LoneCrusader

Limiting RAM on a system with the various "tweaks" floating around the net never worked for me, not even to run anything over 512MB much less 4GB. The RAM Limitation Patch is the way to go, I purchased it, installed it, and never looked back. RLoew is very prompt and helpful in his responses. As far as I know you are right about the 6800 Ultra, it should work. I have virtually all ATI brand video cards myself but I always planned to try to get a 6800 Ultra at some point so I would have the "top of the line" in both brands for 9x.

Glad to hear you're working on it. Thanks!

For that specific DLL you can simply copy the 98SE version to 95. As for others it depends... you'll have to be more specific.

Your best hope is to wait for MDGx's website to come back up; it has been up and down intermittently as of late. It contains the largest assortment of Windows 9x updates still available. If you cannot find them there, you may try searching for the MSKB article numbers through his HotFix Request Form... but in either case you still need MDGx.com...

Or, you could simply spend $11 for rloew's SATA Patch and fix the issue the right way, and have full functionality without any drawbacks.

I believe the Unofficial Service Pack installs the original USBSUPP packages by default, which could definitely cause issues when combined with XUSBSUPP. I have not tested the packages together, but I wouldn't advise using both on the same system. I had trouble with the Unofficial Service Pack before; it seems to be incompatible with my FIX95CPU package and it rendered one of my 95 test setups unbootable... Thanks for testing! EDIT: Added some screenshots to the first post.

I have never used any PCMCIA devices so I'm not familiar with them... A driver is provided; they can't work "without" one, but the one provided is superior to all of the previously available drivers which all had some serious limitation (only worked with some devices and not others) or another.

