I'm not sure what you've got going on. Now you're talking about a virtual PC situation and apparently your 95 cd is a homemade version. But, as far as I know, OSR2 didn't come on floppies unless they were specially ordered so I find it unlikely your cd is made from them. When windows setup doesn't see the cdrom it means either the PC isn't seeing it or 95 didn't load any drivers for it. If you are somehow correct in that your 95 cd is made from floppies and doesn't have cdrom support then the solution is easy--just get a regular 95 cd. If the reason is 95 didn't load any drivers then you should probably post back the cdrom information I suggested as well as what kind of machine you're doing this in and any other relevent information. Or maybe just try this: Get a regular 95 cd and copy it's contents to the hard drive on a PC that has a cd burner. Then with the burner software and a 95 bootdisk with cdrom support (or even better a 98 bootdisk as I think that will work too) make a bootable 95 cd with the bootdisk and the files from the original cd. Wouldn't that solve your original 'WHAT I WANT' request?

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"Conclusion: no solution possible in this case ;)" You are wrong because "- Windows Me/98SE are bootable from floppy and recognize CD drive after setup reboots;" is also wrong. 98 OEM CDs are bootable and installable from the same CD. This involves the use of a custom JO.SYS file instead of IO.SYS file on the emulated floppy and all you would have to do is copy this method for your entire 9x side. I don't have an OEM CD so I won't be of much further help, but I once attempted a similar project and that's where you need to start looking for a solution. Without JO.SYS as I understand the problem, once you boot up the emulated floppy on the CD and then attempt to install CD drivers from the same emulated floppy, you have changed horses in the middle of the stream and can not find your A: drive nor your CDROM drive any longer - you are instead hung in limbo with no where to go. I have only heard it's possible, I've never been there myself, so good luck. Quiting at this point is certainly the easy answer, perhaps the smart one too. Lee

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"If you are somehow correct in that your 95 cd is made from floppies and doesn't have cdrom support then the solution is easy--just get a regular 95 cd" I tried a CD version i found somewhere on the net (those ones with all those unneeded folders) and still could only see A: and C: after reboot. "If the reason is 95 didn't load any drivers then you should probably post back the cdrom information I suggested as well as what kind of machine you're doing this in and any other relevent information" The cd-rom and computer hardware is the one emulated by virtual pc, i'm not even using a real cd-rom, i mount the dvd image in virtual pc, so my real hardware is irrelevant, because windows only sees the emulated hardware. All i could find about what hardware Virtual PC emulates is here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833... "Quiting at this point is certainly the easy answer, perhaps the smart one too" I still didn't quit, i'm just exploring other possibilities ;) Regarding to 98SE and ME installations, i used a method that can be used by anyone, no matter if you have a bootable win9X cd or not: - copy folder \Win9X to C:\AIO-DVD\WINDOWS\Win9X; - create a bootable floppy from start -> control panel -> add/remove programs -> boot floppy; - hexedit FINCDCD.exe to find the boot floppy image on the cd-root (if image is there, run setup); - add to section :EXT in AUTOEXEC.BAT: set CDROM=wrong FINDCD.exe if "%CDROM%"=="wrong" goto QUIT path=%RAMD%:\;a:\;%CDROM%\WINDOWS\Win9X\ CONFIG.exe /IE /NF A few notes: C:\AIO-DVD is the root of the DVD image; FINDCD.EXE comes from an original windows 98 setup floppy + cd kit; /IE = don't create rescue disk, /NF = don't verify floppy drive before reboot. The final AIO-DVD ISO is a bootable DVD with CDShell as a text gui that i use to select an OS to install, or other bootable tools. Up to this point, all works well. No matter if i choose to install Win98 or WinMe from CDShell, it emulates the associated floppy image, the floppy runs CONFIG.EXE, and after first reboot, windows finishes installation without any errors. Just for testing purposes, i started windows 98 installation with and without dvd after first reboot, to check if it asked for dvd during installation. Without dvd after first reboot, windows 98 required dvd access after 3rd reboot to install network, video and sound drivers. Available letters were A:, C: (hdd) and D: (cdrom). After installation, devices had warning symbols in device manager. With dvd inserted, no errors at all and all was correctly installed in device manager. These are the same drivers windows 95 tries to install but can't because of missing dvd. Weird as it is, i tested a few Windows 95 available on a few sites, and they all didn't detect the CD-ROM, so i'm going to assume windows 95 can't detect virtual pc emulated cd/dvd drive. I'm yet to find an original windows 95 cd setup floppy, so i can test if this floppy can't also see the cd/dvd drive. I only do what the voices in my head command...

