Windows 98 Live Cd Project (Update)

[betaluva]

ok, it takes a while to boot ( i think next time i try a bigger ram disk, maybe 48 megabytes is a BIT to small, lol ) , the default wallpaper is COOL!, anyone used to winvista or win7 will like the new explorer, i didnt get opera to run but they might because i got too impatient? irfanview worked fine, explorer worked fine, notepad worked fine, i think its time to add some portable apps!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. there just might a demo video coming soon

[betaluva]

DEMO VIDEO:

@beatzero, do you think think you would be able to make a "live" version of windows ME?

oh and could you PLEASE include a copy of firefix 2 portable version,

also would outlook express or thunderbird work? it would be good if you could include a email client?

Edited January 9, 2010 by betaluva

[BeatZero]

@beatzero, do you think think you would be able to make a "live" version of windows ME?

oh and could you PLEASE include a copy of firefix 2 portable version,

also would outlook express or thunderbird work? it would be good if you could include a email client?

Mozilla Firefox works fine (ver. 2.0)

Thunderbird never tested (I believe it works)

Outlook never tested (require a lot IE DLL's, increase image size)

The main use a live CD. is a tool for maintenance, repairs, backups, etc ...

disk tools. disk images, partition manager. removal of viruses and spyware ...

BeatZero

Edited January 9, 2010 by BeatZero

[betaluva]

yeah, i should have guessed that outlook express would have a lot of dependencies ( that explains why there isnt a "stand alone" installer for outlook express 6.0,

i know that the live cd is only meant to be used for disc maintainence and posssibly data recovery? i just thought a few extra apps would be good, anyways, thanks for your reply

[jaclaz]

If it doesn't work on Qemu, there must be some problems.

I have always used Qemu for testing 98 "lite" builds.

I have no time/occasion to try this new build, but if anyone is into experimenting, can they try with Qemu Manager 6.0 version?

(the Qemu version coming with it has more virtual hardware to choose among)

The site seems like down right now

http://qemu-forum.ipi.fi/viewtopic.php?f=5...p;sk=t&sd=a

A couple of Chinese mirrors:

http://wznetcom.onlinedown.net/down/setupqemuk60.zip

http://smx.onlinedown.net/down/files/setupqemuk60.zip

@betaluva

I can understand needing a mail app, but if I get it right the build already has Opera (which is also a mail client - and a d@mn good one), and Outlook Express , and version 6 , comeon!

However, I guess that it can be installed, but it would be tricky business:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307295/en-us

as the system is a half 95/half 98 one.

http://email.about.com/od/outlookexpresstr...einstall_oe.htm

and you'll end up with Internet Explorer as well (which is the main thing that is being removed)

An app that may be useful (following the spirit of the "recovery/emergency" usefulness of this build) could be a OE viewer:

http://www.mitec.cz/mailview.html

jaclaz

[betaluva]

Jaclaz, i always enjoy reading your posts, they are entertaining, informative and thought provoking.

i am very willing to try Qemu once i find a working download , found one: http://www.brothersoft.com/qemu-manager-163091.html

i didt know that opera had a email client? thanks for the info ( i dont REALLY need a email client, i use gmail mostly which i can get to via Opera or Firefox ).

thanks for the link to OE Viewer, it seems to be a handy little app

*OK, Qemu Manager boots windows 98 live once you tell the vm to boot from the cd/dvd drive

http://osbetaworld.bb2.org/uploads/bb2.org...-1263089328.png

Edited January 10, 2010 by betaluva

[jaclaz]

Well, you can use GMAIL POP3 or IMAP access as well with M2, though it is not officially supported (WHY? ) it has been reported to work allright:

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=13287

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=78799

jaclaz

[PROBLEMCHYLD]

However, I guess that it can be installed, but it would be tricky business:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307295/en-us

as the system is a half 95/half 98 one.

http://email.about.com/od/outlookexpresstr...einstall_oe.htm

and you'll end up with Internet Explorer as well (which is the main thing that is being removed)

jaclaz

Why is it you can't install Outlook Express without IE 6 but when you use IEradicator to remove

IE 6 Outlook Express still works?

