"cquirke (MVP Win9x)" wrote in
:

On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 21:40:08 -0200, Chaos Master


Then you can't do it, basically.

...given that:

1) Win3.yuk doesn't run on a Win9x's DOS mode

Given that Win 3.x will run under the DOS that comes with Win 95 OSR2 or
Win 98, you should be able to do this in theory, but I have found that
you will have trouble with IFSHLP.SYS being the wrong version if you
desire networking under Win3.x. Do it instead with different CONFIG.SYS
boot configuration sections for Win3.x vs Win9x. For Win3x, use the
IFSHLP.SYS that comes with Win3x. For everything else (HIMEM, EMM386,
MSCDEX, SMARTDSK etc.) use the ones that come with Win98.

2) Pre-Win9x MS-DOS can't run off FAT32

True. What you need to do instead is run the DOS that comes with Win 95
OSR2 or Win 98, and run Win 3.x on top of that. Do NOT try to run DOS 6.x
on a FAT32 partition!

3) Win3.yuk can't run off FAT32

Absolutely False. I have done this. The only "issue" you will have is
that Win3x does not find the DOS 7.1 version okay and will refuse to run.
Use a utility called "W3XSTART" to patch the IO.SYS of DOS 7.1 (i.e. the
DOS that comes with Win 98) so it will report a version compaticble with
Win 3x.


On FAT16, you could swap in the correct-version C:\ boot files,

DON'T TRY THIS

...and ensure Win9x and Win3.yuk use different base dirs, but you'd
still run the risk of screwing up LFNs and thus Win9x. For example,
NEVER use pre-Win9x MS-DOS or Win3.yuk disk utils (Scandisk, ChkDsk or
Defrag) as these will totally mess up LFNs.

It is not the LFNs you risk losing, but the FATs. NEVER use anything that
comes with FAT16 DOS on a FAT32 disk. In addition to the above utils, add
INTERLNK / INTERSVR. Just booting the system will be enough to corrupt
the disk. Your file names may have happy faces, but I guarantee that you
will not.

Personally, I'd rather feed my hands to sharks

I never tried that, but I have succeeded in running Win3x on FAT32 disks.
If you don't want to use different configuration sections in CONFIG.SYS,
you could also just create a boot diskette for booting Win3x.

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