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"- Windows Me/98SE are bootable from floppy and recognize CD drive after setup reboots;" What i meant was that in my AIO-DVD, i boot an emulated Win98SE/Me floppy to start windows 98SE/Me installation, i'm not using the original windows 98SE/Me cd, i know those two are bootable and installable. Finaly some light at the end of the tunnel... http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_gu... Virtual PC emulates an Intel 440BX motherboard, but for some reason windows 95 can't find the cd-rom on that motherboard during setup, although it should be compatible with pratically all 440xx motherboards. So, the problem seems to be in the emulated motherboard and windows 95 (un)support for it. I'm going to try the MOD in this page: http://powerjoe.tripod.com/win95mod... I only do what the voices in my head command...

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I don't know enough about virtual PC to offer much. But if the problem you're having seems to be associated with you using it, why don't you set up an old P-2 and use it to build a bootable 95 cd instead of dicking around with virtual PC? 95 has been successfully installed millions of times over the years so you've got to assume the problem you're having is not with 95. Also, I was under the impression that 95 is often installed in a virtual PC situation. Unless the method of installation there is to copy the files to the HD first, I don't understand why you're having a problem.

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PowerJoe's advice is somewhat wrong in that you don't have to inject the altered inf files into precopy2.cab file at all. Just place the altered inf files in the same folder as precopy2.cab file and when the inf installer goes to look for them, it will find them and use them in already un-expanded form which is the DEFAULT method for all installations from inf files. Apparently Joe don't know that part, but the same methodology works in the Windows\Options\Cab files folder which is why quite a few MS updates dumps copies of update files in there even when the folder is NOT used to hold the original installation cab files. "I'm yet to find an original windows 95 cd setup floppy, so i can test if this floppy can't also see the cd/dvd drive." There never was one from MS officially so everyone had to roll up their sleeves and make their own to start with. http://www.bootdisk.com has a 95 CDROM driver floppy but I don't think it loads himem.sys which is needed by setup to actually then install 95 and/or the CDROM drivers on the boot disk are so lousy as to be almost guaranteed to NOT work until you use edit or notepad on the Config.sys file to arrange for a better CDROM driver. I call this one the Banana disk because someone with a wit decided to call the CDROM device a Banana for whatever reason, you will see when you boot it. Which is why I just use the 98 boot disk to install 95 - why can't you? At the very least you could use 98's CDROM drivers on the 95 CDROM boot floppy. Lee

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"95 has been successfully installed millions of times over the years so you've got to assume the problem you're having is not with 95." The problem with 95 (for waht i have read) is the lack of native support to 440xx motherboards (maybe why it can't detect the cdrom), so the usual workaround is to copy windows setup files to hdd using a boot floppy and go from there, that's why usually there's no problem. All OS i added to AIO-DVD install from DVD (98/Me = emulated floppy, NTx = custom boot.bin + custom boot folder). I want 95 to do it too, without having to copy 95 to hdd first. "Just place the altered inf files in the same folder as precopy2.cab file and when the inf installer goes to look for them, it will find them and use them in already un-expanded form which is the DEFAULT method for all installations from inf files" I'll try that, but it will only work if it installs such files before 1st reboot, otherwise no cdrom available (again). "I call this one the Banana disk because someone with a wit decided to call the CDROM device a Banana for whatever reason" Oh, those memorable Banana floppy days... :) "Which is why I just use the 98 boot disk to install 95 - why can't you?" As i mentioned before, i want windows 95 to install from cdrom (if it's ever possible) because all other windows do it. I only do what the voices in my head command...

