Slipstreaming? Windows 95

[ATOS Productions]

Okay, I've decided to fiddle around with windows 95 just for fun and learning, but I have almost 0 knowledge on OS customization.
What I want is to:
1. add a few drivers (videocard and such) maybe remove some. IIRC they're located in one of the CAB files in win95 directory (in windows 95C disk image), but do I just remove and add the necessary ones, or do i have to modify some sort of driver list?
2. Adding a couple of programs, like, for example, Firefox.
3. Bundle some wallpapers with it.
4. Some kind of pre-installing registry editing.
5. And under the best case scenario, probably somehow editing the setup so that I can choose which of the extra bundled programs to install.

I've heared of the 98_Slip, but does it work on 95 as well?

Sorry if anything of this sounds idiotic to you, but this is my first time doing something like this, so...any advice?

[DeFacto]

Whatever changes you make, they'll have to be reflected in the .inf files, otherwise the OS will ignore new files and display errors for missing ones.

[LoneCrusader]

Yes. It's possible, I have done it. I have a custom Windows 95 OSR2.5 build with USBSUPP among other things integrated into the initial SETUP.

I purchased a special set of tools from rloew to do so however. It should be possible by the W98SLIP method, but I have never tested it.

[ATOS Productions]

Yes. It's possible, I have done it. I have a custom Windows 95 OSR2.5 build with USBSUPP among other things integrated into the initial SETUP.

I purchased a special set of tools from rloew to do so however. It should be possible by the W98SLIP method, but I have never tested it.

I tried the 98_Slip, but it didn't seem to work - closed right after pressing a key to continue from the warning screen.

Possibly I could place what I want in archives by hand, but then again a couple of questions:
1. What INF files do I have to modify to add/remove drivers?
2. Do I just place setups of the programs I want to add in some specific dir, or is there something more to it?
3. Where are the wallpapers located?

[LoneCrusader]

I tried the 98_Slip, but it didn't seem to work - closed right after pressing a key to continue from the warning screen.

Possibly I could place what I want in archives by hand, but then again a couple of questions:
1. What INF files do I have to modify to add/remove drivers?
2. Do I just place setups of the programs I want to add in some specific dir, or is there something more to it?
3. Where are the wallpapers located?

First Windows 95 uses a different compression algorithm (QUANTUM) than 98 and ME (LZX). It requires the use of the DIAMOND.EXE disk layout tool rather than CABARC.EXE/MAKECAB.EXE. DIAMOND.EXE requires a ".DDF" "Diamond Directive File" that gives instructions to the compressor about disk (.CAB) size and compression level.

Second, all of the .CABs for Windows 9x are "spanned" across each other, like a split .RAR archive. You can't just modify one .CAB, because it may contain the end or the beginning of a file that spans to another CAB and modifying one would break the chain that links it to the others.

These being said, the 98_Slip method MAY be adaptable to 95, and may not. I never tried it.

To answer your questions, most changes require modifying 3 .INF files. LAYOUT.INF is used to denote which .CAB all of the files are in and the expected size of the file. COPY.INF lists all files and the "LDID" number of the directory where they are to be copied. (You meed to familiarize yourself with LDIDs, 25=WINDOWS, 11=WINDOWS\SYSTEM, 17=WINDOWS\INF, 12=WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS, and so on. A list of these can usually be found in the .INF file contained in Microsoft KB HotFixes.)

Once LAYOUT and COPY have been updated, then modification of a third (and possibly others) INF is usually necessary to see that your modification works. This is usually SETUPC.INF, which performs many SETUP actions. For example the section that handles the "Setting up Control Panel" and "Programs on the Start Menu" part of SETUP is in this file. If you want a program to be run, it may be possible to add it here, but true slipstreaming would involve breaking drivers down and integrating them by their INFs rather than running a driver setup program. Windows 9x SETUP generally does not "run other SETUP.EXE's" although there are a couple of exceptions.

You can find the wallpapers by searching for the names of the .BMP's inside the .CAB files with WinZip, WinRAR, etc. Note that 7-Zip cannot properly handle Windows 95 (QUANTUM compression) CABs.

[djljktq_81]

You can try nLite. It's a good program, I used it and I liked it very much.

[Maxxyz]

You can try nLite. It's a good program, I used it and I liked it very much.

nLite on Windows 95 ? Are you kidding me ? This program is for Windows XP.

[Wheatley]

You can try nLite. It's a good program, I used it and I liked it very much.

nLite on Windows 95 ? Are you kidding me ? This program is for Windows XP.

