Also copy mscdex.exe as well as himem.sys and emm386.exe (be sure to get the Win95 versions of those 3 files; mscdex.exe should be in \Windows\Command and the other 2 in \Windows) into A:\Drivers. If your CD drive is SCSI, also include your DOS SCSI driver, which will have a name similar to aspifcam.sys.
Create special config.sys and autoexec.bat files on your startup diskette that will load your drivers. You can copy and modify the lines from config.dos and autoexec.dos, or type them from scratch. They will look something like this:
------------------------------------------------------------------------ rem - config.sys for startup diskette DEVICE=A:\Drivers\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=A:\Drivers\EMM386.EXE NOEMS DOS=UMB,HIGH rem - include a line similar to the next if CD is SCSI rem - DEVICEHIGH=A:\Drivers\SCSIdriver.sys /z DEVICEHIGH=A:\Drivers\NEC_IDE.SYS /D:NECCD0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- rem - autoexec.bat for startup diskette LH A:\Drivers\MSCDEX.EXE /D:NECCD0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------The lines you use will depend on your particular CD drive's needs. You may need to examine the docs that came with your hardware if you can't find the lines in your current configuration files. NB: the syntax of the /D: switches for mscdex.exe and the CD driver must match exactly.
To use the startup diskette to install Win95, boot with the diskette in the diskette drive, then run the setup.exe in the root directory of the Win95 CD:
D:\setup.exeUse the drive letter for your CD drive if not "D:\".
If you are using the "upgrade CD" for Win95, you will also need proof of license of your previous Win 3.x installation. The Win 3.x installation diskette number 1 will suffice. You don't need to reinstall any parts of previous DOS or Win 3.x, just put the Win 3.x startup diskette #1 in the diskette drive when asked during the installation procedure.
I would suggest a trial run prior to actually needing this, just to make sure everything works as expected.
Info on how to perform a "clean installation" of Win95 is available here.
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Copyright © 1997, David D. Womble.