Well, here it is folks. USB Support for Windows 95 - simplified. This is essentially "NUSB for Windows 95" except for the fact that no USB 2.0 drivers exist for Windows 95. No hoops to jump through. No multiple packages to install. No endless searching for USB storage drivers that work. This package has been a long time in the making, and would not be possible without our good friend rloew, who has created a universal USB storage driver that is Windows 95 compatible. Click here to download: XUSBSUPP.ZIP So without repeating myself, here is the "ReadMe" for the package, which will provide further details. ========================================================= XUSBSUPP - eXtended USB Supplement for Windows 95 OSR 2.x Version 1.0 July 15, 2014 Copyright © 2014 Conner McCoy (LoneCrusader) & Rudolph Loew (rloew) ========================================================= OVERVIEW: This unofficial update package for Windows 95 OSR 2.x (95B and 95C) combines all of the original Microsoft USB Supplement packages and HotFixes ever issued for USB support under Windows 95 along with a universal USB Mass Storage Device driver solution for Windows 95 into one stand alone installer. This package is similar in function and intent to "NUSB" - a popular unofficial update for Windows 98 Second Edition. Once installed, no other third-party drivers will be required for USB Mass Storage devices and they will simply "plug and play" as they do under Windows ME, 2000, or XP. A "Safe Disconnect & Removal" utility is also provided that will appear in the System Tray when a device is connected and functions like Windows ME, 2000, or XP. This package is intended to be used on a new, clean installation of Windows 95 OSR2. It is not recommended for use under other circumstances or conditions and has not been tested under other circumstances or conditions. Do NOT install this package on a system where the original Microsoft USB Supplement (USBSUPP.EXE) has already been installed, as it will DESTROY the backups created for uninstalling the original Microsoft package. ========================================================= INSTALLATION: WITH A NEW INSTALLATION OF WINDOWS: 1.) Install your new Windows 95 OSR2 system. 2.) When Windows 95 SETUP is complete, reboot your system. 3.) When your system has rebooted, open Control Panel, System, Device Manager. 4.) Remove all unknown "Other devices" from the list of hardware. 5.) Run XUSBSUPP.EXE and follow the prompts. 6.) As the system reboots, follow the prompts to install drivers for USB devices. 7.) When the Desktop has loaded, connect a USB Storage Device and proceed as you would with any later version of Windows. WITH AN EXISTING INSTALLATION OF WINDOWS: ***NOTE that this package must not be used with USBSUPP.EXE already installed.*** 1.) If USBSUPP.EXE or any other package that provides USB drivers has been installed, each must be uninstalled and you must reboot before proceeding. 2.) Start with a clean boot of your system. Do not perform any other tasks prior to beginning this installation. 3.) Open Control Panel, System, Device Manager. 4.) Remove all remaining USB devices (if any) and all unknown "Other devices" from the list of hardware. 5.) Run XUSBSUPP.EXE and follow the prompts. 6.) As the system reboots, follow the prompts to install drivers for USB devices. 7.) When the Desktop has loaded, connect a USB Storage Device and proceed as you would with any later version of Windows. ========================================================= UNINSTALLATION: 1.) Open Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs. 2.) Select "eXtended USB Supplement to Windows 95 OSR 2.x" and click "Add/Remove." 3.) Follow the prompts and reboot your system. 4.) Be aware that two empty folders will remain inside your Windows directory, namely \SYSTEM32 and \SYSTEM32\DRIVERS. If these folders are empty they may be safely deleted. 5.) Be aware that copies of USB.INF, RLUSB95.INF, or other INFs contained in this package may exist in the \INF\OTHER folder if placed there by Windows 95. They should be removed manually to prevent confusion if other drivers are used. ========================================================= CONTENTS: This unofficial package contains the following files, listed by the original official update or third-party package that contained them. The file name will be followed by its corresponding version number or in cases where no version number is available the original timestamp will be used. Files that were included in an earlier update and later superseded by a HotFix will be listed under the latest HotFix. Files that have been modified from their original version will be denoted by a "*MODIFIED FOR XUSBSUPP" notation. -Files included in original USB Supplement and files later superseded: USBSUPP.EXE Original Microsoft Package v.4.03.1214 - Windows 95 C CD-ROM AUTOEXEC.BAT Thursday, April 10, 1997 12:14:00 PM CONAGENT.EXE Thursday, April 10, 1997 12:14:00 PM DETROIT.INF *MODIFIED FOR XUSBSUPP DEVLIB.EXE Thursday, April 10, 1997 12:14:00 PM IMAGE.INF *MODIFIED FOR XUSBSUPP IMAGECLS.SYS 4.03.1212 KRNL386.EXE 4.03.1212 LICENSE.TXT *MODIFIED FOR XUSBSUPP NODRIVER.INF *MODIFIED FOR XUSBSUPP REDIRECT.MOD Thursday, April 10, 1997 12:14:00 PM RPLCLDR.EXE Thursday, April 10, 1997 12:14:00 PM SPOOLSS.DLL 4.03.1212 USB.INF *MODIFIED FOR XUSBSUPP USBCAMD.SYS 4.03.1212 USBD.SYS 4.03.1214 VCOND.VXD 4.03.1212 VFWWDM.DRV 4.03.1214 VFWWDM32.DLL 4.03.1214 VMCPD.VXD 4.03.1212 VPICD.VXD 4.03.1212 VTD.VXD 4.03.1212 VWIN32.VXD 4.03.1212 VXDLDR.VXD 4.03.1212 WINOA386.MOD 4.03.1212 USBUPD2.EXE Original Microsoft Package - Windows 95 C CD-ROM *ALL FILES IN THIS ORIGINAL UPDATE ARE SUPERSEDED AMDK6UPD.EXE Original Microsoft HotFix - MSKB Q192841 & Q234259 NTKERN.VXD 4.03.1213 247965USA5.EXE Original Microsoft HotFix - MSKB Q247965 VMM.VXD 4.03.1217 USBUP.EXE Original Microsoft HotFix - MSKB Q181499 OPENHCI.SYS 4.03.1217 HUBUPD.EXE Original Microsoft HotFix - MSKB Q189284 USBHUB.SYS 4.03.1218 e7kusb9p.exe OEM Update Package from Toshiba UHCD.SYS 4.03.1218 175086US5.EXE Original Microsoft HotFix - MSKB Q175086 KERNEL32.DLL 4.03.1216 *SUPERSEDED BELOW BY UNOFFICIAL BUG PATCH -Files added to correct known bugs and to expand functionality: 249070USA5.EXE Original Microsoft HotFix - MSKB Q188803 & Q245583 & Q249070 MSGSRV32.EXE 4.00.1112 Solves Plug & Play lockups on some systems DISKUPD.EXE Original Microsoft HotFix - MSKB Q214522 DISKVSD.VXD 4.00.1114 Solves misreported sizes for USB disks W95Y2K.EXE Original Microsoft Update - MSKB Q225050 & Q225053 CFGMGR32.DLL 4.10.1422 SETUPAPI.DLL 4.00 CFGMGR32.DLL required by HOTPLUG.EXE These two DLL's are usually paired so both included KERNEL32.ZIP KERNEL32 2GiB BUG PATCH FOR WINDOWS 95B/95C KERNEL32.DLL 4.03.1217 RRL This patch corrects file copy errors with files larger than 2GB and is provided as free software from Rudolph R. Loew. RLUSB.ZIP RLUSB9X USB Mass Storage Driver for Windows 95+ HOTPLUG.EXE 1.0.0.0 RLUSB95.INF *MODIFIED FOR XUSBSUPP RLUSB9X.SYS 1.0.0.0 RLUSBPDR.PDR 1.0.0.0 USB2STOP.VXD 1.0.0.0 This universal USB Storage Driver package is provided as free software from Rudolph R. Loew. ========================================================= KNOWN LIMITATIONS: This package does not provide a driver for USB 2.0, as no such drivers exist for Windows 95. Many hours were spent by the authors searching for a compatible driver, and many hours were spent in experimentation trying to get Windows 98-compatible USB 2.0 drivers to load with no success. This package does not provide a driver for USB 3.0, as no such drivers exist for any version of Windows 9x. This package does not provide a driver for USB-HID or USB peripheral devices such as keyboards, mice, or joysticks. While some very early ("embryonic" shall we say) and incomplete work was done in this area by Microsoft (see the Windows NT4 DDK), unfortunately none of the sample driver files provided actually work. If anyone knows how to make the Microsoft files from the DDK work and can successfully demonstrate this, or knows of any working third-party USB peripheral drivers for Windows 95, please inform the authors of this package. This package enables the use of USB-connected optical drives, but does not provide a driver for the UDF filesystem frequently used on CD\DVD\Blu-Ray discs. Visit Rudolph R. Loew's homepage at http://rloew1.no-ip.com for a suitable driver. When unistalling this package, two nested folders will remain in your Windows directory, specifically the folders \SYSTEM32 and \SYSTEM32\DRIVERS. If these folders are empty, they may be safely deleted. This package does not remove them due to a limitation in the Windows 95 version of WININIT.EXE. ========================================================= LICENSE AGREEMENT AND LEGAL ISSUES: This package is provided as free software by Conner McCoy and Rudolph Loew, hereinafter referred to as "authors." By using this software, you agree to accept the various license agreements denoted here in this text and included inside the installation package. By using this software, you assume all responsibility for its use or misuse and agree that the authors provide no warranty or guarantee of any kind as to the usefulness of this software for your purpose; and that the authors will not be liable for any damages resulting from the use or misuse of this software. This package may NOT be distributed without this document attached and intact. This package may NOT be disassembled, reverse engineered, used in a manner other than its intended purpose, or otherwise altered or tampered with without the express permission of the authors. ========================================================= Here are some screenshots: 6 USB Devices connected - (4-Slot Card Reader, Flash Drive, Floppy Drive, Hard Drive [sATA/IDE to USB bridge], ZIP Drive, SATA Blu-Ray Optical Drive) Device Manager Click here to download: XUSBSUPP.ZIP