2k, and Server 2003 also.

[jagotu]

But definitely not for Windows 95...

[98fan]

@ ATOS Productions
Unless you specifically want to install IE4 you may be better off using Windows 95B OSR2.1. The CAB files in 95C for the OS itself are the same in Win 95B OSR2.0 and OSR2.1. All the additional CAB files in the win95 directory on the 95C CD are for IE4.


@ LoneCrusader
Do you know where I can find a list of the switches for makecab.exe that control LZX compression? Cabman is a GUI for makecab.exe that can do it but the Cabman file browser does not recognize .pif files so .pif files cannot be added to the CABs.
Also, I suspect that the repacked CABs do not have to be interlaced or a consistent size as long as the layout inf files point to a CAB of the correct name and the file size of the target file is correct.

Winzip is probably better than WinRAR for extracting interlaced CAB files because WinRAR will extract every file from every CAB in the chain unless the CAB is isolated in its own folder.

[LoneCrusader]

@ ATOS Productions
Unless you specifically want to install IE4 you may be better off using Windows 95B OSR2.1. The CAB files in 95C for the OS itself are the same in Win 95B OSR2.0 and OSR2.1. All the additional CAB files in the win95 directory on the 95C CD are for IE4.


@ LoneCrusader
Do you know where I can find a list of the switches for makecab.exe that control LZX compression? Cabman is a GUI for makecab.exe that can do it but the Cabman file browser does not recognize .pif files so .pif files cannot be added to the CABs.
Also, I suspect that the repacked CABs do not have to be interlaced or a consistent size as long as the layout inf files point to a CAB of the correct name and the file size of the target file is correct.

Winzip is probably better than WinRAR for extracting interlaced CAB files because WinRAR will extract every file from every CAB in the chain unless the CAB is isolated in its own folder.

The IE4 CABs in OSR2.5 are not linked/spanned to the others. They can simply be ignored for slipstreaming purposes. Also, semi-related, the "RealPlayer hanging bug" that happens during IE4 installation can be fixed simply by replacing the IE 4.0 files in OSR2.5 with the full set of IE 4.01 SP2 files.

I have only used CABARC.EXE to build a LZX CAB, and to be honest I don't know what the relationship or "interconnection" between MAKECAB and CABARC is, or even if they are the same program underneath. The command syntax given here:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php? ... entry10134
gives an example of the LZX compression switches. LZX Compression level ranges from 15-21, 21 being the highest compression.
This page may also provide some insight:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb417343.aspx

Note that neither of these links are useful for Windows 95. Microsoft purged all documentation of DIAMOND.EXE and the QUANTUM compression algorithm, and MAKECAB/CABARC will not build QUANTUM CABs.

The repacked CABs do not have to be a consistent size, but I believe the "chain" must still be preserved. The file sizes in LAYOUT.INF do not seem to be vitally important; I have made changes before and forgotten to update this, and the built CABs still worked, but I would not recommend purposely omitting this step. The ideal first step would be to build a set of "despanned" CABs that do not contain any split files.

WinRAR - The problem you mentioned (if we're talking about the same issue) either only happens under Windows XP (maybe 2K and Vista/later?) or only happens with WinRAR 3.9x and later? I have seen it on a Windows XP machine, but it never happens on the Windows 98 machine that I use for building my custom CABs. WinRAR has been a lifesaver and a vitally important tool for my custom projects.

[ATOS Productions]

I have the DIAMOND.EXE now, but how do I get the .DDF file? Do I have to write one specific to the changes I want to make, or do I have to download one? Also, how do I use the DIAMOND.EXE with the W98_Slip? Should I rename it to MAKECAB.EXE or something and put it into the tools subfolder?

[98fan]

@ LoneCrusader
Thanks for the links.

Microsoft's Cabsdk.exe is still available and contains word doc files which I will study later.

I have to correct something I said earlier. IExpress is the GUI I was using for MAKECAB.EXE. The other program I was thinking of is Cabinet Manager 2001 that doesn't recognize PIF files. Perhaps not the program to use to repack Windows CAB files anyway.

Regarding Quantum CABs I just found this:
http://www.mdgx.com/INF_web/oldversn.htm
The thing may be to edit the SED file directly to specify options.

WinRAR - The behavior I mentioned happens on 98SE using WinRAR 3.51 and Windows 2000 with WinRAR 3.51 and 3.93. (The reason I still have 3.51 installed all this time is that once upon a time the WinRAR people gave away free licenses to WinRAR 3.51 as a promotion.) I have Winzip 8.1 associated with CAB files and am happy with that.

