i am trying to install win 3.1 on this old 286 laptop.i had dos 5.0 and somthing called direct access 5.0?.when these programs were still installed and i tried to install win. 3.1 i got a message saying that xms was not installed.my friend tried to help me and in the intrum we uninstalled the operating sys.now mwhenm i start the computer i get "missing operating system".i also tried to re-boot with the first disk of the win 3.1 program.i get nothing.i do have the diagonistics disk.when i run this disk and try to install the new operating sys.(3.1)i get non-sys.disk.
what can i do here.do i need dos to use win3.1?i have disks 6 of 6 for win 3.1

john, you need to have DOS installed (the operating system) in order to use windows 3.1. windows 3.1 is a GUI (graphical user interface), not an actually operating system, like DOS or windows 95. so you need to put disk #1 of DOS 5 or 6, into the a: drive, in order to boot up. simply install over your current version of DOS.

as for windows not being able to boot up, on a 286, windows cannot run in enhanced mode (normal mode), so you need to type "win /s" to start it, which means run windows in standard mode. do this after you've re-installed DOS, and it should work.

I also am having trouble installing windows 3.1 on my daughters computer. This is an old Epson Equity II+ and has dos 3.3 installed. When I try to install windows 3.1 I get a message saying "No available extended memory was found. xms driver not installed" Can someone help me with this problem. Thanks

i had the same problem .you may need a
cga drive

What you both need is to do a search like this: 286 ems

You'll find a file that will give you EMS (Expanded/Extended Memory Services) for the machine. The software is free last time I looked and it's not that big. It actually works fine. Seen a 286 running Windows for Workgroups on a 286. Slow as all get out, but it worked.

As you have already known that your hard-drive must be formated with the command " format c:/s" (after being formated by this command, your harddrive, which is your C: drive will have the followiing files on it: command.com, io.sys, and sometimes msdos.sys and some others, but the files command.com must be there for the harddrive to boost.)My suggestion is that if you can not make your 286 computer work after installing windows 3.1 or 3.11 on it with other programs already on it, first back up any important files or programs and then just follow the conventional way of installing, first DOS ( I recommend DOS 6.22)(by using four DOS setup floppy disks: this will automatically install and configure the file HIMEM.SYS on your harddrive. Furthermore, HIMEM.SYS is better and is the must for memory that is greater than 2MB. )I myseft would not intall any expanded memory manager programs on my computer if I already have extended memory.
If there is any messages like not having enough memory, or something like that, make sure that the two files AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS do not load too many devices or TRS programs ( Terminated memory Resident and Stay programs): the reason is that the 640k conventional memory on your computer is the very precious part for your computer to work; using the DOS=HIGH, and DOS=UMB will free this conventional memory. Also ,the line LASTDRV=Z => the z letter will make computer give out such messages as not enough memory. Make it like LASTDRIVE=E if the last hard drive in your computer is a D drive.
With Windows 3.11, you can intall windows without "actually" have DOS already fully intalled;but your C: drive must be set "active" when you partitioned it (your hard-drive) and that it must be formated by using the command: FORMAT C:/S; (the /S at the end is for transfering system files onto your C: drive). If you have a CD burner, you can burn your six windows 3.1 installation diskettes into a CD-ROM and install windows directly from that CD-ROM, and that will help make the installation much faster.
Sometimes the missing up of different DOS files, especially the group of files that usually go together with the system files that are transfered to your C: drive when you format your C: drive with the command FORMAT C:/S, can cause the computer not to boost. Backing up everything and install all from the beginning, beginning with DOS, and then windows, and then any other application softwares.
Just remember that the more "stuffs" you load in your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files, the more memory will be consumed after windows is being loaded. Loading DOS and other DOS base programs or device drivers into upper memory blocks by using DOS=HIGH, DOS=UMB, and LOADHIGH. Without the loading of the line C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS, windows will not start.