Ramdrive MenuWindows 3.1 RamdrivesFull screen

Using a RAMDRIVE for the Windows 3.x Swapfile.
Running Windows 3.x on a RAMDISK.
Installing Windows 3.x to a RAMDISK.

Why use a RAMDRIVE?

      Windows 3.1 and 3.11 can be used with a variety of DOS versions up through Windows 95a (MS-DOS 7.0). Ramdrive has been included with all versions of DOS since at least DOS 5.0.

      Once a Ramdrive or Uberto Ramdisk has been set up, it can be accessed virtually like any other drive. You can access it in a DOS Prompt windows or with the File Manager. And you can install programs to it in most instances. Of course, this can create problems as the program won't be there when you restart the computer.

      Today, programs like Windows 95 and Windows 98 won't run may old DOS games correctly. And Windows ME and Windows XP won't support DOS at all. With a RAMDISK, you can run those old games regardless of what operating system is installed on your computer. And you can load and run Windows 3.x and DOS 5.x, or 6.x without putting you late Windows programs at risk. So you can enjoy something from the past. Windows 3.11 has NETWORK support which can be useful in accessing games stored on another computer, whether operating at pure DOS, or having the computer available as a client/server in Windows.

      If you boot DOS 7.0, or earlier, on a computer with FAT32 partitions, the hard drive will be inaccessible to DOS. So your files are safe. Or you can Turn off your hard drives in the BIOS and boot to a RAMDISK without them.

      I have heard that some of the very latest processors are just plain not compatible with older DOS. If that is the case, using RAMDISK will probably be of no help.

      The requirements to load and run Windows 3.x on a RAMDISK is that you must have Windows 3.x install files, and a DOS 5.0 to DOS 7.0 (Windows 95a) operating system. You only need a few DOS files to make it work.

 

Swapping to Ramdrive

      One use for Ramdrives is as a location for the Windows Swap File. When you move from one window to another, the contents of the window that was on the screen are saved to disk and the contents of the window you are moving to are copied from disk. Windows will generally do this all in memory (if there is enough). But if Windows swaps to a disk, swapping to a Ramdrive or Ramdisk will speed up this operation.
 

Windows on a Ramdisk

      You can install Windows 3.1 or Windows 3.11 to a Ramdrive or Ramdisk. By storing the Windows in a PKWARE PKZIP file, you can run Windows entirely on a Ramdrive. The ZIP file can be stored on a ZIP disk, a CDROM or even floppy disks. This is convienient if you have Windows 95b and up running on a FAT32 partition. If you boot from a floppy to DOS 6.22 and below, you can run Windows 3.1/3.11 on a Ramdrive without any access (and possible damage to files on it) to the hard drive. In fact you can run this on a computer with NO Hard drives.

      You may find Windows 3.1 to be quite fast. Except for the fact that you cannot use many of the later programs on Windows 3.1, the speed may rival a later machine running Windows 95/98.

      You would have to update the zip files with any changes you made, or they would not be there the next time you run the Windows. If you loaded from a CDROM, there is no way to save the changes.

      Because this Windows can have virtually full function, you could load and run it from a network in a computer with only the boot files on a floppy or hard drive. If you boot to DOS with a network connection, you could then unzip the Windows to the Ramdrive, then start it.
 

Installing Windows 3.11 to a RAMDISK.

I start with a bootdisk with necessary files on it. This will support a ZIP drive and a CDROM.
io.sysBoot file-DOS 5.0 to 7.0
msdos.sysBoot file-DOS 5.0 to 7.0
command.comCommand Processor-DOS 5.0 to 7.0 or third party
config.sysBoot file-user created
himem.sysMemory Manager-included with Windows 3.x
emm386.exeMemory Manager-included with Windows 3.x
aoatapi.sysCDROM Driver-optional
aspippm1.sysIOMEGA ZIP drive file-optional
nibble.ilmIOMEGA ZIP drive file-optional
autoexec.batBoot file-user created
xmsdsk.exeRamdisk Driver-Preferred
mouse.comMouse Driver-optional
mscdex.exeCDROM driver-optional
guest.exeZip Drive Driver-optional
You could add other files such as CHOICE.COM, EDIT.COM amd MEM.EXE. But these are what I needed to get it going.

Next I set up the CONFIG.SYS file.

DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=EMM386.EXE NOEMS
FILES=30
BUFFERS=20
STACKS=9,256
FCBS=1
LASTDRIVE=Z
DEVICEHIGH=AOATAPI.SYS /D:IDECD001
DEVICEHIGH=ASPIPPM1.SYS FILE=NIBBLE.ILM SPEED= 7 /INFO
DEVICEHIGH=ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=SMARTDRV.EXE /DOUBLE_BUFFER
DEVICEHIGH=IFSHLP.SYS
The DEVICEHIGH=ANSI.SYS is optional. DEVICE=SMARTDRV.EXE and DEVICEHIGH=IFSHLP.SYS can wait if you don't have the files. These are part of the Windows 3.11 installation.

Next, the AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

ECHO OFF
XMSDSK R: 20000 /YCreates a 20mb RAMDISK as Drive R
SMARTDRV.EXEInstalled by Windows 3.11
LH GUEST LETTER=YLoads Iomega ZIP Drive as Letter Y.
LH MSCDEX /D:IDECD001 /V /L:ZLoads CDROM as Letter Z
SET TEMP=R:\WINDOWS\TEMPAdded by Windows 3.11
Y:\PKUNZIP -D Y:\WIN31 R:\Unpacks the ZIP file on the ZIP Disk
R:\Move to R drive so A drive won't be used.
PATH=R:\;R:\WINDOWSSets the PATH to use the RAMDISK.
SET COMSPEC=R:\COMMAND.COMSets the system to use the RAMDISK.
CALL WINStarts Windows.
CALL Y:\WINPACK.BATCalls the batch to update the ZIP file.
Now we're ready to install Windows 3.11.

Reboot the computer with the new boot disk. You may get errors if the files aren't there yet. But that should not stop the installation. I turned off my hard drive for this installation, so only the A drive, ZIP drive, CDROM and RAMDISK were available. This protects all the files on the hard drive. If the partition is FAT32, DOS can't access it anyway.

After the boot, you should have a RAMDISK as R drive. I specified 20mb, as the computer I used only has 32mb of RAM. You can create a larger RAMDISk if you want. But Windows 3.11 only needs about 10mb. Any more would be for add on programs.

Next, install Windows 3.11 to drive R. Note: I did not have a DOS directory. Only the bootdisk.

When the installation finishes, DO NOT REBOOT THE COMPUTER. Exit to DOS.

Copy the COMMAND.COM file from A:\ to R:\

I have the PKWARE files PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE on the ZIP disk.

Move to Y:\ and type:

pkzip -rP -whs win31 r:\*.*
Note the CASE of the letters -rP and -whs. This is important.

Now you can reboot the computer. Windows should be operational. When any changes are made to Windows, you must ZIP the R drive again to save the updates. It is obviously important to do this before you reboot the computer. Once you have Windows set the way you want it, sound, Network, games, you could save it to a CDROM where it cannot be altered.

Once the system is booted, you can take the ZIP disk out. The A drive must have a disk in it, as the system recalls that it was booted from that drive.

You could make a simple batch file to ZIP the windows when you exit the program.

echo off
choice /c:yn /n Update ZIP file? Yes or No!
if errorlevel 2 goto end
if errorlevel 1 goto packit
goto end
:packit
y:\pkzip -u -br:\ -rP -whs y:\win31a r:\*.*

:end

      I saved this on the ZIP disk as winpack.bat. It is called from the AUTOEXEC.BAT right after WIN do it runs when you exit Windows.

Note: The CHOICE.EXE is required for the menu. Otherwise you could set the file to just ZIP when called.

      In the PKZIP line, the -u options only adds files that have changed or aren't already in the ZIP file. This can speed things up a little when ZIPPING the Windows. The -br:\ option builds the temporary ZIP file on R drive (if there is room). Building on the ZIP disk can be slow. Also, if the disk doesn't have freespace more than the size of the file, there is no room to build the file. This is also true when specifying and alternate drive.

      The speed of loading depends on how many files you have. I installed Windows with no options selected. Then I added a Netcard. The size of the ZIPPED file is about 5mb. Depending on what options you want and the functionality you need you can make it much smaller. See SlimWin for the bare minimum you need to run Windows 3.x. You can store and load this from Floppy disks as well. That way, the computer does not have to have either a ZIP drive or a CDROM. But, you can imagine how slow that can be.

      You can store the ZIP file on a FAT16 partition and load it from there. This of course makes loading faster and more convenient. It will not harm your later Windows. But it does make the drive accessible so that you could damage long filename files if you accessed them with older DOS or Windows 3.x.



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Updated July 12, 2001
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