As you may know, most Windows Whistler builds require you to set the BIOS date back to a certain date to install in some hypervisors like VirtualBox. This sticky tells the common way to set the BIOS date in VirtualBox. But there's also an alternative way to install Windows Whistler or Server 2003 betas in VBox without having to clock the BIOS, which I'm going to show you in this howto.

Anyway, if you try to install Windows Whistler in VirtualBox without changing the correct date, you may get something that looks like this:


So there's a way to get around this (the alternative way). You do it by first installing a special version of MS-DOS 6.22 with CD-ROM support.

First, you will need a copy of MS-DOS 6.22 with CD-ROM support, which you can get here:
https://mega.nz/#!Xr5XwaoB!LhtIa8ZLgAHJ ... 5q1ceOk7wo

This applies to most Windows Whistler builds, including Server 2003 betas. But for this tutorial, I chose Whistler build 2428.
So let's get on with this guide!

First, as usual, in VirtualBox, create a new virtual machine and call it "Windows Whistler Build 2428". Everyone knows how to use VirtualBox, so I'm not going into full detail on that. Next, in the VM settings, you will want to create a floppy controller, as you can see in this picture:


Now we will choose a floppy disk image, in this case a MS-DOS 6.22 disk.


And in File Explorer you will see the set of floppy images for MS-DOS, but I created my own folder to put them in:


So now we can enter our virtual machine, which will take you to the MS-DOS 6.22 setup:


We already have Disk 1 inserted, so just press enter when it tells you to insert Disk 1. After that, DOS will restart and you will encounter a screen that looks like this:


Press the up arrow key until you reach the time and date option at the top and press enter. In the date options, type what I type:


Basically, the BIOS date for build 2428 is 01/30/2001.

Now press enter twice and press enter again, conforming the settings you have just changed:


To continue installing DOS, insert Disk 2 when told, and after that, insert Disk 3 when told.




When it's finished, remove all floppy disk from the drive and press enter to restart DOS:


All right, so MS-DOS 6.22 (w/ CD-ROM support) has been successfully installed:


And we are ready to install Windows Whistler!
First, insert the ISO for Whistler into the CD drive in VirtualBox and restart your virtual machine. When it says "Press any key to boot from CD", press a key to enter the Windows Whistler setup.


Perhaps most of you know how to install most versions of Windows, along with their betas, so I'm not going to show the entire installation. So I'm going to do phase one of the Whistler installation, and I'll see you guys right after this.



Okay, so here you see me in phase two of the Whistler installation. Again, you may already know how to install Windows, so I'm not going to guide you through the entire installation. So I'll see you guys when I'm done installing this OS.



All right, so as you can see, Windows Whistler build 2428 has been installed successfully! And it's all because I changed the date and time for this beta build using this special version of MS-DOS 6.22 with CD-ROM support. All this worked for me, so it should work for you

That's it.

This isn't really anything new, you're still setting the BIOS date, you're just doing it from an operating system and not the setup utility.

I know. That's actually what I was doing this howto on, installing a beta OS the alternate way and not the setup itself. Because if you try installing Whistler from the setup utility itself, you'll get the error I showed in this topic. I figured some of you guys would already know how to do most of this, but I showed you how to do it because why not.

If you're using VirtualBox, this is actually useful as you don't need to deal with command lines to change the dates. I use VMWare and you can delay the boot loading up to 10 seconds max. There's a button you press like with a real hardware and it loads up the BIOS settings.

So you're installing dos just to change the date only to remove it right after for a beta?

How about an msdos boot floppy and the date command?

That would be much better, in my opinion. Why would you go through the hassle of installing DOS then upgrade it to Whistler? What if you're trying to install a much more recent pre-released build of Windows, say build 7000, 8102 or 9841?

It really isn't a hassle. It was actually kinda relaxing doing this installation the smooth way

Except VirtualBox resets the date on reboot anyways, which is why the command line way is the recommended way in the first place.

OK. In response to some of the latest comments in this thread, I thought I'd recap on what this guide is really about.

A while back, I tried to install Windows Whistler and Whistler Server in VirtualBox (including early beta and beta 1 builds), and I tried setting the BIOS back using the Command Prompt on my host, but that was unsuccessful. Then, a while later, I heard that you can install Whistler, Whistler Server, and Longhorn (if applicable) by first installing MS-DOS 6.22 w/ CD-ROM support to use a disk in the CD format. And so, I did that, and it worked. BTW, this does not only apply to VirtualBox, but you can also do this same method in VMWare, QEMU, and other hypervisors, and maybe you can even do it on actual hardware.

I don't understand. Why are you all criticizing the tutorial? You personally may think "What a waste of time to install MS-DOS" or "What a inefficient way of installing" but why do you care? If you find it useful, OK, if you find it useless, OK. But please don't fill the thread with comments about the inefficiency of this tutorial, adding nothing useful to the thread. If you think you know a better way, go ahead and write a tutorial by yourself.

But please, for god's sake, don't sit and wait others to solve all issues you found. Go ahead and fix them by yourself.. Or is that you are waiting for anybody to come and take you to the bathroom when you need to go?

Good point there. But I'm fine. I've had a lot of work that has been criticized by others in the past. I guess I'm just an imperfect person, like how a lot of people are not always perfect


Like I said, I don't think anyone is criticizing my work. Maybe they're just giving me some pointers and that's it. Also, you really don't need to act all frustrated and write in bold like that. Just sayin'

You could have just pressed Shift+F10 as soon as it gets to the second stage and changed the date from there.

Thank you for this small tut! I was struggling how to install it on vmware virtual machine but this helped me!

Glad that you enjoyed it. I also had that same experience the first time I tried to install certain Whistler builds. But a while later I was experimenting with it a little, and I finally found a way to install Whistler that worked, the way I showed in this guide.