you could include utilities from the MS-DOS 7.00 beta or freedos.
I will try to get chicago parts into my 3.x but this needs a lot of worx

This is a wonderful Idea. I have actually been taking it one step farther. I am currently collecting the parts to actually build a WFW 3.11 machine again. Here are the specs:

ATX Socket 3 Mainboard
AM 486 DX4 100 CPU
128MB 72pin Simms (max for board)
16x IDE CD-Rom
1.44MB Floppy 3.5"
1.2MB Floppy 5.25"
6GB Seagate IDE HDD
PCI 10/100 TX NIC
ISA 28.8kbps Modem
ISA Soundblaster AWE 64
PCI Video (unknown as of yet)
DOS 6.22
WFW 3.11
IE 5.0 16-bit
Office 4.3
WinZip 6.3 16-bit
Video for Windows 1.1e
or
Windows Media Player 5.2 Beta
Adobe Acrobat Reader 16-bit
Macromedia Flash
Various Games and Entertainment packs



So what do you think?

Nice, but is there any images or download links?

@Kruegon, looks like a nice setup but the hardware is a bit to modern in my opinion... on the other hand... with this setup you have an all-round Windows 3.x machine. I like it also that there are still people who uses old hardware instead of emulation.

I think the beta will be released on 13th January, 2012.

If it was me, personally, I would try to do an updated, "modernized" version of Windows for Workgroups 3.11, with not only all of the Microsoft updates applied, but also the latest version of Internet Explorer of which was produced for Windows 3.1x, Internet Explorer 5.5, since they both include updates for Windows.

I would also include not only some of the latest software (compatible with Windows 3.1x) in other fields from other companies (including the most recent memory management software), but I would also use the MS-DOS from Windows Me (Millenium Edition), MS-DOS 8.0 (completing it with the rest of the MS-DOS utilities, as well as the other programs of which were released for MS-DOS, especially by Microsoft itself), not to mention that I would finally finish it off by not only merging it with the Windows with Multimedia Extensions 1.0 (version 3.00a) feature set, but also reusing some of the remaining unmodified files (most notably the updated Musicbox applet) from the widely available Cougar Build 28, and/or possibly even some of the earlier Chicago builds (compiled after that of the final release of Windows for Workgroups 3.11's compilation, that is).

That's what I would do for such a "modern" Windows 3.1x. I would also try to download the latest drivers of which were released for it, and in the absolute largest quantities as possible.

Of course, no truely "modern" Windows 3.1x would be at all complete without the newest available versions of Win32s and WinG, as well as Paint and WordPad reintegrated from Windows 9x (in this case, obviously, I would go with Windows Me, Millenium Edition, for that truely "modern" feel, as well as any updates), and yes, there is indeed a way to integrate Paint and WordPad from Windows 9x into Windows 3.1x, infact, I believe I've even done it myself, once I figured out how exactly to get it to work on any of my systems.

It would also be practical to include the latest versions of all of the shells (Norton Desktop, Workspace - basically a port of the IBM OS/2 2.x Desktop Manager shell to Windows 3.1x by some of the original programmers themselves, and even Calmira) of which were released for Windows 3.1x, and also integrate them, but with the user being able to select between the shells themselves (Program Manager, Norton Desktop, Workspace/Desktop Manager, Calmira, etc...).

I could also try to write a .CAB viewer for Windows 3.1x, of which extracts the .CAB files themselves using the Microsoft Extract utility (once again, of course, the newest available version), and then instructs the user to open the C:\CABVIEW\%1 (where "%1" is the name of the .CAB file itself within the 8.3 file name limit) directory within File Manager (or whatever File Manager is being used on that particular Windows installation), with even a CLOSE.BAT file to "close" the .CAB file by deleting everything of which was extracted, as well as the directory of which was created specifically for that particular .CAB file itself. I already did this for the Windows 95 shell many years ago, and let's just say that it looked so very authentic.