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This seems promissing: http://www.intel.com/design/chipset... It even shows how to edit machine.inf, i already had my eye on that file for some time ;) I only do what the voices in my head command...

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That didn't work either... i extracted and edited machine.inf and mshdc.inf as instructed by the PDF, copied them to install dir, and they were copied to C:\WINDOWS\INF as melee5 said they would, but cd-rom was still not detected. So i'm giving up the Intel approach, and turning my attentions to a second method i just stumbled into: if a floppy detects cd-rom using msdos drivers, why not add them to c:\config.sys and c:\autoexec.bat right after first reboot? So this is waht i did: 1. started vpc with floppy 2. started setup from cd (D:\...) 3. waited until first reboot 4. booted with floppy 5. added to c:\config.sys: device=c:\windows\nec_ide.sys /d:mscd001 6. added to c:\autoexec.bat: lh c:\windows\mscdex.exe /d:mscd001 7. copied nec_ide.sys and mscdex.exe from floppy to c:\windows 8. rebooted without floppy. Windows finally continued installation from cd-rom. SOOOOOO, my new question is: How can i insert these lines and these files into windows setup? i'm thinking maybe changing some windows script file, but i'm still figuring out which one. Either that or some kind of custom script before reboot, if windows 95 supports it. I only do what the voices in my head command...

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The solution is MSBATCH.INF: http://technet.microsoft.com/pt-br/... http://www-pc.uni-regensburg.de/sys... With this instructions, i can create a setup file that copies any file to windows dir (in this case cd-rom drivers), and adds entries to autoexec.bt and config.sys. I'll post my solution tomorrow, if i figure it out by then. I only do what the voices in my head command...

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Those are going to be dos drivers. At the point in setup when windows reboots it should be using the windows drivers. What you suggest might work but it's not an ideal solution. It didn't occur to me that the 'old' 440BX might be too 'new' for 95. The precopy2.cab file contains the .inf files. It might work if you extract all the files from precopy2 and add the 95 chipset .inf files. Then I think you need to edit setuppp.inf to include the extra files in its list. Then reassemble the new precopy2.cab. A .cab file is somewhat, but not exactly, like a .zip file so you may need to find a utility to make one. Edit That's somewhat what was suggested in the second link in your #10. I think that's the way to go.

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"Those are going to be dos drivers. At the point in setup when windows reboots it should be using the windows drivers. What you suggest might work but it's not an ideal solution." It actually worked. I know the first part of windows 95 setup is based on 3.x GUI, but after the first reboot i don't know. Nevertheless, now it recognizes cd-rom. "The precopy2.cab file contains the .inf files." I know, i already edited machine.inf and mshdc.inf accordingly to Intel instructions: http://www.intel.com/design/chipset... but that didn't work because cd-rom is required before chipset is installed. "It might work if you extract all the files from precopy2 and add the 95 chipset .inf files." No need for that. If you place newer INF files in the same directory as PRECOPYx.CAB, windows 95 will use them instead, as melee5 mentioned. I'm still playing around with a MSBATCH.INF file that edits autoexec.bat/config.sys and copies NEC_IDE.sys to the C:\WINDOWS folder. [Setup] EBD=0 [Install] CopyFiles=Files.cdrom UpdateCfgSys=Update_config.sys UpdateAutoBat=Update_autoexec.bat [Files.cdrom] NEC_IDE.SYS [DestinationDirs] files.cdrom=10 [Update_config.sys] DevAddDev=NEC_IDE.SYS,device,,"/D:MSCD001" [Update_autoexec.bat] CmdAdd=MSCDEX.EXE,"/D:MSCD001 /L:W" The only error i'm getting is when windows setup starts copying files, it asks me where is NEC_IDE.SYS, otherwise all goes smooth. EDIT: problem solved, just added this code: [version] signature="$CHICAGO$" SetupClass=BASE LayoutFile=layout.inf right before [setup] section. All is working like it should. Thanks for all your attention and suggestions ;) I only do what the voices in my head command...

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