Slimming Down Windows 3.1/3.11

Slimming Down Windows 3.1/3.11

The new programs keep requiring more and more space. But many of the files are not necessary. All the files you may need for every possible computer the program may be installed and are cluttering up your hard drive. Windows 3.11 freshly installed with a network card takes up about 14mb. But the actual Windows runable is less than 2mb.

Windows Run from Floppy Disks

You can run Windows from floppy disks. I have succeeded using two 1.44mb floppys in a computer with no hard drive. This method can get you by on the minimum memory needed for Windows 3.x, as little as 4mb. This is suitable for older computers with little memory, whether or not they have a hard drive. Using DMF formatting, you may be able to run from a single disk.

Windows On A Ramdisk

Since today's computers are using FAT 32 partitions which Windows 3.1 can't run on, I have been experimenting with Ramdisks. My Packard Bell 386 (20mhz) has only 16mb of ram. If I create a 14mb Ramdisk to run it on, there is not enough memory left to run it. So I peared Windows down to fit. At this point it is about 5mb total on a 9mb ramdisk. It has a 2mb swap file also on the ramdisk. So I have about 2mb more space that I can fill and about 7mb of memory left for programs to run on. Far more than to 2 to 4 mb of RAM the computer had when I first used Windows 3.1.

Because it is in ram memory, moving from window to window is quite fast. It move more like a 486x50. Time will tell how well other programs wil run on this "slow" computer.

Starting From Scratch

The minimum files that Windows will run from are:

In the Windows Directory you need:
main.grp	5120	progman.exe	115312	reg.dat	2825	win.com	50904
mouse.ini	24	progman.ini	238	system.ini	2452	win.ini	3464
These files total: 180,155 bytes

In the Windows\system Directory you need:
comm.drv	5968	mmsound.drv	3440	user.exe	264096	vgasys.fon	7280
dosx.exe	32682	mmsystem.dll	61648	vga.3gr	16384	vtdapi.386	5245
gdi.exe	220800	mouse.drv	10672	vga.drv	73200	win386.exe	577557
keyboard.drv	7568	shell.dll	40944	vgafix.fon	5360	winoa386.mod	49248
krnl386.exe	76400	system.drv	2304	vgaoem.fon	5168	wswap.exe	16302
These files total: 1,482,266
The total for Windows is: 1,662,421 bytes.
These two files will change depending on the Video driver you load:						vga.3gr	vga.drv
If you load Super VGA, they will be:						vddsvga.386	svga256.drv

Now, of course it is void of any programs. So it is just there. So now you add the files you need for whatever programs the files are needed for. You can keep many files in reserve until they are needed. Help files you probably won't need once you have the Windows set up the way you want it. CPL files aren't needed unless you need to change something with the CONTROL PANEL.

The Menus Groups

Lets start with the Menus. These are the GRP extension files. Windows 3.11 creates the following (Main.grp was skipped as it was included in the Required section):

In the Windows Directory you need:
accessor.grp	8723	The Accessories Group	network.grp	6508	The Network Group
games.grp	42	The Games Group	startup.grp	44	The Startup Group
dosprmpt.pif	545	DOS Prompt PIF	_default.pif	545	Default PIF Source

The Control Panel

The control panel is only required when you need to modify settings. The files required by this are:

control.exe		The Control Panel	control.ini	148592	Control Panel Information
cpwin386.cpl	111760	The Windows Setup Program	main.cpl	148592	The Drivers Setup Program
drivers.cpl	41440	The Drivers Setup Program	snd.cpl	8192	The Sound Drivers Setup Program
fax.cpl	2048	The Fax Program driver Setup
Additionally, these programs will need:
lzexpand.dll	23712	All	ver.dll	9696	All
ncdw.dll	41264	All	wfwsetup.dll	337008	All
setup.inf	57701	All	commctrl.dll	48112	File manager
commdlg.dll	97936	Multiple	network.inf	58618	Network Setup-Vendor
winnet.inf	14691	Network Setup-Vendor
These files total: 1,020,251 bytes

These files could be stored in a ZIP file or other location until needed.

The Network
DOS

If you are running a Network Card with Windows For Workgroups 3.11, you will need the following files:

To operate only as a client (DOS or Windows):
ifshlp.sys	4548		ndishlp.sys	4464
net.exe	433829	The DOS Networking Program	net.msg	75697
neth.msg	122333		protman.dos	21940
protman.exe	13782		protocol.ini	528	Set Up by Windows
wfwsys.cfg	840	set up by Windows	de22x.dos	28832	Card driver from vendor
ipxodi.com	39748	Protocol driver from vendor

The Network can be connected at DOS and will be available in Windows. However, Windows will not have the ability to change it or act as a server if it is connected at DOS.

The Network
Windows

Net Start must be run before starting Windows. However, the Network should not be Logged on to at DOS. To run the Network from Windows, you need the following files in the SYSTEM directory:

ifsmgr.386	65625	lpt.386	5917	ndis.386	27846	ndis2sup.386	23224
netbeui.386	37043	nwlink.386	33316	nwnblink.386	37988	serial.386	11112
vcache.386	9862	vcomm.386	5688	vnetsup.386	14647	vpmtd.386	5653
vredir.386	85746	vserver.386	101054	vshare.386	14925	wfwnet.drv	308864
Options in the Windows directory are:
logonoff.exe	8192	winmeter.exe	92992	winpopup.exe	28528	netwatch.exe	40448
msmail.exe	302502	rasstart.exe	13312			netwatch.exe	40448

From here you can add the sound card and any other accessories you may want. Many of them include the drivers they need and add them to Windows. I will have to experiment with that next.

