Tutorial: Firefox and Youtube in Windows 95 and NT 3.51+

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Tutorial: Firefox and Youtube in Windows 95 and NT 3.51+

Post by Big Monstro »

The last versions of Internet Explorer for Windows 95 and NT have became so outdated that it's now strongly recommended to surf with another browser, at least if you have a proper hardware. In this tutorial, I'll explain how to use Firefox 2 (or SeaMonkey 1.1) and a tweaked version of Flash 7 (still usable on Youtube)... on Windows 95 and NT 3.51/4.0 !

Image

A. Hardware requirements
Although Firefox 2 can work on old operating systems, your hadware has to meet some criteria:
Mozilla ([url=http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/2.0/system-requirements/]relevant for Firefox 2 and SeaMonkey 1.1[/url]) wrote:Pentium 233 MHz (Recommended: Pentium 500MHz or greater)
64 MB RAM (Recommended: 128 MB RAM or greater)
If you plan to watch Flash video, the requirements should be even greater (probably a Pentium 4 with 256 MB RAM or higher). So, don't use these softwares on typical computers from Windows 95 era !

=> That guide is intended for relatively fast computers running older operating systems (multiboot or virtual machines).

B. Softwares
Officially, Firefox 2 requires Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98 or higher. SeaMonkey supports Windows 95 and even NT 3.51. However, there are some bugs with older operating systems. Nowaydays, Youtube refuses to play videos if a version of Flash older than 8 (like 7) is detected.

Fortunately, Nathan (alias ToastyTech) made custom builds of Firefox 2.0.0.22 and SeaMonkey 1.1.20pre, specifically optimised for Windows 95 and NT. A working version of Flash is also available.
=> http://toastytech.com/files/95browsing.html

If you have problems to access this website, here some alternative links (Internet Archive): ToastyTech provides browsers in "portable" form, which means there is no real installation procedure. However, some DLL files are needed.

To add Flash support, simply extract the archive containing Flash and copy the NPSWF32.DLL file to "plugins" directory of Firefox or SeaMonkey. Restart the browser.

C. DLL files
The presence of some DLL files is compulsory. The latter are localized in %systemroot%\system (Windows 95) or %systemroot%\system32 (Windows NT)

In Windows 95, you have to take into account these files...
  • MSVCRT.DLL
  • OLEAUT32.DLL
  • WININET.DLL

In Windows NT 3.51, you have to take into account these files...
  • COMCTL32.DLL
  • IMM32.DLL
  • MSVCRT.DLL
  • OLEAUT32.DLL
  • WININET.DLL

In Windows NT 4.0, you have to take into account these files...
  • OLEAUT32.DLL
  • WININET.DLL
Please note wininet.dll is only required for Flash (not for Firefox and SeaMonkey themselves)

D1. Guidelines for Windows 95

The simplest way is just installing Internet Explorer 5.0x or 5.5, as these browsers include all DLL files needed by Firefox (what an irony, aren't you?), SeaMonkey and Flash. Installing Microsoft Office 2000 is enough too.

If you don't want to install Internet Explorer 5.x or Office 2000, there is an alternative path:
  1. Check the version of oleaut32.dll located in %systemroot%\system directory. If the number is lower than 2.40.4275, you have to replace it by a newer file.

    The DCOM95 component contains an updated oleaut32.dll
    http://web.archive.org/web/200107150406 ... DCOM95.exe
  2. If Internet Explorer 4 is natively included with your operating system, msvcrt.dll and wininet.dll should have already been on your computer. In fact, installing DCOM is enough to make Windows 95 C - aka OSR 2.5 - compatible with Firefox, SeaMonkey and Flash ! Apart from the last edition, no msvcrt.dll was shipped with Windows 95. If you actually need to download this file, here a link:

    http://web.archive.org/web/201011280431 ... -v6sp3.zip - msvcrt.dll (6.0.8397) from Visual Studio service pack 3
  3. If Internet Explorer 3 or higher is natively included with your operating system, wininet.dll should have already been on your computer. That means that file is present on Windows 95 B/C (aka OSR2.x editions). If you use Windows 95 RTM or A (aka SP1 or OSR1), you can install Internet Explorer 3.0+. An alternative way is getting wininet.dll from Office 97/2000 Viewer.

