How to install Windows95 - A few suggestions.....

[<sandy@sandy.com>]

On Tue, 1 Aug 1995, Stanley Wasserman <stanwass@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU> wrote:
>Dear all:
>
>I do hope that someone will take the time and get WIN95
>   up and running on a TP (preferably a TP 750, which is
>   what I have), and then share this experience with the
>   entire group.
>That is -- let us all know what must be done to configure
>   a TP for WIN95!

I've been running Windows95 (beta - build 490) on my TP755CX
(810Mb hard drive - 24MB memory) and the installation process 
went smoothly because I took the time to prep my system for
the install.  However, based on my experience of installing 
the beta versions on various systems over the past few months, 
I strongly suggest you "look before you leap".  

For ThinkPad users, IBM has prepared a pre-install document
called tpwin95.exe  which can be downloaded from their WWW site
(http://www.pc.ibm.com/cgi-bin/ftpfiles?action=list&dir=34)
or their FTP site (ftp.pcco.ibm.com).  This document describes 
how to install the beta version of Win95 on various ThinkPad
models and will probably still be accurate for the initial
public release of Win95 scheduled for August 24 (build 950?).

As a general observation, I haven't seen any Win95 install
do exactly the same thing...probably because every system
has different hardware and software configurations.  In fact,
until I started to use some of the preparatory procedures
which follow, I found the Win95 install program to be somewhat
inconsistent and unpredictable.  I guess "plug 'n play" isn't
perfected yet, but it does try hard to please.  ;-)

Here are some basic suggestions which might help you install
Win95 on ANY system, including ThinkPads.  First, I'm assuming
you're already running some version of Windows (3.1, WFWG 3.11)
and that it is working properly with all of your hardware:  

1. Copy your entire Windows directory (with subdirectories) to
   a new directory...win3 works okay for me.  From DOS, "cd" into
   your Windows directory and type: xcopy *.* c:\win3 /s /e /v /y
   This will copy everything into win3 on drive "c".

2. Do the same with your DOS directory...dos62 is the directory I
   created.  From the DOS directory type: xcopy *.* c:\dos62 /s /e /v /y

3. Edit your autoexec.bat, config.sys, win.ini, and system.ini files.
   Remove your memory management stuff (i.e. QEMM) and any strange
   drivers.  Make autoexec and config as "clean" as possible, but
   make sure you can still boot into DOS okay.  You can add specific
   drivers back in after the install if necessary.  "REM" out or ";"
   any unusual devices in the [386Enh] section of system.ini.  It
   usually helps to "REM" out the "load=" and "run=" commands at the 
   beginning of win.ini also.

4. Set your display resolution to 640x480 @256 colors before the 
   install.  Again, this just makes it easier on the install process.
   You can change it back to higher resolutions and/or colors later.   

Creating "backup" directories makes it much easier to recover from a
"bad" Win95 install later.  It might install just fine the first time 
around, but trust me, this is cheap insurance.  Win95 will install
over your existing Windows (in the "Windows" directory) and also 
significantly modify your "DOS" directory.  If you do experience
problems during the install process and want to start over again for 
any reason, you can use Win95's install program to "uninstall" Win95 
and restore everything on your system to its previous configuration.
Just make sure you answer "yes" when the Win95 install program asks
if you want to save data for a possible uninstall later (takes about
6MB of storage).  

No matter what happens, you can easily restore everything from your 
two "backup" directories described above. Just delete the "Windows" 
and "DOS" directories and rename the backup directories (win3 and 
dos62) back to their original names (Windows and DOS). Easy, safe, 
and much better then reloading from scratch and your Windows "user"
data (desktop setup, colors, etc.) is restored too.  Even if you're
impatient to do the install and don't want to prepare your system
first, this backup procedure allows you to do your "smoke test" and 
still recover easily.  ;-)

My TP755CX came "loaded" with tons of software, but I decided to backup 
everything to tape, and reinstall "clean" versions of DOS and Windows 
with ALL of the latest and greatest ThinkPad drivers from IBM (see
site info above).  Win95 loaded fine the first time around.  All of 
the ThinkPad hardware worked normally except the high-resolution
(800x600  @65K color) display which loaded as a 640x480 display, but
was easily changed to the high-resolution, high-color driver from 
within Win95 after the install.  All builds of Win95 beta from 490 on
support the CX's 800x600 @65K color display.

If Win95 installs okay on your ThinkPad and/or desktop, I suggest
you keep Windows 3.1 or WFWG 3.11 on your system until you're
comfortable with the new operating environment.  If you followed
my suggestion of copying your existing Windows into a win3 directory, 
you'll have to edit a few files before you old Windows is fully 
functional again.  Edit the system.ini, win.ini, and progman.ini 
files (in the win3 directory) and autoexec.bat and config.sys on your
old DOS boot diskette to replace ALL references of c:\windows with 
c:\win3 and replace c:\dos with c:\dos62.  Obviously, we don't want 
old Windows (in the win3 directory) looking for data in the new Win95 
(Windows) directory or any programs looking for DOS commands in the
new DOS directory. I also suggest you boot from an earlier version of
DOS (not Win95's MSDOS 7.0) before running the old Windows program. 
Boot from diskette, "cd" into the win3 directory, and then type "win" 
from there.  Old Windows should work as before.  Boot from the hard 
drive to load Win95's boot loader.

BTW, on my desktop "server", I installed Win95 over Windows on my "C"
drive and it recognized that NT3.5 was loaded on my "D" drive and
simply replaced "MSDOS" in the boot loader with "Windows95".  So,
when I boot my system, the boot loader allows me to load Windows95
or NT3.5 from its menu or I boot MSDOS 6.2 from diskette and
run my old WFWG 3.11 from my win3 directory as described above.

Please forgive my somewhat long-winded and (possibly) oversimplified 
Win95 install suggestions and procedures.  I realize there are other
ways to accomplish the same goals, but these have worked for me with
my ThinkPad and various desktop systems.

It's possible that Microsoft's "official" Win95 release in August 
will install easily on your ThinkPad or desktop system without any
system preparation, but I wouldn't "hold my breath".  Remember, 
Mr. Murphy developed his famous "law" while he was part of the 
Windows95 development team. ;-)


                    _\//__
     --Sandy       / _  _ \
                  (  @  @  )
         +-----.oOOo--()--oOOo.-------+
         | InterNet : sandy@sandy.com |
         +-------------- Oooo.--------+
                .oooO    (   )
                 (   )    ) /
                  \ (    (_/
                   \_)