Have you installed any other Updates, Software, etc to your VM besides NUSB? If so, there is a possibility it could affect the joystick. If not, unfortunately I don't have any more advice to give... Hopefully some other member may have some insight...

You're welcome! Glad you solved part of the problem at least... Now, as for the rest of your problem, hopefully some other members here can add something now that we have gotten this far... I would try removing the joystick from the Device Manager, then rename the SW13W98.INF file to something else, say SW13W98.OFF, disconnect the joystick, and reboot. Then reconnect the joystick and try installing your updated drivers for it. Those would be "Software specs" not Hardware specs. I meant what motherboard & processor are you using, how much RAM, what type of drives, etc etc. But it may be irrelevant now that the USB2 controller driver is working as expected.

You did remove the "PCI USB" device that has the Yellow Exclamation Mark from your system with the Device Manager BEFORE you installed NUSB, correct? You need to remove ALL USB devices and ALL "Other devices" with a Yellow Question Mark before you run the .EXE and then when you reboot a driver should have been installed for the USB2 controller. NUSB contains both drivers for Storage Devices and a USB 2.0 controller driver. If it did not work in this case, then something is "abnormal" about your "PCI USB" device - either it does not behave like most USB2 controllers or it is in fact the USB3 controller being detected. What are the specs of the hardware you are using; both your real hardware and the hardware being emulated by VMware?

I have no experience with the particular scenario you are attempting, but I have an idea... Chances are the joystick is attempting to connect to the USB3 or USB2 controller rather than the USB1 controller. First, you need to be sure that you have disabled USB3.0 support to the VM itself, as no USB3.0 drivers exist for Windows 98. Second, it appears you do not have a driver installed for USB2.0 under 98SE. These do exist; download and install NUSB to your Windows 98 VM (BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS!) and try again. (Or, alternately disable USB2 support to the VM as well and let the system revert to USB1 only.) Then try to install your joystick again. Let us know what happens.

Install 98SE and then NUSB - nothing else. See if the problem persists when U98SESP3 is not involved. When you have 98SE set up and are ready to install NUSB all you need to do is open Control Panel / System and remove all USB devices from the Device Manager and then run NUSB. No need to delete or rename any files. Everything will be redetected and reinstalled on reboot. Don't connect any external USB devices to the system until AFTER NUSB has been installed and you have rebooted the system a second time.

Hmm... Have you tried running FIX95CPU again after you get this Windows Protection Error?

