Windows 95C on floppy disk

[alcid34]

I wonder if there is a version of the C variant of Windows 95 on Floppy Disk? I am aware that Windows 95B (OSR2) has 28 floppies and also the first version of Windows 98 with 39 floppies. 95C was something in between, so did it get floppies? And if so, how many are required to install?

[The Distractor]

OSR2.5 never got released on floppies.

[sdfox7]

I wonder if there is a version of the C variant of Windows 95 on Floppy Disk? I am aware that Windows 95B (OSR2) has 28 floppies and also the first version of Windows 98 with 39 floppies. 95C was something in between, so did it get floppies? And if so, how many are required to install?

Just to add to The Distractor's post, the problem with releasing Windows 95 C on floppy is that by that time, the OS had simply grown too large to make floppy distribution practical.

RTM Windows 95 was only around 25MB and did not include Internet Explorer (see here).

By the time Windows 95 B and C got released, it bundled Internet Explorer 3 / 4 and USB support, and was between 300MB to 500MB (see here and here).

[Battler]

- sdfox7: But Windows 98 was released on floppies and it was bigger than 95 C. So I don't think size was the reason.

[Nashville]

Maybe Windows 95 C is not released on floppy because there wasn't point to be released, it was too close to Windows 98 (only a few months away), and also Windows 98 is released on floppies for old computers without CD drive.

[merlix]

Wasn't it also just an OEM release, as in there never was a way to get a "Retail" version of it?

[BigCJ]

Wasn't it also just an OEM release, as in there never was a way to get a "Retail" version of it?

Everything past OSR1 (Win95A) were OEM-only releases. B is the last version on floppies. If you install the USB Supplement and Active Desktop Update on B, it seems functionally identical to C.

[Nashville]

Whether it would be possible to compile Windows 95 C on floppies? I don't think so because the installation may crash. But, maybe we can give a try.

[LoneCrusader]

Windows 95C is identical to Windows 95B except for a forced installation of Internet Explorer 4 and a handful (12 IIRC) of updated files dumped into the main \WIN95 folder that supersede the older 95B file in the .CAB archives.

So, 95C could probably be placed on floppies (assuming you have a FDD that can write DMF format floppies or whatever format 95B's floppies were in), but there would be significantly more of them to include IE4 and I don't know how IE4 installation would deal with disk swapping. Also, more important are the 12 updated files that exist OUTSIDE of the CABs. These exist outside of the CABs in order to be used instead of the older copy in the archive. I don't think these files would get picked up and used properly when using only floppy disks with each floppy containing one CAB file. In this case SETUP would pick up the older file from the CAB archive when it is reached rather than picking up the newer uncompressed copy from the main folder, defeating the purpose of 95C.

So, to make a long story short, 95C could be placed on floppies but would not work properly as such unless you repack all of the CAB files to include the updated files from the main folder. A lot of trouble for very little result. Installing 95B + IE4 + some HotFixes will yield the exact same system as 95C, and if you just want the "C" in the System Properties tab, then this can be edited in the registry.

[BigCJ]

A lot of trouble for very little result. Installing 95B + IE4 + some HotFixes will yield the exact same system as 95C, and if you just want the "C" in the System Properties tab, then this can be edited in the registry.

I second this. Unless your optical drive is broken, not installed or you just want to use floppies for kicks, there's really no reason for not using the CD version. Disk swapping can be a real pain.

alcid34, is this question strictly academic or were you wanting to download and use an installer set like this?

[Nashville]

Windows 95 B Upgrade have Internet Explorer 3.02 on six floppies. But I think there is no point in compiling Windows 95 C floppy installation because everyone had CD drive back in 1997/98 (unless someone had computer without drive and sticked back to 95 B or older).

[condor.07]

I have all the Windows 95 and the dimensions are as follows

Windows 95A 33MB
Windows 95B 48MB
Windows 95C 103MB

Microsoft did not use the normal floppy but the "dmf" version with more capacity

[BigCJ]

Windows 95 B Upgrade have Internet Explorer 3.02 on six floppies. But I think there is no point in compiling Windows 95 C floppy installation because everyone had CD drive back in 1997/98 (unless someone had computer without drive and sticked back to 95 B or older).

While it's true that most computers of the era had optical drives, CD drives can fail. The chance of failure is much higher now that the devices are very old. Unless you have a backup drive, floppy install is your only option. Not everyone had or has a half dozen IDE CD-ROM drives laying around like I do

I have all the Windows 95 and the dimensions are as follows

Windows 95A 33MB
Windows 95B 48MB
Windows 95C 103MB

Microsoft did not use the normal floppy but the "dmf" version with more capacity

DMF formatted disks are standard 1.44Mb diskettes formatted in a funky way to hold just a bit more information. If they put Win95C on floppies, IE would have to be stripped down some, because the setup programs and IE .cab files take up more than 25Mb. Just remember not to use a USB floppy drive to read/write DMF disks, they go nuts when you mess with non-standard formats.

[OldMac]

Windows 95 B Upgrade have Internet Explorer 3.02 on six floppies. But I think there is no point in compiling Windows 95 C floppy installation because everyone had CD drive back in 1997/98 (unless someone had computer without drive and sticked back to 95 B or older).

While it's true that most computers of the era had optical drives, CD drives can fail. The chance of failure is much higher now that the devices are very old. Unless you have a backup drive, floppy install is your only option. Not everyone had or has a half dozen IDE CD-ROM drives laying around like I do

Maybe, but it's still relatively easy to find IDE CD/DVD drives you could put in if needed. Computers that you would want 95C on vs. A or B would also have USB ports. Depending on BIOS support for booting USB (admittedly this is sketchy on systems of that age) you could install from USB mass storage. Finally, you could probably work from a DOS boot floppy with network support and pull the install files down over a network card. If you're industrious enough you can probably find a way to do it which is less work than swapping all those floppies. The biggest thing I think though is that there is a very small number (maybe none) of computers which would benefit from 95C which don't have CD drives.

[alcid34]

alcid34, is this question strictly academic or were you wanting to download and use an installer set like this?

I wanted to ask for both reasons:

I wanted to know if 95C ever existed on floppies, especially for the fact that Windows 95B and the first version of Windows 98 used floppies so that people can install these OSes for older computers and I thought, "Why does Win 95C doesn't have floppies if the original 95, A, B, and the original 98 does?"

But if it did exists, I would have used those disks to reinstall a Toshiba T2105CS I have, which is a floppy only laptop

[os2fan2]

You can use other methods of installing it on a hard drive.

The usual way that OEMs install it is to copy the files onto the hard drive while it is out of the machine, and then run the setup from inside the machine. In Windows NT, the actual process is a sealed install, where the text-mode install is done to get the files to the hard drive, and the user-mode is run when the hard drive is booted for the first time.

So, no, you don't need access to a cdrom to install the OS. But you could try as well a USB cdrom.

[sdfox7]

- sdfox7: But Windows 98 was released on floppies and it was bigger than 95 C. So I don't think size was the reason.

Battler, from what I recall, Windows 98 WAS released on floppies, however, 98SE was not. I think 98SE was too large by then, or at least it was impractical. I think it would require about 100 floppies.

[JustZisGuy]

Windows 98 SE floppy disks were recently spotted: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Windo ... 2222248054