@ATOS Productions
You ought to read the page I linked to in this post. The file you are looking for may actually be called DIANTZ.EXE but may no longer be required.

[Maxxyz]

How to slipstream Windows 95 ? I want to try it.

[James]

How to slipstream Windows 95 ? I want to try it.

... Try reading up a few lines... maybe you'll find something.

[LoneCrusader]

I have the DIAMOND.EXE now, but how do I get the .DDF file? Do I have to write one specific to the changes I want to make, or do I have to download one? Also, how do I use the DIAMOND.EXE with the W98_Slip? Should I rename it to MAKECAB.EXE or something and put it into the tools subfolder?

You will have to create a DDF file for every single CAB as you repack it. Remember I said you can't edit just one. And as far as writing the DDF file, I can't tell you how to do it either, because I have never done it. The slipstreaming tools I have create it on the fly for each CAB, and it is subsequently deleted during "cleanup." I have never used 98_Slip either, so I don't know if DIAMOND can be used that way. (I doubt it, it uses a DDF instruction file wile MAKECAB does not and probably the command line switches are different.)

Another option might be to rebuild all of the 95 CABs with MSZIP compression. This will result in larger files with a lower compression level, but MAKECAB can be used in this case instead of DIAMOND and 95 will be able to use the files. (As I note below 95 cannot use LZX compression, I have tried.)

The bottom line is that while this is possible to do, it is no "easy" project.

@ LoneCrusader
Thanks for the links.

Microsoft's Cabsdk.exe is still available and contains word doc files which I will study later.

I have to correct something I said earlier. IExpress is the GUI I was using for MAKECAB.EXE. The other program I was thinking of is Cabinet Manager 2001 that doesn't recognize PIF files. Perhaps not the program to use to repack Windows CAB files anyway.

Regarding Quantum CABs I just found this:
http://www.mdgx.com/INF_web/oldversn.htm
The thing may be to edit the SED file directly to specify options.

WinRAR - The behavior I mentioned happens on 98SE using WinRAR 3.51 and Windows 2000 with WinRAR 3.51 and 3.93. (The reason I still have 3.51 installed all this time is that once upon a time the WinRAR people gave away free licenses to WinRAR 3.51 as a promotion.) I have Winzip 8.1 associated with CAB files and am happy with that.

@ATOS Productions
You ought to read the page I linked to in this post. The file you are looking for may actually be called DIANTZ.EXE but may no longer be required.

No problem, thanks for the heads up about the CABSDK, I need to archive that myself.

SED files that are used with IEXPRESS are not the same as DDF files, and even the documentation at MDGx's is inadequate for DIAMOND/QUANTUM. Some references to QUANTUM managed to remain in various documents, but tools other than DIAMOND.EXE will not build QUANTUM CABs, regardless of what the documentation says, and Windows 95 does not understand LZX compression. MSZIP can be used with 95 instead of QUANTUM, but it results in a much lower compression level.

(I've never heard of DIANTZ.EXE so I don't know what it does exactly, but DIAMOND.EXE is the tool that I have been using. It can be found attached to one of my 95-related threads at MSFN.)

WinRAR - I checked my 98SE machine and I'm still using WinRAR 3.30 which does not suffer from the bug. I'll have to test some of the later versions to figure out where the change happens.

[ATOS Productions]

Hmmm, using MSZIP, you say? How much would the size increase? I want everything to still fit in 700 MB CD, or to be more exact, an ISO. I also plan removing something, mostly the drivers, as there are a lot of them that won't be needed. (If I'll be able to crack my brain into this and do it, I'll show it, if not, I'll just tell what I was going for). And would there be any other side effects to using MSZIP, like slower unpacking or... idunno, the OS developing consciousness and will and eventually killing me? (being crazy here )

[LoneCrusader]

Hmmm, using MSZIP, you say? How much would the size increase? I want everything to still fit in 700 MB CD, or to be more exact, an ISO. I also plan removing something, mostly the drivers, as there are a lot of them that won't be needed. (If I'll be able to crack my brain into this and do it, I'll show it, if not, I'll just tell what I was going for). And would there be any other side effects to using MSZIP, like slower unpacking or... idunno, the OS developing consciousness and will and eventually killing me? (being crazy here )

It's been a while since I repacked the CABs with MSZIP instead of QUANTUM so I may not be exact on this, but if I remember correctly, the size of all of the 95 CAB files together went from ~46MB with QUANTUM to ~54MB with MSZIP. This is the only noticeable difference, and in reality, is negligible. There was no change in performance.