    PowerPoint Viewer 97/2000 32-bit = http://web.archive.org/web/200308061938 ... View97.exe
    Word Viewer 97/2000 32-bit = http://web.archive.org/web/200407020059 ... 7vwr32.exe
Windows 95 is now ready to run FireFox95, SeaMonkey95 and Youtube !

D2. Guidelines for Windows NT 3.51
  1. Firstly, you should install the latest Service Pack (SP5) :
    http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... 5_351i.exe
  2. Newer version of comctl32.dll and imm32.dll can be downloaded here:
    http://web.archive.org/web/200703182033 ... 351dll.zip

    Please note comctl32.dll is locked by Windows, so you have to rename the previous version (for example, by comctl32.old) and copy the newer one in %systemroot%\system32 directory.
  3. Check the version of oleaut32.dll located in %systemroot%\system32 directory. If that number is below 2.40.4275, you have to replace the file by a newer file.

    The Microsoft Libraries Update version 2 contains an updated oleaut32.dll
    http://web.archive.org/web/201401280125 ... SPEU20.exe

    Installation is mostly silent. You have to reboot manually. Despite the upgrade of hard disk content, the older versions of comctl32.dll and oleaut32.dll remain in memory as long as you don't reboot. Wait one minute after the start of installation and then restart your computer.
  4. Check the presence of msvcrt.dll in %systemroot%\system32 directory. If there is no a such file, you have to add it on your computer.

    http://web.archive.org/web/201011280431 ... -v6sp3.zip - msvcrt.dll (6.0.8397) from Visual Studio service pack 3
  5. Finally, you need to add wininet.dll in %systemroot%\system32 directory, for Flash and Youtube. That file was shipped with Office 97.

    PowerPoint Viewer 97/2000 32-bit = http://web.archive.org/web/200308061938 ... View97.exe
    Word Viewer 97/2000 32-bit = http://web.archive.org/web/200407020059 ... 7vwr32.exe
Windows NT 3.51 is now ready to run FireFox95, SeaMonkey95 and Youtube !

D3. Guidelines for Windows NT 4.0

The simplest way is just installing the latest Service Pack, as the SP6 includes newer oleaut32.dll (version 2.40.4277) and wininet.dll. Note: wininet.dll needs to be extracted from SP6 if you don't have a previous version).

If you don't want to install latest Service Pack or Office 2000, there is an alternative path:
  1. Check the version of oleaut32.dll located in %systemroot%\system32 directory. If that number is below 2.40.4275, you have to replace the file by a newer file.

    The Visual Basic 6.0 SP3 Runtime contains an updated oleaut32.dll
    http://web.archive.org/web/200204051607 ... n60sp3.exe
  2. In addition to Service Pack 6, Internet Explorer 3 and later include wininet.dll. Because Windows NT 4.0 was shipped with Internet Explorer 2 in most variants (even with SP6 installed), that file can be missing. Installing Internet Explorer is a solution. An alternative way is getting wininet.dll from Office 97/2000 Viewer.

    PowerPoint Viewer 97/2000 32-bit = http://web.archive.org/web/200308061938 ... View97.exe
    Word Viewer 97/2000 32-bit = http://web.archive.org/web/200407020059 ... 7vwr32.exe
Windows NT 4.0 is now ready to run FireFox95, SeaMonkey95 and Youtube !

E. Improve the experience

In 2014, Youtube website looks terrible on Firefox 2 and SeaMonkey 1.1, due to the engine used by these browser (Gecko 1.8.1), which is pretty old. Fortunately, ToastyTech adressed that issue by creating a small fix. Copy that CSS file to the "chome" directory of your profile (that name is nothing to do with Google Chrome, lol) and restart browser.
  • Firefox => %systemroot%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[random generated name]\Chrome
  • SeaMonkey => %systemroot%\Mozilla\Profiles\default\[random generated name]\Chrome
Download link = http://toastytech.com/files/95browsing.html
Alternative link = http://web.archive.org/web/201305150845 ... 122712.zip

Image

Finally, if you like, you can install AdBlock and AdBlock Plus for Firefox 2 and SeaMonkey 1.1.

Download link = http://toastytech.com/files/95browsing.html
Alternative link = http://web.archive.org/web/201305150702 ... lock95.zip
Last edited by Big Monstro on Fri Apr 18, 2014 6:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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OltScript131
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Re: Tutorial: Firefox and Youtube in Windows 95 and NT 3.51+

Post by OltScript131 »

This tutoriel is very interest because, have every day no that we see YouTube on Windows NT 3.51 :D :cool:
Already seen somewhere else!