Edited January 11, 2010 by PROBLEMCHYLD

[betaluva]

if you check the "readme" that comes with IEradicator it says:

IEradicator disintegrates all versions of Internet Explorer from

version 3 to 6 from an existing installation of Windows 95, Windows 98,

Windows 98SE, Windows Millennium, Windows 2000, Windows 2000sr1.

(Windows 2000sr2, XP not currently supported). The removal process

eliminates 99% of Internet Explorer's files and registry keys

to clear approximately 30MB of disk space. ***The remaining 1% is left

behind to maintain compatibility with programs that use the MS HTML

layout engine (e.g. Outlook Express).

SO does that mean you could create a batch file that does a silent install of internet explorer 6.0sp1 and then silently runs IEradicator so that your left with a working copy of outlook express 6.0 ?

Edited January 11, 2010 by betaluva

[BeatZero]

SO does that mean you could create a batch file that does a silent install of internet explorer 6.0sp1 and then silently runs IEradicator so that your left with a working copy of outlook express 6.0 ?

@Betaluva

Take a look in the cab files of IE 6 setup files, the file "Mailnews.cab" there is "msoe50.inf" should be the basis of studies, just to get OE 6

Edited January 11, 2010 by BeatZero

[betaluva]

yeah im already onto it, i just installed internet explorer 6 sp1 on windows 98 original, then i copied msoe50.inf and msoe.pnf from the windows\inf directory, then i uninstalled internet explorer 6.0 , rebooted, then i right clicked on msoe50.inf and clicked "install", the installer couldnt find 9xmig.dll so i went to the ie6 install directory but it still couldnt find 9xmig.dll so i used 7zip to extract ALL of the cab files into one directory, then i tried to find 9xmig.dll file , it found the file but it gave a error message " cannot copy 9xmig.dll" ??? thats as far as i got.

*i have isolated the files needed to install outlook express on windows 98, if you want to help fix the install errors then here you go: http://www.sendspace.com/file/f1twg5

Edited January 11, 2010 by betaluva

[BeatZero]

betaluva, you cannot create a project with Windows ME, based on this, because the winme does not support the mode "restart in MS-DOS mode"

is there a patch that adds this feature to Windows ME?

[betaluva]

there sure is:

Has Real-mode DOS been removed

from Microsoft's Windows ® Millennium Edition?

We've been asked this same question many times recently as beta testers review pre-release versions of Windows ME and more and more information leaks out to the general public. Well, the answer is No, Real-mode DOS has not been removed from Windows. Well hidden maybe, and removed from the boot process, but it's still there.

Windows ME is still DOS based like its predecessors, but in an effort to speed up the startup process Microsoft has restructured some of the files necessary to allow you to boot to DOS, use config.sys and autoexec.bat files and view and use a boot menu.

We have a patch that will modify your "IO.SYS", "COMMAND.COM" and "REGENV32.EXE" files in order to unhide the real-mode DOS in Windows ME systems, thereby providing you with a boot process like that of previous versions of Windows. This will allow you, for example, to reach the DOS boot menu directly by pressing "Shift-F8" at boot-up, and to use "CONFIG.SYS" and "AUTOEXEC.BAT" as part of the startup process before Windows loads. This patch was tested only with the final release of Win ME (build 4.90.3000) and may not be compatible with other pre-release versions.

Note:

As stated above, this has only been tested on Windows ME version 4.90.3000 U.S. If you are using a Non-US version of Windows ME this patch may not work and may even cause problems.

Installation Procedure

In order to install this patch correctly, please follow the instructions below explicitly!

While these particular instructions refer to "C:\Windows", you should use the specific directory on your computer into which Windows ME was originally installed.

Step One: (This can be done in Windows using Windows Explorer)

1.

Create two temporary directories on your hard drive such as C:\Temp and C:\Dos_Storage and make sure that both are empty.

2.