I have also removed things from my slipstreamed build. Most noticeable is all of the "Online Services" junk. This is done by removing all references to OLS.INF and deleting it along with most of the files it references.

[98fan]

It sounds like MSZIP is the way to go. As a matter of fact in the original version of Windows 95 the CABs were packed using MSZIP compression. Even if the unpacking were slower you would probably only notice a difference if you were using a Pentium I with only 16MB of RAM.

Back in the day reducing the number of CABs by using higher compression rates like Quantum made sense because floppy installs were still common and reducing the number of floppies in each set kept costs down. In addition to that most people were on dial up and smaller files sizes for the updates benefited everyone.

Interesting that Microsoft never updated the OS CAB files from OSR2.0 to OSR2.1 to OSR2.5. Then when Windows 98 came along an updated version of First Edition was released with a new set of CABs dated November 1998 and the only thing updated in it was Java. They probably could have got the same result by adding a separate Java installer with the updated files.

LoneCrusader, have you ever uploaded your slipstreamed OS's anywhere? Just wondering.

My own idea was to try slipstreaming SP1 into 98 First Edition complete with IE4SP2 just to see if I could. If that worked then maybe update 98SE or see if I can remove the obnoxious bits from WinME although oppcomme is pretty good at doing that post installation. All I need is 48 hour days to do all this.

[LoneCrusader]

It sounds like MSZIP is the way to go. As a matter of fact in the original version of Windows 95 the CABs were packed using MSZIP compression. Even if the unpacking were slower you would probably only notice a difference if you were using a Pentium I with only 16MB of RAM.

Back in the day reducing the number of CABs by using higher compression rates like Quantum made sense because floppy installs were still common and reducing the number of floppies in each set kept costs down. In addition to that most people were on dial up and smaller files sizes for the updates benefited everyone.

MSZIP also has other advantages. Rebuilding the entire set of CABs with DIAMOND/QUANTUM takes over two hours , even when it is scripted, while building them all with MSZIP only takes about 15 minutes if I remember correctly. Also, file extraction might actually be faster using MSZIP than using QUANTUM (since the compression level is lower), but this is only speculation on my part.

I originally wanted to retain the QUANTUM compression mostly for "originality," and once I started looking into it and was unable to find the DIAMOND tool at first, I became more attached to the idea out of sheer stubbornness I guess.

Interesting that Microsoft never updated the OS CAB files from OSR2.0 to OSR2.1 to OSR2.5. Then when Windows 98 came along an updated version of First Edition was released with a new set of CABs dated November 1998 and the only thing updated in it was Java. They probably could have got the same result by adding a separate Java installer with the updated files.

Yes, the lack of updated CABs between the 95 OSR's provided a few quirks that had to be sorted out first. As I have mentioned in other threads here, OSR 2.5 contains about 12 updated files just dumped into the \WIN95 folder of the CDROM to override the older ones in the CABs. This is also how the forced IE4 install is achieved.

Also annoying that they never bothered to build a set of CABs with NTKERN/USBSUPP included, even though a Beta that was "current" with OSR2 (Memphis 1132) does contain these updates inside the CABs. An interesting tidbit - there is an unused String Variable reference to "KEY_NTKERN" inside OSR2's SETUPC.INF, suggesting that NTKERN was integrated at one time and then removed.

LoneCrusader, have you ever uploaded your slipstreamed OS's anywhere? Just wondering.

My own idea was to try slipstreaming SP1 into 98 First Edition complete with IE4SP2 just to see if I could. If that worked then maybe update 98SE or see if I can remove the obnoxious bits from WinME although oppcomme is pretty good at doing that post installation. All I need is 48 hour days to do all this.

No, I've never uploaded them. Being a devoted 9x'er, I would love to see the work I've done on it made available to others, but aside from the "complications" that could potentially arise from doing so I also feel that it would be wrong for me to distribute something that I could not have achieved without someone else's work (namely the slipstreaming tools I referenced), so I have no plans to do so.

Most of my work has been with 95 OSR2.5 and 98SE, although I do have a ME build in progress that needs catching up to the other two when I find the time. I always had problems with 98FE, and never used "original 95" so I never tried to do anything with them, but it should be possible.

Updating individual files such as HotFixes and adding packages that behave like HotFixes is fairly easy. Updating IE might be doable so long as you are using the same "major version" of IE. I would like to try integrating IE6 SP1 into 98SE, but I believe there are over a thousand files that need updating to do so, and that's not the worst of it. Comparing INFs and registry entries is the real nightmare. I've come to the conclusion that slipstreaming IE and DirectX may be beyond my capability.

