Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Discuss Windows Vista/Server 2008 to Windows 10.
SamsungASUS
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Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by SamsungASUS »

I've recently downloaded PCem v15. Now I know that with PCem, you can install Windows up to Windows XP, not anymore. With the new Super 7 machine, not only can you install Windows XP, but you can also install Windows Vista with special CD isos, since it supports ACPI and 512 MB RAM. Of course, it runs very horrible on the Intel Pentium MMX and regular Pentium, almost to the point where it's unusable. Most times it crashes and the machine restarts. But at least it installs. And also, with the AMD K6 and the other 686 CPUs, Vista could probably run better. People said that Windows Vista couldn't run on the Intel Pentium MMX or lower, but I installed Windows Vista on those CPUs. I'd like to hear you people's opinions and what you have to say.

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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by BF10 »

This is actually pretty interesting. Prior to v15, the farthest you could go was Longhorn 4093 (which I managed to install long ago), and build 3790.1232. I wonder how some of the post-reset builds will go. 5048 is the first build that requires ACPI, so maybe give that a try too.

I wonder what is the last build that supports the original Pentium.
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SamsungASUS
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by SamsungASUS »

BF10 wrote:This is actually pretty interesting. Prior to v15, the farthest you could go was Longhorn 4093 (which I managed to install long ago), and build 3790.1232. I wonder how some of the post-reset builds will go. 5048 is the first build that requires ACPI, so maybe give that a try too.

I wonder what is the last build that supports the original Pentium.
Believe it or not, I actually tried Windows Vista RTM on a Intel Pentium 200 MHz and it ran horrible. I tried to rate the system with windows experience index, but it'd crash when trying to work. And the system always crashed and rebooted. Maybe that's what people mean by "Windows Vista only works on 686 CPUs", maybe the 586 CPUs literally cannot run Windows Vista without crashing constantly. Or maybe it's a mistake to do it on a virtual machine, and it doesn't really represent a real Intel Pentium 200 MHz. But I tried the same thing on Bochs, and it worked, but I couldn't really rate the system either. But seriously, no joke, with both PCem and Bochs, I got the real Windows Vista to work with the Pentium and Pentium MMX.

Exemptus
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by Exemptus »

Maybe it is just a question of language. Saying "Vista runs on 1st/2nd gen Pentium CPUs" may be technically true, since it certainly runs, but "Vista works in 1/2nd gen Pentium CPUs" would be false, because the setup is unusable for any serious practical purpose.

SamsungASUS
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by SamsungASUS »

Exemptus wrote:Maybe it is just a question of language. Saying "Vista runs on 1st/2nd gen Pentium CPUs" may be technically true, since it certainly runs, but "Vista works in 1/2nd gen Pentium CPUs" would be false, because the setup is unusable for any serious practical purpose.
Your right. Windows Vista may be able to install on those CPUs, but every single time I saw Windows Defender and other services crash constantly and the machine rebooted constantly. So your right.

FX9590
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by FX9590 »

Offtopic Comment
If you said Pentium, Vista can work more then excellent on them: A Pentium G4560 (or any Pentium faster than P4 2.0 Northwood will do the trick.
As for your old Pentium/Pentium MMX, if you have 1GB or more RAM, it can run work. Althougn you need a little bit of overclocking, it can work(but beware of constant crash, BSOD, etc.).
Last edited by FX9590 on Sun Aug 04, 2019 12:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

MCpillager12
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by MCpillager12 »

SamsungASUS wrote:
BF10 wrote:This is actually pretty interesting. Prior to v15, the farthest you could go was Longhorn 4093 (which I managed to install long ago), and build 3790.1232. I wonder how some of the post-reset builds will go. 5048 is the first build that requires ACPI, so maybe give that a try too.

I wonder what is the last build that supports the original Pentium.
Believe it or not, I actually tried Windows Vista RTM on a Intel Pentium 200 MHz and it ran horrible. I tried to rate the system with windows experience index, but it'd crash when trying to work. And the system always crashed and rebooted. Maybe that's what people mean by "Windows Vista only works on 686 CPUs", maybe the 586 CPUs literally cannot run Windows Vista without crashing constantly. Or maybe it's a mistake to do it on a virtual machine, and it doesn't really represent a real Intel Pentium 200 MHz. But I tried the same thing on Bochs, and it worked, but I couldn't really rate the system either. But seriously, no joke, with both PCem and Bochs, I got the real Windows Vista to work with the Pentium and Pentium MMX.
Interesting, Im currently trying to run Windows Vista on a Pentium 3 with 512MB RAM on Bochs.