Other things of which I would add:
1. HPFS and NTFS support (such drivers, at least for NTFS, have been released for MS-DOS, and as such, will work in this case).
2. Long filename support (both, for MS-DOS, and for Windows 3.1x itself, again, in the form of drivers).
3. Running of ScanDisk on an abrupt shutdown (yes, such can be implemented quite easily with the proper commands put in place).
4. Delete Sentry (the Recycle Bin in Windows 95 onwards was apparently based on such technology, let's just say that, so it should already be quite obvious to anyone reading this as to what this is).
5. Whatever remaining tools were released for Windows 3.1x.

Yes, this post was extremely long, but in my opinion, it was quite worth it.

Unfortunately, since I'm far too busy not only beta testing Windows 8, but also writing my review of it for BetaArchive, I don't have the time to do all of this, at least not at the moment, but if anyone else wants to try, then feel free to do it. Once I have more time though, after my review itself is finally released here in its entirty, then I'll see about joining in to help myself.

Let's just say, however, that I do know of one person of whom is even quite interested in the Windows 3.x beta builds (his first one was Windows 3.1, codenamed "Janus", Build 68, a Release Candidate build), as well as so much of what was released for them, and as such, will almost certainly be glad to help us here, Battler. He has even attempted his own custom version of MS-DOS, MS-DOS 6.5, with even some of the same suggestions of which I've listed here, so I'm sure he knows what he's doing, that is, if he would like to try and help us here.

Concept for my setup:
In startup, there's a text like this:
"Starting Setup..."
But in MS-DOS it says "Starting MS-DOS...", but how to change it for setup?

After it starts, a QBASIC program detects if the disk is not formatted and there's no DOS OS inside. If it not detected, then it starts setup:
"Welcome to Windows 3.1 "20th Anniversary" Edition setup. The setup detects the hard disk is not formatted.

The setup sets up following:
- MS-DOS (required for Windows 3.1)
- Windows 3.1 20th Anniversary"
- Some additionals
- Installs video driver (only for VPC)

Do you want to install?"

If the user presses Y, then the QBASIC program launches the MS-DOS setup included in the CD.

How to write a QBASIC program like this?
More to come soon.

Good Luck,it´ll look nice

You can put photoshop or paint shop pro

This is awesome, i hope to see more of this.
Can any driver work with this? I have one of those "Custom" ATI HD video card.

Did you read my idea?

Edit the bootloader on the boot disk with a hex editor

And QBASIC... ? Use C, fellas! Can we have the SDK and C/C++ compiler included in it?

After the MS-DOS setup, the system reboots. After the system reboots, the QBASIC program checks again for the hard drive and DOS OS. After that, it starts the Windows 3.1 setup:
"Part 2: Installing Windows 3.1

You will install Windows 3.1 "20th Anniversary" edition. Please keep the CD inserted after the system reboots and You must press "Reboot" button after the Windows setup ends. Do not press "Start Windows" or "Return to MS-DOS" button, this will not continue the setup process. After the Windows 3.1 setup, you are free to remove the disk until Windows 3.1 starts. It will begin to install additionals from hard drive.

Are you ready?"

If the user presses Y, it will copy the Windows 3.1 setup and some files to hard drive and launches it from hard drive.


Thanks for the info.

How to use C?

Best looking on the Internet for books and tutorials, my textbook isn't finished. But C is a better language for stuff like that, because that's what it was designed for.

Can anyone here show me a C code where I can scan through folders or launch program?

Look up DOS API calls, and possibly system calls. Google is your friend

(In other words, I've never done it on DOS, so I wouldn't know how to do it)

I also have a Win31 build under consideration, but it's essentially 'different'

Windows was intended to be installed on a variety of DOS versions, this is being repeated here. In the main, we shall keep most of the DOS stuff out, adding just a snippet here and there.

There's not a lot of things to go in, but we have more modern versions.

