Xnview classic 2.13 full version support on windows 95

[cov3rt]

On 3/27/2026 at 5:30 PM, deomsh said:

Hi @ABCDEFG very nice job!

Although it took me a long time to surpass next missing export (no IE4 on my system, and installation on my non-XMS Ramdrive gave problems).

But in the end I succeeded with help of SH95UPD, version 007:

Maybe im misunderstanding from the screenshot, but is that shell32.dll 4.00.1111 the version your windows 95 pc was using at the time, because isn't latest official version 4.72.3612.1700 for windows 95? 

[deomsh]

Sure, I was not able to install latest version of SHELL32 DLL, coming with IE 4.01 (if I am right about 4.01), because of installation issues of IE4 on my non-XMS ramdrive. But in print-screen in post of @ABCDEFG you can see he should have a later version.

Simply copying that version of SHELL32.DLL to %winbootdir%\SYSTEM as a workaround is not possible, Windows is not starting anymore in that case.

In the print-screen I copied in the missing dependency BEFORE if got things working with SH95UPD (you should be aware of SH95UPD, because of your contributions in that thread on MSFN, although years ago).

So xnview 2.13 is running on my system with patched SHELL32.DLL v.4.00.1111. As you can see in the Dependency Walker part of the print-screen, the earlier missing export is added to my version of SHELL32.DLL.

Missing export was originally only showed AFTER using the xnview v2.13 mod of @ABCDEFG , but not anymore with patched SHELL32.DLL.

 

[ABCDEFG]

@deomsh Well, i did it on OSR2.5 so IE came with it and that's why when i checked what functions were missing i only saw those two, i can implement others if needed.

6 hours ago, cov3rt said:

 ABCDEFG, can you provide clarity on what your attached file is from your post with screenshot of xnview 2.13 running? I downloaded it and inside appears to be a helper file and a xnview application. What do i do with these?

Yes i can, but i thought it was self-explanatory. Go to the folder where XnView is installed and unzip the files from my package there. KHelper.dll is a dll file i developed, a file that contains the missing functions.

Maybe i should make a video on how to?

[cov3rt]

2 hours ago, ABCDEFG said:

@deomsh Well, i did it on OSR2.5 so IE came with it and that's why when i checked what functions were missing i only saw those two, i can implement others if needed.

Yes i can, but i thought it was self-explanatory. Go to the folder where XnView is installed and unzip the files from my package there. KHelper.dll is a dll file i developed, a file that contains the missing functions.

Maybe i should make a video on how to?

no it's ok, you don't need to make a video, i now understand the instructions, but i should still ask, what is the "xnview.exe" file for? it's a bit large in unzipped form, at around 4.9 MB, with package zipped at 1.6 MB, but im still trying to keep file sizes as small as possible. Also, a few more questions - could you show a screenshot of testing a sample webp file in xnview 2.13's directory thumbnail view and / or the file opened to show it's working in the program? Also, is that xnview.exe file you supplied derivative of the full version of xnview 2.13? Just was wondering if it matters if it is or not, since i will be installing the full version.

Edited March 29 by cov3rt

[ABCDEFG]

I'm not good at explaining things but i'll try to explain. 

1.

When you install the full version of XnView 2.13 go to the folder where you installed it and there, among other things you will see the xnview.exe

it is the executable file - the actual program. That is the file you need to replace because it cannot automagically use the functions from my dll,

so i made the necessary modifications to that program file to be able to use the functions from my dll file.

2. 

Why the program file is at around 4.9 MB? That shouldn't be a question for me, i'm not the author of that program.

3.

...package zipped at 1.6 MB... Well, that's the point of zipping files, so they take up less space.

4.

I am neither the author nor a user of that program, so i don't know what image/file formats it supports.

I just made the necessary changes to make the program work on the Win95 system...

Edited March 29 by ABCDEFG

[cov3rt]

19 minutes ago, ABCDEFG said:

I'm not good at explaining things but i'll try to explain. 

1.

When you install the full version of XnView 2.13 go to the folder where you installed it and there, among other things you will see the xnview.exe

it is the executable file - the actual program. That is the file you need to replace because it cannot automagically use the functions from my dll,

so i made the necessary modifications to that program file to be able to use the functions from my dll file.

2. 

Why the program file is at around 4.9 MB? That shouldn't be a question for me, i'm not the author of that program.