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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by AlphaBeta »

SamsungASUS wrote:Believe it or not, I actually tried Windows Vista RTM on a Intel Pentium 200 MHz and it ran horrible. I tried to rate the system with windows experience index, but it'd crash when trying to work. And the system always crashed and rebooted. Maybe that's what people mean by "Windows Vista only works on 686 CPUs", maybe the 586 CPUs literally cannot run Windows Vista without crashing constantly. Or maybe it's a mistake to do it on a virtual machine, and it doesn't really represent a real Intel Pentium 200 MHz. But I tried the same thing on Bochs, and it worked, but I couldn't really rate the system either. But seriously, no joke, with both PCem and Bochs, I got the real Windows Vista to work with the Pentium and Pentium MMX.
Not sure about Bochs, but as far as I am aware, the one ACPI capable board emulated by PCem is pretty much a stub with a half-implemented chipset. I would take any observations from this kind of setup with a grain of salt.
AlphaBeta, stop brainwashing me immediately!

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Schneider616
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by Schneider616 »

MCpillager12 wrote: Interesting, Im currently trying to run Windows Vista on a Pentium 3 with 512MB RAM on Bochs.
Vista will work relatively fine with a P3 and 512MB RAM on a physical machine too. I know this as I have used Vista on a Pentium 3 1.2GHz Dell Inspiron 4100 with 512MB of RAM (mind you it was upgraded from the stock 256MB it originally had) . Ran fine, just without Aero since the GPU didn't support it (Radeon Mobility 7000, 16MB RAM) but otherwise worked fine.

As for running Vista on a 586 class machine, only if you have ACPI and modify the installer to work with 586 class CPUs. The last build that can run on a 586 class machine is 5384.

For BOCHS, I'd suggest using Award BIOS, depending on what chipset you use. For example, the Android version I'm running on my phone is set to use a Pentium II CPU, about 64MB of RAM and a Cirrus Logic 5446 PCI GPU, and the BIOS image is from a Soyo SY-6KA motherboard.

I guess that if you can match the chipset for any motherboard (assuming Bochs x86 supports other chipsets than the usual i430TX and i440FX), you can use any Award (or AMI, but I haven't tested that yet) BIOS image on Bochs.

Here's a photo of Award BIOS running in Bochs. I know, the visuals (the EPA logo and that little guy in the corner) are quite screwed, but I can't do anything about that. The board emulated here is a Chaintech 6ITM, and the CPU was set to bx_generic.
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SamsungASUS
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by SamsungASUS »

Schneider616 wrote:
MCpillager12 wrote: Interesting, Im currently trying to run Windows Vista on a Pentium 3 with 512MB RAM on Bochs.
Vista will work relatively fine with a P3 and 512MB RAM on a physical machine too. I know this as I have used Vista on a Pentium 3 1.2GHz Dell Inspiron 4100 with 512MB of RAM (mind you it was upgraded from the stock 256MB it originally had) . Ran fine, just without Aero since the GPU didn't support it (Radeon Mobility 7000, 16MB RAM) but otherwise worked fine.

As for running Vista on a 586 class machine, only if you have ACPI and modify the installer to work with 586 class CPUs. The last build that can run on a 586 class machine is 5384.

For BOCHS, I'd suggest using Award BIOS, depending on what chipset you use. For example, the Android version I'm running on my phone is set to use a Pentium II CPU, about 64MB of RAM and a Cirrus Logic 5446 PCI GPU, and the BIOS image is from a Soyo SY-6KA motherboard.

I guess that if you can match the chipset for any motherboard (assuming Bochs x86 supports other chipsets than the usual i430TX and i440FX), you can use any Award (or AMI, but I haven't tested that yet) BIOS image on Bochs.