[ATOS Productions]

Call me an idiot, but how do I use the MSZIP? Do I have to find a tool for MSZIP CABs, like the DIAMOND for Quantum? And then what? Renaming it to MAKECAB and placing it in 98_Slip directory? Or what?

[98fan]

Call me an idiot, but how do I use the MSZIP? Do I have to find a tool for MSZIP CABs, like the DIAMOND for Quantum? And then what? Renaming it to MAKECAB and placing it in 98_Slip directory? Or what?

MSZIP is a compression format for CAB files. The compression levels are roughly comparable to zip files hence the name.

Download CABS.RAR
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8wb7e ... y/Cabs.rar

Inside the RAR file is CabSDK.exe from Microsoft. It contains quite a bit of information about making CAB files. Probably more than you care to know.

Much easier is to extract the contents of IExpress.4.71.1015.zip into a folder such as C:\Program Files\IExpress and create a shortcut to IExpress.exe. IExpress is a wizard for making CAB files. It comes from IEAK.exe that came with various versions of Internet Explorer as an add on for professionals. This version 4.71.1015 was contemporary with Windows 95. You can make CABs and also self-extracting execute files like the ones hotfixes and installers came in during that period.

IExpress.exe works on 95, 98, Win 2000, and probably XP. Don't know about Vista or Win 7.

I also made a reg file for Windows 98 so I can open SED files by clicking on them. SED stands for Self Extraction Directive and are basically just text files. By saving the SED files you can save your work and modify it later on as necessary.

[LoneCrusader]

Call me an idiot, but how do I use the MSZIP? Do I have to find a tool for MSZIP CABs, like the DIAMOND for Quantum? And then what? Renaming it to MAKECAB and placing it in 98_Slip directory? Or what?

CABARC/MAKECAB are used to create either MSZIP or LZX CABs. One or both of these would already be provided in 98_Slip, so that's why I mentioned it. All you need to do is edit the scripts and be sure that MSZIP cabs are being built instead of LZX. MSZIP is the default, so unless "LZX:21" (etc) is specified in the command arguments, then you should get MSZIP CABs.

[ATOS Productions]

Okay, sorry for the extremely long delay. There were alot of things that kept me busy (mainly a fresh install of Hitman 2 ), but now I'm back with more beginner-level questions. So, if I understand everything correctly, the whole process would go like this:

1. Making a list of what files are in what cabs. (would take load a work)
2. Extract ALL the CABs! Okay, just the ones in win95 folder to a single folder (By what method? WinRAR or some specific program? UNPAQ.exe won't run under XP)
3. Separating extracted files in folders (one folder for each CAB) so that they don't have split files
4. Making the changes
5. Compressing all that into MSZIP cabs with IExpress
6. That's it?

Did I get this right?

[LoneCrusader]

Okay, sorry for the extremely long delay. There were alot of things that kept me busy (mainly a fresh install of Hitman 2 ), but now I'm back with more beginner-level questions. So, if I understand everything correctly, the whole process would go like this:

1. Making a list of what files are in what cabs. (would take load a work)
2. Extract ALL the CABs! Okay, just the ones in win95 folder to a single folder (By what method? WinRAR or some specific program? UNPAQ.exe won't run under XP)
3. Separating extracted files in folders (one folder for each CAB) so that they don't have split files
4. Making the changes
5. Compressing all that into MSZIP cabs with IExpress
6. That's it?

Did I get this right?

1. - No, not necessary. This is already done for you in LAYOUT.INF (and some in LAYOUT1.INF). Using CABARC.EXE and MSZIP compression, you shouldn't need a list as you would for DIAMOND.EXE and QUANTUM compression.
2,3. - Yes, extract all, but not to the same folder. You must use LAYOUT.INF as a guide to which files are supposed to be in what CAB.
4. - Yes, if you get there.
5. - No, IExpress is not relevant here. The IExpress package contains CABARC and associated tools, but IExpress itself is used to create self-extracting HotFixes, not Windows 9x CABs.
6. - No. There still remains the issue of the "CAB Links" that create a chain. This I do not know anything about. The tools I have handle all of this automatically. I could not have done what I did without them. As I said before, W98SLIP MIGHT be usable with Windows 95, I've never tried. But without it or without purchasing the tools I have, I would never even attempt this... I said it was POSSIBLE, but NOT EASY.