OK, to date Windows NT 3.1 and Windows NT 3.5 are the only versions of Windows that I've never used, so naturally I have attempted to have a go at merssing with them. First on Virtual PC, then VMWare. Both of them gave me the "Windows NT cannot be installed on your Processor" when it entered the GUI part of the setup.

So, here's the questions:

Will "Bochs" be able to run NT 3.1? And are there any good tutorials on how to use it? As from what I've read, it looks VERY complicated.

Is there any way at all to run NT 3.1/3.5 on Virtual PC or VMWare?

Any help is much appreciated.

I'm afraid you'd better post it in "Windows NT forum" instead of "Windows 3.1 forum".

I think you have a wrong version of NT. You need the i386 versions. Win NT also runs on other platforms...

I run Win NT 3.51 with virtual PC, so it works!

I have a patch for that problem

I have changed the initial.in_ so it can run on a PII or higher!

Thanks a lot, but what do I need to change in that file? Could you paste the code of it or upload the file somewhere? I tried replacing it with the version of the file from Windows NT 3.51 but had no such luck.

You can download the file from here (zip-file with "initial.in_" for NT 3.1 and 3.5!

http://home.pages.at/eddiesuddr/NTpatches.zip

Sorry,wrong link!

here the new one:

"http://home.tiscalinet.ch/eddie2002/NTpatches.zip"

Thanks a lot, it worked. :)

Windows NT 3.1 does seem pretty useless however, as a lot of 16 bit programs I tested didn't work, and neither did Win 3.1x drivers. Still, I'm happy to say I've used it. :)

The Windows 3.1 drivers won't run on Windows NT 3.1 - they are completely different operating systems (if you can call ordinary Windows 3.1 an operating system - it's more of a DOS shell). Windows NT is 32-bit from the ground up, so needs a different driver set. I've never tried this, but maybe you could try using Windows NT 4.0 drivers (but don't quote me on that, and back up your Virtual Hard Disk file on Virtual PC softwares before attempting). This may or may not work.

As far as the 16-bit programs are concerned, do they try to access the hardware directly? If so, then they won't run on Windows NT because it protects its hardware for stability and security reasons. IF it doesn't try to directly access hardware, then maybe you've not set up the emulated DOS environment for the programs. Create a PIF for DOS programs and possible have a fiddle with the \WINNT\System32\CONFIG.NT and \WINNT\System32\AUTOEXEC.NT, which WinNT run within every new Command Prompt session. Make sure that CONFIG.NT is configured correctly for your programs (it should be similar to CONFIG.SYS).

You should find that most of the software that works under NT should run a lot quicker and more reliably than in Win3.1/95/98/ME; and errant programs should not bring Windows NT down with them (which they tend to do in DOS-based Windows packages).