Here's a photo of Award BIOS running in Bochs. I know, the visuals (the EPA logo and that little guy in the corner) are quite screwed, but I can't do anything about that. The board emulated here is a Chaintech 6ITM, and the CPU was set to bx_generic.
Image
I didn't know that you could use another bios other than seabios. And for the 586 situation, I just don't know. I got the RTM Vista to install on 586 processors. Maybe it's because I installed it virtually.

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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by MCpillager12 »

Just for fun, i decided to install 5048 on this new Super 7. The colour depth was HORRIBLE. After PCem did some wacky things, setup.exe crashed.

Interesting that Vista RTM works, that means 5048 shall work too. :? I even tried installing from Whistler 2296 PE but it just hung. I will try upgrading from XP RTM.

Here are the VM specs:
Mobile Pentium 300 MMX
512MB RAM
10GB HDD
S3 Virge/DX
Here are the host specs:
Sandy Bridge Pentium @ 2.30GHz
6GB DDR3 RAM
320GB HDD
Intel HD Graphics 3000
Windows XP Pro x64

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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by windowsio »

Schneider616 wrote:
MCpillager12 wrote: Interesting, Im currently trying to run Windows Vista on a Pentium 3 with 512MB RAM on Bochs.
Vista will work relatively fine with a P3 and 512MB RAM on a physical machine too. I know this as I have used Vista on a Pentium 3 1.2GHz Dell Inspiron 4100 with 512MB of RAM (mind you it was upgraded from the stock 256MB it originally had) . Ran fine, just without Aero since the GPU didn't support it (Radeon Mobility 7000, 16MB RAM) but otherwise worked fine.

As for running Vista on a 586 class machine, only if you have ACPI and modify the installer to work with 586 class CPUs. The last build that can run on a 586 class machine is 5384.

For BOCHS, I'd suggest using Award BIOS, depending on what chipset you use. For example, the Android version I'm running on my phone is set to use a Pentium II CPU, about 64MB of RAM and a Cirrus Logic 5446 PCI GPU, and the BIOS image is from a Soyo SY-6KA motherboard.

I guess that if you can match the chipset for any motherboard (assuming Bochs x86 supports other chipsets than the usual i430TX and i440FX), you can use any Award (or AMI, but I haven't tested that yet) BIOS image on Bochs.

Here's a photo of Award BIOS running in Bochs. I know, the visuals (the EPA logo and that little guy in the corner) are quite screwed, but I can't do anything about that. The board emulated here is a Chaintech 6ITM, and the CPU was set to bx_generic.
Image
Had success w/AMI?


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Schneider616
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by Schneider616 »

Got AMI to work. Mobo used is Biostar 8600TTX.

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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by SamsungASUS »

Schneider616 wrote:Got AMI to work. Mobo used is Biostar 8600TTX.

Image
How did you get a custom bios to work on Bochs? I tried getting a 430tx bios, and it didn't work.

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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by windowsio »

Schneider616 wrote:Got AMI to work. Mobo used is Biostar 8600TTX.

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That’s nice, I always wanted to see a custom BIOS on Bochs.
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by Hyoenmadan86 »

Corrupted brand and EpaLogo bitmaps happen because default VGABIOS included in Bochs doesn't have support for the pseudographical screen mode expected by the POST EpaLogo display code in these AMI, Award and Phoenix bioses. It doesn't happen if you also supply Bochs with a real Quadtel VgaBIOS for the cirrus emulated graphic card.
Image

I taken this one many years ago. As you see, it draws the logo clearly.

Schneider616
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by Schneider616 »

SamsungASUS wrote: How did you get a custom bios to work on Bochs? I tried getting a 430tx bios, and it didn't work.
Try 440FX with CPU set to BX_generic. The said combo emulates a Pentium Pro/i440FX machine. That's why I added the motherboard models I used as these work most of the time.
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by MCpillager12 »

Schneider616 wrote:
MCpillager12 wrote: Interesting, Im currently trying to run Windows Vista on a Pentium 3 with 512MB RAM on Bochs.
Vista will work relatively fine with a P3 and 512MB RAM on a physical machine too. I know this as I have used Vista on a Pentium 3 1.2GHz Dell Inspiron 4100 with 512MB of RAM (mind you it was upgraded from the stock 256MB it originally had) . Ran fine, just without Aero since the GPU didn't support it (Radeon Mobility 7000, 16MB RAM) but otherwise worked fine.
What im talking about is browsing the web, playing built in games etc..