3.

...package zipped at 1.6 MB... Well, that's the point of zipping files, so they take up less space.

4.

I am neither the author nor a user of that program, so i don't know what image/file formats it supports.

I just made the necessary changes to make the program work on the Win95 system...

ok i was just hoping someone can test and prove working via screenshot of a sample webp file with your patched version, since that was one of the main reasons i wanted to get the newer xnview version to work. i do not have a windows 95 system to test currently and probably wont for a little while. 

[deomsh]

I am willing to test, so please provide such a sample webp file, or a link where i can find one. Better also a screenshot of what I have to expect.

[cov3rt]

22 hours ago, deomsh said:

I am willing to test, so please provide such a sample webp file, or a link where i can find one. Better also a screenshot of what I have to expect.

apparently webp can be lossy or lossless in the same file, so that part isn't too important for here, but i did upload a sample webp file, as well as a picture of what i mean by the directory part where you can see the thumbnail. if you can, please use the webp file from the easyupload link that i attached and view it in the xnview directory, as well as opening it / selecting it within the program just to know that both work. if the link doesn't work, let me know. i didnt know how to upload the picture here, that's why i included it in the easyupload part. 

https://limewire.com/d/GVipQ#9miaxwhRQ6

 

Edited March 30 by cov3rt

[ABCDEFG]

I asked Google and it says this: XnView Classic (1.98 and later): Support was originally available only via an external plug-in that used Google's libwebp.dll

Upd.

a little more searching and i found that XnView 2.13 Full comes with webp.dll but that dll also needs to be patched.

 

Edited March 30 by ABCDEFG

[deomsh]

10 hours ago, cov3rt said:

if the link doesn't work, let me know. i didnt know how to upload the picture here, that's why i included it in the easyupload part.

@cov3rt I can't find any file with the link:

BTW if you want to to post a screenshot: simply paste in your post.

@ABCDEFG I looked into the dependencies of WEBP.DLL in Plugin-directory of xnview v2.13, I found two missing in my version of KERNEL32.DLL:

[ABCDEFG]

@deomsh I'm sure there are many more missing functions because i've tested on other systems as well and it doesn't work on Win98, and it doesn't work on WinMe either.

But it works on Win2k.

 

We may need a different approach to this problem.

[deomsh]

You are fully right @ABCDEFG 

However with KernelEx 4.5.2, I installed temporarily on my non-XMS Ramdrive-Windows 98SE installation, original XnView v2.13 with WebP is working 'out of the box':

So maybe you can continue with SH95UPD?  

During searching for this tool, I found out SH95UPD is based on an older version of KernelEx: v0.3.2a. I am not sure if I ever used SH95UPD before. 

Edited March 30 by deomsh
Typo

[cov3rt]

11 hours ago, deomsh said:

@cov3rt I can't find any file with the link:

BTW if you want to to post a screenshot: simply paste in your post.

@ABCDEFG I looked into the dependencies of WEBP.DLL in Plugin-directory of xnview v2.13, I found two missing in my version of KERNEL32.DLL:

i did not paste screenshot as the forum only allows a certain file size, i dont know how to workaround this, that's why i mentioned it in my earlier post, but i also edited that older post so the link should include the file for a few days at least. as for the other responses, we are getting some good progress here, it shows that even on 98SE, one needs kernelex 4.5.2 for xnview 2.13 to work correctly, at least for webp in testing, for windows 95, shows 2 missing depedencies in your screenshot. 

[ABCDEFG]

even when those two missing functions are replaced the webp.dll after loading tries to call some other functions, those functions do not exist in 9x Kernel32.dll, one of potential solutions would be to replace the GetProcAaddress function and when it tries to call some of those non-existent functions, the call is redirected to another dll that provides the necessary functions.

@deomsh SH95UPD has only a few functions it inserts into the Shell32.dll, that wouldn't solve the problem.

[deomsh]

15 minutes ago, ABCDEFG said:

SH95UPD has only a few functions it inserts into the Shell32.dll, that wouldn't solve the problem.

I have seen the list of exports of SH95UPD during search.

My phrase 'continue' and mentioning an older version of KernelEx was more ment as a (maybe possible?) 'direction'. I am not a programmer,  so I have no real idea if patching other Windows 95 dll's, like SH95UPD is doing in case of SHELL32.DLL, is possible.