Could you please provide more detailed specs for your machine? How much RAM are you using?

I believe all you should need are USB2.INF, USBEHCI.SYS, USBHUB20.SYS, and USBPORT.SYS from NUSB to fix USB2 under ME. You MAY also want the XP version of USBCCGP.SYS if you have any composite devices that use it but it should still be considered experimental...

KernelEx is NOT for device drivers unfortunately. You may cause the driver setup program to run but if the drivers themselves are not Windows 9x compatible KernelEx will not make them work.

This is not necessary. Windows 9x can only see and use one core; any others are simply ignored. I have run Windows 95 on a Dual-Core machine without any need to make such a change. BTW, if you are committed to doing this I highly recommend rloew's various patches. They work 100% and he is always helpful if you need support.

In order to give a more precise explanation I would have to go back and retest some of the hardware setups I used during some driver testing I did recently... but to make a long story short, I was doing extensive tests under Windows 95. Several of the systems I used had no Windows 95 drivers and in those cases I sometimes ran VBE9X to escape 640x480x16. If I am remembering correctly, at one point I had two machines with video cards that have official Windows 98/ME drivers but no 95 drivers, these being an ATI Radeon 9800 XT and an ATI Radeon X800 Pro. The Radeon X800 Pro system would not run DOS Boxes in windowed mode without crashing with VBE9X, while the Radeon 9800 XT system was able to run DOS Boxes in windowed mode without issues. There may have been another instance of this but my memory is fuzzy at the moment and I only noted these things in passing as I was concentrating on the driver being tested.. also I didn't have much hope that VBE9X would be further updated but I am very pleased to find I was wrong!

+1 I actually started having trouble using it with eBay under XP the other day though... ridiculous. It has started the exact same behavior with regard to JavaScript that already plagues 9x - seems to prove that the problem was never 9x but poorly written garbage websites to begin with.

Any chance of getting the issues with windowed DOS Boxes addressed? They seem to work on some machines but not on others...

No, no, no. There is no "trouble" or "troubleshooting" to using Windows 9x on a wide range of hardware far superior to Pentium III. And no manufacturer is going to TELL you their machine is designed for an older system. They do what Microsoft wants them to do, and promote the "current" Microsoft OS of the time.

Apparently unrelated but maybe not so: can anyone point me to detailed information on (re)creation and structure of SYSTEM.1ST, located in the root of the bootable drive? Mine got corrupted a year or so ago and since then boot time increased very much. I wonder if the lack of this file triggers some hardware/software redetection at boot time and if this could help in creating/updating the CPU info displayed by SYSDM.CPL... I originally thought that the Microcode update/UPDATE.SYS had something do do with identifying the CPU as well, but it doesn't. For some reason I have yet to determine, changing UPDATE.SYS can cause no CPU Info to be displayed at all, but it does not actually create the CPU info displayed on the System Properties tab. It is only responsible for the "Update" related entries in the corresponding Registry key. From what I have been able to determine so far, when Microsoft issued SYSDM.CPL 4.10.2223 for Q216204, they actually completely broke the CPU ID function rather than properly fixing it. The KB article refers to "incorrectly identified Intel CPUs," but it appears their solution was to have NO identification of Intel CPUs at all rather than fix the bug. Since HotFixes are cumulative, the botched changes in 2223 that were only intended for Intel systems got carried over into 4.10.2224 for Q272620, which is a "good" HotFix that fixes a bug common to all systems. This probably explains why all CPU info disappears when this HotFix is installed to an existing system. The "Stepping Data" string is actually NOT correct for identifying an Intel CPU. It SHOULD print a friendly ID string, similar to the one displayed by the BIOS during POST. This "Stepping Data" sting is what Microsoft described in Q216204, and rather than fixing SYSDM.CPL to print the "friendly ID" they broke the ID entirely.

Update...This issue only seems to get stranger the more I work on it. The 98SE HotFix version of SYSDM.CPL that I tested in the quoted experiment worked fine for displaying the CPU info - on an AMD system during a clean installation ONLY. It is broken on an Intel system under ALL conditions.

Any Firefox beyond 3.6.28 is, IMO, garbage. I used to love Firefox, but the interface changes after the 3.x line and the idiotic "fast release" cycle have turned me off completely. I don't know for certain what has been changed after the 5.x versions, I did test some of these at one time, but I was so disgusted with it that I scrapped the testing and decided to keep 3.6.28 to the bitter end, lol. I was able to recover most of the buttons on those versions and re-enable the Status Bar with an Addon, so you may be able to recover some of that functionality by exploring all of the settings and searching for Addons... EDIT: Search for these addons: Status-4-Evar Firefox 3 theme for Firefox 4 Old Location Bar