GoodBye !!!!!!

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Re: Tutorial: Firefox and Youtube in Windows 95 and NT 3.51+

Post by DarkerJ »

Awesome! I'll be sure to try this in my Windows 95 VM on my iBook.
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Re: Tutorial: Firefox and Youtube in Windows 95 and NT 3.51+

Post by Big Monstro »

To complete the tutorial, here additional pieces of information:

Youtube support of older browser
Since Firefox 2 and SeaMonkey 1.1 are no longer officially supported, you obtain this page when you access to Youtube at the first time :
Image

You can just ignore it by cliking "No thanks". Fortunately, that message will no longer appear in the future (thanks to cookies).

There is another minor issue, more annoying : when you want to watch a video, the first page you obtain is a nonfunctional lightweight page, which is ironically designed for older browsers. Click the "Go back to regular page" or adding "nofeather=True" to the end of the URL and it will work fine.
Image


Downloading files with Firefox on Windows NT 3.51
By default, Firefox 2 (at least the custom build made by ToastyTech) save downloaded files on Desktop. But that folder doesn't actually exist in Windows NT 3.51. As a result, you cannot download most files. To resolve that problem, you must choose another location, or configure Firefox for "ask where to save files" each time. SeaMonkey is not affected by this minor issue.
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Re: Tutorial: Firefox and Youtube in Windows 95 and NT 3.51+

Post by nerd70 »

Big Monstro wrote:To complete the tutorial, here additional pieces of information:

Youtube support of older browser
Since Firefox 2 and SeaMonkey 1.1 are no longer officially supported, you obtain this page when you access to Youtube at the first time :
Image

You can just ignore it by cliking "No thanks". Fortunately, that message will no longer appear in the future (thanks to cookies).

There is another minor issue, more annoying : when you want to watch a video, the first page you obtain is a nonfunctional lightweight page, which is ironically designed for older browsers. Click the "Go back to regular page" or adding "nofeather=True" to the end of the URL and it will work fine.
Image


Downloading files with Firefox on Windows NT 3.51
By default, Firefox 2 (at least the custom build made by ToastyTech) save downloaded files on Desktop. But that folder doesn't actually exist in Windows NT 3.51. As a result, you cannot download most files. To resolve that problem, you must choose another location, or configure Firefox for "ask where to save files" each time. SeaMonkey is not affected by this minor issue.
Thank you, but the youtube CSS overrides don't seem to work for me.

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Re: Tutorial: Firefox and Youtube in Windows 95 and NT 3.51+

Post by Big Monstro »

@ nerd70 > I talked about "CSS" in my first message only, at the section "E. Improve the experience".

You must copy userContent.css to the proper chrome folder (see above). I you don't, it won't work.

Note: %systemroot% is actually the directory where Windows is installed. It depends on computer, but it's typically C:\WINDOWS or C:\WINNT
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Re: Tutorial: Firefox and Youtube in Windows 95 and NT 3.51+

Post by Big Monstro »

Please note Firefox and SeaMonkey cannot work both on Windows NT 3.1 and Windows NT 3.5, although they work perfectly on Windows NT 3.51.

The executable format has significantly changed between Windows NT 3.1 and NT 3.5x and that's why Firefox and SeaMonkey simply cannot run on Windows NT 3.1.

They don't work on Windows NT 3.50 too, since some entries are missing on kernel32.dll.

On Windows NT 3.1/3.5, you have to forget Flash/Youtube and use a 16-bit variants instead...
  1. 16-bit version of Internet Explorer 2.x (1996) can run on Windows NT 3.1 and later
  2. 16-bit version of Internet Explorer 3.x (1997) can run on Windows NT 3.5, except Java
  3. 16-bit versions of Netscape work fine. The latest one (4.08) was released in 1998
  4. 16-bit versions of Opera. The latest one (3.62) was released in 2000. The most usable program
Therefore, Windows NT 3.51 is much better !
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Re: Tutorial: Firefox and Youtube in Windows 95 and NT 3.51+

Post by Despistado »

Unforunately, the flash plugin no longer works.

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Re: Tutorial: Firefox and Youtube in Windows 95 and NT 3.51+

Post by Shimer »

Despistado wrote:Unforunately, the flash plugin no longer works.
That's a shame, what should we use instead?

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