rloew

Microsoft made an explicit promise to bypass activation if they ever stopped supporting it.

What Patches. You need my RAM Limitation Patch to use 3GiB of RAM.

The Free Version does not list Windows 98.

XHCI Drivers don't care what protocols are sent through them. There is little reason to distinguish between HID (Keyboard and Mouse) and Mass Storage. They both have essentially the same requirements.

I always UnZip Files from a DOS Box. All extensions are visible and nothing can be executed.

You can partially install the AHCI Driver without having an AHCI Controller present. Google the Instructions for adding AHCI to an existing Windows XP System.

You need an AHCI Driver. To migrate it you would need to install the AHCI Driver first, then transfer it. Some of the Marvell SATA Cards are AHCI only also. The first Marvell Controller I encountered in the HighPoint Cards was AHCI only.

My Drive String Patch does not rename anything except the backup copy of ESDI_506.PDR that is kept so it can be Uninstalled. It modifies the reporting Code so that the Manufacturer's Model String is shown instead of the generic Message. I don't believe any of the ESDI_506.PDR updates change this behavior. Alternative Drivers may work, but most are limited to specific Drives, Controllers or OSes. Some have bugs.

I don't have any information on other options. This Patch does not alter performance of the standard Driver. Unless purchased with other Patches, it only changes the reported Drive Name to the Manufacturer's String rather than the generic one currently used. It is not free. It does not increase the size of the Driver so it takes up no space if you remove the Patch Program after applying the Patch. My Patch does work on Windows 95. It does not work on NT Systems. What you describe is a replacement Driver, not a Patch, so it is not at all similar.

I have a patch that reports the Drive name. It works on any 9x OS.

Copy and Paste is frowned upon in forums. I saw all three in a matter of minutes.

Plop contains part of the needed code. Many more BIOS services would need to be emulated. An EFI Program that transfers control to the BIOS Emulator would also be needed. Intel published a specification for CSM that might be helpful.

It looks like doomsday is coming in 2020. At least as far as Intel is concerned. They announced that they intend to remove their CSM Code for all UEFI Firmware. Unless somebody comes up with a viable alternative, DOS, Windows 9x, and all 32-Bit OSes will no longer work except in VMs.

Missed one. There is a third post in the XP section.

The download link for PCRegedit.iso doesn't get you the file, just a link to a search engine. I was able to get it by using the January 2016 Archive of the page.