Windows 1.00 RTM Real?

[Lucas Brooks]

Hi, I recently found a computer with Windows 1.00 installed and I am unsure that it is real or not, so I copied all the files from that disk to my Windows 10 laptop and created a VM. Here is a screenshot:


It also has MS-DOS 3.30, softwares such as Norton Commander and loads of old games. If anybody want to take a look at those files, I will upload them to MEGA.

Regards,
ComputerHunter

[Battler]

Sure, I'm willing to take a look at them. Even the Norton Commander could be interesting.

[Overdoze]

I have my doubts, based on all the fake 1.00s we've seen so far, but it never hurts to take a look and make sure. So please upload this if possible.

[DiskingRound]

What are the dates of the files? If it is 17/08/1985 or 10/11/1985, I'm sure it's fake.

[OltScript131]

But, it's still very interesting !
Hope this is not yet one of his fakes, again...

Do you have that from an old computer ?

[Pluto950]

Can you give us a photo of the computer that runs it? thanks in advance

[Longesthorn]

This smells faaaaake.

[Matriks404]

What is the computer? Maybe Microsoft released Windows Premiere Edition (the pre-release) to some OEM as 1.00?

[Lucas Brooks]

@Pluto950 It will be impossible to have a picture of that computer as I found it in a computer recycle center, I was looking for a computer to take home and found the one with Windows 1.00. I only copied the disk and left the computer there to be recycled (as it is way too old).

[Battler]

And how exactly did you copy the disk?

[Lucas Brooks]

Sorry I can't upload the files now as I am comparing those files with Windows 1.0 PE and Windows 1.01. What I found interesting is that in the directory C:\DEMO, there were 7 files: A01.PIC, A02.PIC, CALENDAR.TXT, DEMO.EXE, DEMO02.PIC, DEMO03.PIC AND TEXT.TXT.

BTW, The text file is the famous heuristic reasoning file and all other files were unreadable. I bet those files are for older betas as Windows 1.00 can't even open them except for TEXT.TXT and DEMO.EXE shows an error message saying DEMO.ICO Missing.

[Lucas Brooks]

@Battler Very hard, I first booted into a MS-DOS 3.30 floppy drive and it took me a long time for the computer to recognize the floppy because the computer was a bit broken!
Then I removed read-only, system and hidden attributes from COMMAND.COM, CONFIG.SYS, IO.SYS, IBMBIO.COM, BMDOS.COM and MSDOS.SYS, I copied all the files from C drive to my floppy and it was full. I used 6 floppy drives, copied all files from C:\DOS, C:\DEMO, C:\SGAMES and C:\WINDOWS to those floppy drives as they are too big to fit on a standard one.
It took me a long time to get those stupid files from the floppy to my Windows 10 laptop, I first put those files onto an old XP computer, put all those files together, put them into their original directories then put them onto a disc.
Finally, I put the disk on my Windows 10 laptop and put all those file on it.

BTW, I guess it is fake as the date for MSDOS.EXE, README.DOC, WIN.INI, were from 2014 and all other files were from 19th of May, 1984, 21st of July, 1985, 25th of July, 1985 and 2nd of August, 1985.

[Battler]

Didn't you say the machine also had Norton Commander? What version of it? What are its file dates and times?

[Overdoze]

BTW, I guess it is fake as the date for MSDOS.EXE, README.DOC, WIN.INI, were from 2014 and all other files were from 19th of May, 1984, 21st of July, 1985, 25th of July, 1985 and 2nd of August, 1985.

Not necessarily. File dates can be altered during certain file operations. The best way to know for sure would be to do a binary comparison with all the leaked builds.

[OltScript131]

Sorry I can't upload the files now as I am comparing those files with Windows 1.0 PE and Windows 1.01. What I found interesting is that in the directory C:\DEMO, there were 7 files: A01.PIC, A02.PIC, CALENDAR.TXT, DEMO.EXE, DEMO02.PIC, DEMO03.PIC AND TEXT.TXT.

BTW, The text file is the famous heuristic reasoning file and all other files were unreadable. I bet those files are for older betas as Windows 1.00 can't even open them except for TEXT.TXT and DEMO.EXE shows an error message saying DEMO.ICO Missing.

You copied ALL the hard drive, I hope ?
When will you upload them, all files.... ?
Upload ALL in a RAR or ZIP, pls ?

[Battler]

Not to mention, what exactly stops him from RAR'ing up all the files, putting the RAR to upload, and in the mean time, comparing the non-RAR'ed copy of the files?

[Lucas Brooks]

Yes, confirmed fake, all the files in the Windows directory are modified versions of Windows 1.01. It has Norton Commander 2.01, from 1988/09/16 (confirmed real). I am not going to verify those games as they are probably real and I haven't herd of most of it. I think those demo files are real as well because of the heuristic reasoning file. The only thing that is fake is Windows.
@Battler, I didn't upload it because I started to think it is fake and don't want to upload a fake copy, I could upload the Norton Commander if you want.

[Battler]

Yes, the Norton Commander would be nice.

[OltScript131]

And upload Demo files too, please !
It is important to recover files, too long lost, unfortunately... Since the time... !

[Lucas Brooks]

@Jajan131, Here you go:
https://mega.nz/#!ocU0RABS!TVAutJOWITgm ... OrSvieiOpk
I don't think those files are that important, all 4 pictures doesn't open, DEMO02 and DEMO03 have the same size as A02, so they might be just 1 picture and sadly, they were all made up of empty bytes (Seems like it has been wiped or there is a disk corruption), the text file is the heuristic reasoning file, half of it is gone (zeroed), but still recognizable. The DEMO.EXE for whatever reason doesn't work and I am pretty sure that they are from Windows 1.0 demos back in 1984.

BTW here is the full heuristic reasoning file:

Code: Select all

Heuristic reasoning is reasoning not regarded as final and strict but as provisional and plausible only, whose purpose is to discover the solution of the present problem. We are often obliged to use heuristic reasoning. We shall attain complete certainty when we shall obtain the complete solution, but before obtaining certainty we must often be satisfied with a more or less plausible guess. We may need the provisional before we attain the final.

@Battler, the Norton Commander is on the BA ftp https://www.betaarchive.com/database/vi ... f45b6c3f43, so no need to upload.

[Battler]

- ComputerHunter: Are you sure your Norton Commander is identical to the one on BA?

[johnlemon647]

Thank ComputerHunter for 1984 Windows 1.0 betas Demos these are nice finds.

[sagem]

well if you have the money you can buy the real thing and its legit.
no I don't have that type of money I'm not rich
if you have a spear $220 nz you can buy the real thing.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listin ... 1834476144

[Overdoze]

That's just 1.01, so not sure how it relates to this topic

[Lucas Brooks]

@Battler I don't have FTP access, so can't verify if they are same, however I verified from WinWorld and they are the same.