Download the patch (Real_dos.zip) and unzip the 5 included files into the C:\Temp directory. You should have these 5 files:

* autoexec.bat

* config.sys

* File_id.diz

* Mfd.nfo

*

Winmedos.com

3.

Copy the following original Windows ME files into both the C:\Temp and C:\Dos_Storage directories. Their location is already noted for you.

* C:\Windows\COMMAND.COM

* C:\Windows\Command\EBD\IO.SYS (See the "Notes" below, #4)

*

C:\Windows\System\REGENV32.EXE

4.

Now you will need to make sure that the "R", "H" and "S" attributes have been removed from the 3 files noted above in only the C:\Temp directory. You can do this from within Windows Explorer by right clicking on each file and choosing "Properties", then uncheck any of the attribute boxes, "Read-only", "Hidden" and "Archive", that may be checked and then click "Apply" and then close the box.

5. Next, using Windows Explorer, locate the "WINMEDOS.COM" file from the (Real_dos.zip) you downloaded and unzipped earlier.

Double click on "WINMEDOS.COM" to execute it. Do not move to step two unless you are certain that patch completed successfully.

Step Two:

Once the patch completes successfully, perform the following tasks in order to complete the installation:

1. Copy the following 3 patched files back to their original locations as noted below, overwriting the originals.

*

Copy "IO.SYS" from the C:\Temp directory to "C:\"

*

Copy "COMMAND.COM" from C:\Temp to "C:\WINDOWS\"

*

Copy "COMMAND.COM" from C:\Temp "C:\"

* Copy "REGENV32.EXE" from C:\Temp to "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM"

2. Next, copy the Config.sys from C:\Temp to C:\

and the Autoexec.bat from C:\Temp to C:\

Notes:

1. The Config.sys contained in the Real_dos.zip file contains only this line:

"DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS".

You may add any other lines to your Config.sys file as long as the above line remains.

2. The Autoexec.bat contained in the Real_dos.zip file contains only this line:

"C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM".

You may add any other lines to your Autoexec.bat file as long as the above line remains.

3. In the event that you wish to create a startup menu that will permit you to choose between Windows and MS-DOS at startup, it can be done by editing your "Config.sys" and "Autoexec.bat" files. The syntax of the startup menu is identical to the syntax on Win 9x systems.

Keep in mind that the option configured to launch Win ME has to include the appropriate lines that load "IFSHLP.SYS" and run "WIN.COM" as noted above.

4. At startup you will see "Starting Windows Emergency Boot". This can be ignored as the patch uses the IO.SYS provided with the Windows ME Emergency Boot Disk. If you have a problem initially with the function of the DOS boot, replace the IO.SYS file as noted above with the one on your Windows ME Startup Boot Disk. During testing, we noted that on occasion the File Protect features built into Windows ME replaced this file during the boot process.

5. Remember! You saved copies of your original files to the C:\Dos_Storage folder you made at the beginning of this feature. To return your system to its original state, copy the 3 changes files from this directory back to their original directories and remove the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files from the root of your C:\ drive.

Disclaimer: We make no warranty of any type or kind with respect to this patch and its use by you or anyone else. Making this change will alter the way your operating system starts and, if done incorrectly, could render your operating system unusable!

Copyright ©2000 DEW Associates Corporation. All rights reserved.

Your privacy will be respected at all times.

Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure.

source: http://www.dewassoc.com/support/winme/real_dos.htm

=======================================

or try:

=======================================

http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&...-8&oe=utf-8

Edited January 13, 2010 by betaluva

[BeatZero]

@ betaluva, this patch had already been tested without success.

It only enables the MS-DOS clicking F8 during boot.

What I really seek is a function "exit to ms-dos" (like Win95/98)

This feature is important because the first stage of the boot, windows detect and install the drivers ... with runonce.exe patched, after this step, the computer does not restart, goes out to ms-dos and load the windows again, with the drivers installed and enabled.

[betaluva]

DOH! sorry, i misunderstood, can you use files from win98se to fix the problem? hexedit the winME files? how does win98 "exit to dos" ?