Storage

Since I run this on a Ramdisk, I have to copy the files to the Ramdisk each time the computer is re-booted. I store them in a ZIP file created by PKware's PKZIP program. This can be stored on a hard drive, a ZIP disk, Floppy disks, or a Network Drive. As I make changes to Windows, I must update the ZIP files.

To minimize the space required for the Windows (and any other added programs), any files I don't normally need (Help Files, Control Panel Files, Etc.) can be stored in separate ZIP files. When I need to make changes, I can add them while I make the changes. By keeping track of what files those are, I can delete them when the changes are complete. A Batch File would work for that.

This keeps the unpack time down when starting and minimizes the size of the Ramdisk required. Unzipping 14mb of 300 plus files takes much longer than unzipping 5mb of 90 files. You could, of course, load and run Windows from a ZIP disk (or a CDROM or Network), but that defeats the speed increase of running on a Ramdisk.

Run Windows 3.x from Floppys

Since a RAMDISK is using memory, on older machines that have very little, say 3 or 4mb, once you load file to a Ramdisk, there won't be enough to run Windows. Using DOUBLE SPACE or DRIVE SPACE, you can fit a running Windows on a single 1.44 floppy disk. However, the boot files needed plus the Windows files are a little too much for one disk. But there is a way. This Windows, like the Ramdisk Windows can be run on a computer with no hard drive.

First you need a boot disk using DOS 6.2 or 6.22.

Step one: Make a boot disk. Put a blank floppy disk in drive A. Get to the C:\> prompt and type:

sys a:

When it is finished you should have:

IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS
COMMAND.COM
DBLSPACE.BIN

on the disk (DRVSPACE.BIN if using DOS 6.22). You will need to add:

DBLSPACE.INI

which you will create containing the lines:

AutoMount=1
FirstDrive=R
LastDrive=R
MaxRemovableDrives=1
MaxFileFragments=111
ActivateDrive=r,A0

Set the Attrib for this file to R,H,S.

Now you use DBLSPACE to compress the disk.

DBLSPACE /COMPRESS A:
will create a compressed file dblspace.000 on the floppy disk in drive A and Mount it. The actual Drive A will become Drive R (the letter I have specified in the dblspace.ini file).

The COMMAND.COM should be the only file on A drive (now compressed). The other files should remain on the uncompressed drive (now R drive).

Copy the following files to the now compressed disk:

command.com
dblspace.sys
himem.sys
mem.exe

Make a windows and windows\system directory. Copy:

emm386.exe

to the Windows directory. This may be the only file in these directories. There are 2 reasons for this.
1) EMM386.EXE needs to be loaded at boot. Windows will look for it in the same location when it starts. So this file must be on both disks.
2) If you are in the A:\windows\ directory and change disks and there is no a:\Windows\ directory on the new disk, the doublespace will unmount and you will crash.

Next create a CONFIG.SYS file with the following lines in it:

DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS /testmem:off
DEVICE=windows\EMM386.EXE noems
DOS=HIGH,UMB
files=40
buffers=40
STACKS=9,256
lastdrive=Z
shell=a:\command.com /p
devicehigh=DBLSPACE.SYS /move

Save that to the A:\ drive (compressed).

Next create the AUTOEXEC.BAT with the following:

echo off
path=a:\;a:\windows
prompt=$p$g

Save that to the A:\ drive (compressed). You can add other drivers such as a CDROM driver, ZIP Drive driver, and/or Network drivers. With the exception of the EMM386.EXE and the COMMAND.COM, none of these files will be needed after the boot. If you want flexibility, create a BOOT MENU. With that you can choose bare Windows, Networking, CDROM and/or ZIP Drive or a combination of these.

Next you prepare the second disk. This will contain the minimum Windows files listed above. You can add what other files you can fit on the disk. This disk will also be compressed. But the whole disk will be used for the compressed file. Start with a blank disk and select:

DBLSPACE /COMPRESS A:

Now copy the windows files to the disk. You should also copy COMMAND.COM to the root of this disk.

Note: If you are copying Windows files from C drive, INI files and GRP files may be pointing to C drive. You must modify these for them to work on A drive.

The first disk is the Boot disk. This second disk is the Windows start disk. These should get you into Windows. But I suggest a third disk which you could call Windows Run. This could have other files to make Windows do what you want and other programs you want to run after Windows has started.

THE OPERATION

When you boot from the boot disk the compressed drive is mounted before you see a DOS prompt. You could add instructions in the autoexec.bat if you want telling you when you run the next disk. When the boot stops, you can place the second disk with Windows on it in the drive. Provided you do not cause the drive to be accessed while the disk is out, it should think it is still on the same compressed drive. However, you now can type WIN and start Windows. You may get an error that the DBLSPACE.BIN cannot be found. However, Windows seemed to work in spite of this. That file was on the boot disk. So it is not accessible after you change disks.

Once Windows is started, I find that it does not need most of its files. So you can insert a third disk with other files and programs you want to run that would not fit on the second disk. You could add such files to the first disk. But it may have little space left. You could probably create several compressed disks with files for what you want to run. You will have to experiment to see what files you can get along without on each disk and still run the Windows the way you want.

While this makes it possible to save work to a floppy disk, it is important that each floppy disk used is compressed and has the same file structure on it. If you put a standard (non compressed) floppy in the drive and try to read it or write to it, the Doublespace will unmount the disk and the system will crash.

I did this using Windows.3.11 WFW. Older computers such as a 286 cannot use Windows 3.11 as it has no Standard Mode. While this method will work for Windows 3.1, I don't know if Doublespace will work on a 286 computer.

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Updated August 20, 2002