• Gonkulator. The old calculator, renamed. The new calculator is from OS/2.
• MSDOS Executive. We use the one from beta 26. The WDL version is faulty.
• Winfile, Printman. from Windows for Workgroups.
• Bitmaps. These are now 3.1x releases, including betas. four foreign-only ones too!
• Winhelp. Yes, the Win-OS/2 one again, it's 3.10.505 version. No plan for Winhelp3 in this release.
• Progman. Many of the Win-OS/2 stuff is used, it is stabler.
• Musicbox. Yes, vers 3.1 of it!!!
• MSD. The elusive version 2.13
• DOS drivers. Need to be reviewed here as to the release level.
• Setup. We have a version that says 'Windoze'.
• Fonts. Euro fonts and keyboard drivers are at hand.
• Shell.dll From Win-OS/2.

Things will be thinned out to make room. SETUP.INF is pretty restricted, so one has to remove things from the base setup into something like WDL etc. You have to divide the files into super-disks to handle this stuff:

• Uncompressed stuff
• Stuff done in DOS setup
• Stuff done in GUI setup
• Stuff that can be installed optionally.
• Additional drivers.

Hey, is it possible that you could release all of your custom Windows 3.x builds? I, personally, would find it quite interesting to see some successful third party versions of Windows, especially given their rarity in many cases.

I myself tried creating some third party versions of Windows in the early to mid-2000s, including an attempt at replicating the Windows 95 feature set (based on Windows for Workgroups 3.11, using Calmira II, Win32s, and WinG together), and an attempt at replicating the Windows 98 feature set (based originally on the original release of Windows 95; later readapted to Windows 95 OSR 2.1; not to mention that it had a folder-based "Setup" with various subfolders representing the various "steps" in the Setup process), both of which were aimed at porting (as much as possible) the feature set of certain "later" versions of Windows to systems where the original versions would otherwise not run properly (if at all), and/or would run unreliably.

I also did a highly updated, somewhat Java-oriented version of Windows (based on Windows for Workgroups 3.11), known as JavaOS 1.0, and also an attempt at replicating the Windows XP feature set with the Windows for Workgroups 3.11 codebase (using Calmira XP), not long after (based on the JavaOS "kernel" though, with the version number being changed to 1.1), though none of my custom versions of Windows were ever distributed outside of my home, unfortunately, since I didn't have any place and/or any group of people to release them within (not to mention that some of my custom versions weren't even successful in terms of functionality).

Yet your custom versions of Windows, os2fan2, appear to me to be quite successsful, so if you could possibly release them here, it would be greatly appreciated, not only by me, but also by most members here.

2nd it. Would show us your point of view.

--Edit-- Wish the custom windows had a link. I can barely download anything.
Of course it will take some time before i can enter FTP.

I'm still not sure if a DOS setup is needed. You do need a DOS boot system, and a handful of drivers, but the stuff about all those files is different.

You can create a boot system with a handful of files, install Windows, then install DOS.

Still, one can run Windows under PC-DOS, as I did for many years (5,0, 6.1, 6.3, 7.0, 7.0b). I'm not planning on many DOS things, except for prehaps, compress v1.

An extensive PDF of þe process is being prepared, and shall be part of þe output. Currently, most of þe setup.inf file, wiþ all known tips, and a disection of þe files exists.

20 years gone by successfully.

This is a great project, I got an idea, maybe a video player like Quicktime, or Windows Media Player.

The real trouble with windows 3.1 setup is that setup.inf is limited to 64k, and it's already 58k. It has a section in it called 'blowaway', which is used to reduce memory in some cases. It's not really the place to start putting in fancy drivers or whatever. Even putting in the s3 driver from vpc is a task in itself.

Still, I've got windows install down into workable sections, and the next bit is to build a file dependency table (so that adjusting setup.inf will adjust the setup files too.

W

When the beta has been released?

When the beta has been released?