Help with installing Windows 95 on Windows 7 64 bit Home Virtual PC

Question

I apologize in advance.  I am new to using Virtual PC and I don't understand what I'm doing wrong.  I am trying to create a virtual Windows 95 on my Windows 7 Home 64b computer in Virtual PC.  I have the original W95 cd, and I was able to
create a Win95 boot disk.
What I've done so far is:
Create a Virtual drive in VPC.
Attempt to install W95 using the cd.  The virtual system didn't install it.
Created a W95 boot disk using a USB floppy drive.  The virtual system doesn't seem to access the USB floppy.
Tried to enter the BIOS menu in the virtual drive and set the floppy as the initial boot drive.  The system doesn't access the floppy.
Please let me know if you need any more info to answer this question.  Thanks!
RK

Answer 1

virtual machines won't detect usb floppy drives
(you might also run into issues trying to install win95 on a 64 bit system not sure though)
what you need to do is create a floppy image first
Also use VMWARE player for win95.. virtual pc doesn't work well for it in windows 7
so if you want to create a floppy image
first download magiciso (it's free)
go to new - floppy - 1.44
copy the files from the usb floppy onto the newly created image
save it
now go to the image in your browser and change the extension from .ima to .flp (for VMWARE) or .img (for virtual pc)
now you can mount the floppy image instead of using the drive all together :)
here's an alternative method for installing windows 95 on a virtual machine as well
installing windows 95 and CD driver manually without the floppy setup disk
what you need:
.DOS on a floppy or on an image (.flp .img)
.Windows 95 cd
.VMWARE player (it's free) or virtualpc (I recommend VMWARE)
.Magiciso (the free trial version will do)
.a copy of MSCDEX.EXE and oakcdrom.sys (both can be found online)
step 1
create a new virtual machine (make sure to add a floppy image drive if you are using vmware)
step 2
put your dos floppy/image in or mount it and install dos
step 3
download and install the free version of magiciso
open magic iso
go to new - floppy - 1.44
find a copy of mscdex.exe
find a copy of oakcdrom.sys (generic cd rom driver that works with dos.. might have to try another if it doesn't work)
RENAME the oakcdrom.sys to cdrom.sys
drag both these files into magic iso on the floppy disk we just created
save the file
close magic iso
find the file we just saved in your explorer
change the extension from .ima to .flp (if you are using vmware) or .img (if you are using virtualpc)
(if you can't see the extensions you're going to need to change your folder options to show extensions)
google it. it's easy to do
step 4
go back to your virtual machine
mount the floppy image we just created
a:\
copy mscdex.exe c:\
copy cdrom.sys c:\
(don't forget to rename oakcdrom.sys to cdrom.sys in step 3)
step 5
find config.sys in your c drive
type:
edit config.sys
now add a line that says this
device=c:\cdrom.sys /d:mscd001
exit and save
step 6
find autoexec.bat in your c drive
type:
edit autoexec.bat
now add a line that says this
c:\mscdex.exe /d:mscd001
exit and save
step 7
restart the computer or virtual machine
step 8
we're still not done yet
now move to your c drive and type
mscdex.exe: /d:mscd001 /M:5 /V /L:d /S /K
(this part /M:x refers to the amount of buffers your drive has.. it's either 4 or 5. usually 5)
step 9
create a blank floppy image either in vmware or magic iso then mount that new one
put your windows 95 cd in the cd drive
type:
d:\
setup.exe
step 10
it should be booting windows 95 now
now you might run into troubles when it tries to install the other drivers
it might ask you for windows floppies even if you're using the cd version
which I never understood
but anyways, you can find all of these drivers on the windows 95b cd if you have it
they're all in cab files
so you'd need to extract them 1 by 1 and put them on floppy images to use them.
(huge pain)
but I actually just got it to load the drivers off the win95 cd by just trying it over and over again until
it worked. it might have been because I either did or didn't restart after putting in the windows 95 cd
can't remember, but I'd try both if you're having trouble 
all in all windows 95 is incredible wonky to install in a virtual machine. I highly recommend using VMWARE
and not virtual pc for this one.
If you didn't have a hard time installing this.. you got incredible lucky
make sure you check to make sure windows95 is seeing your cd drive
if not go to the add new hardware wizard in the control panel and see if that detects it
Michael MacDonald
State of Psychosis
www.stateofpsychosis.com
www.soundcloud.com/state-of-psychosis