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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by JonathonWyble »

MCpillager12 wrote:
Schneider616 wrote:
MCpillager12 wrote: Interesting, Im currently trying to run Windows Vista on a Pentium 3 with 512MB RAM on Bochs.
Vista will work relatively fine with a P3 and 512MB RAM on a physical machine too. I know this as I have used Vista on a Pentium 3 1.2GHz Dell Inspiron 4100 with 512MB of RAM (mind you it was upgraded from the stock 256MB it originally had) . Ran fine, just without Aero since the GPU didn't support it (Radeon Mobility 7000, 16MB RAM) but otherwise worked fine.
What im talking about is browsing the web, playing built in games etc..
Did you mean you want to know how to play games and browse the web in Vista in Bochs? If so, the internet does work fine for me in Windows Vista in any hypervisor/emulator. Well, with some exceptions.

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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by MCpillager12 »

No, what i mean is to browse the web (using k-meleon), playing built in games and etc..

JonathonWyble
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by JonathonWyble »

Sigh... that's what you originally said. Anyway, I've never used k-meleon before, but I can play games and browse the web in these kind of situations just fine.

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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by Beta12 »

windowsio wrote:That’s nice, I always wanted to see a custom BIOS on Bochs.
Custom bios can also be used in MS Virtual PC 2007. CMOS Setup and even an operating system like WinXP also work:
Image Image
BIOS 65eb-v2.bin from Soltek SL-65EB motherboard. Also works with Epox EP-GXB-M - gxb60a16.bin, Abit BF6 - Beh_70.bin.
The bios must be from a motherboard with an Intel 440 or i815 chipset but not all bios will work.
Of course, the same bios also work in Bochs:
Image
Image
Image
Image

The MS VPC 2007 machine is more stable than Bochs.

Schneider616
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by Schneider616 »

How did you get an Award BIOS running on Virtual PC? Is there some standalone BIOS ROM image on VPC, or is it integrated into VPC's executable?
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Aspire 6930G - Intel Core 2 Duo T9400, 6GB RAM, 90W Acer charger, 1TB HDD+500GB HDD, Sony-Optiarc DVD-RW, Windows 7 x64

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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by DarkerJ »

Schneider616 wrote:How did you get an Award BIOS running on Virtual PC? Is there some standalone BIOS ROM image on VPC, or is it integrated into VPC's executable?
I believe its a mix of both. I remember playing with VPC 2007 back in the day, don't recall seeing a BIOS file.
Offtopic Comment
Beta12 wrote:
windowsio wrote:That’s nice, I always wanted to see a custom BIOS on Bochs.
Custom bios can also be used in MS Virtual PC 2007. CMOS Setup and even an operating system like WinXP also work:
Image Image
BIOS 65eb-v2.bin from Soltek SL-65EB motherboard. Also works with Epox EP-GXB-M - gxb60a16.bin, Abit BF6 - Beh_70.bin.
The bios must be from a motherboard with an Intel 440 or i815 chipset but not all bios will work.
Of course, the same bios also work in Bochs:

*snip*
Where do you get that theme for XP?
<°)))><●▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬●><(((°>
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Beta12
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Re: Windows Vista on Intel Pentium/Intel Pentium MMX

Post by Beta12 »

Schneider616 wrote:How did you get an Award BIOS running on Virtual PC? Is there some standalone BIOS ROM image on VPC, or is it integrated into VPC's executable?
Just replace BIOS resource 13500 in Virtual PC.exe
You can also change the video bios 13501 to S3 Virge e.g. 86c375_3.bin 2.01.16.M45 or 1-s3vgdx.bin 2.01.07 - these bios have 32KB, however, it is worth first increasing the video BIOS to 48KB because without it the built-in Argon Boot agent does not have to be at CC00 in memory and not work.
Of course Argon can also be replaced on iPXE or gPXE. iPXE background works with the video bios S3 virge:
iPXE background on original video bios:
Image

iPXE background on S3 virge video bios:
Image
DarkerJ wrote:Where do you get that theme for XP?
This is Luna (Longhorn Revolution).

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