This Windows can be run from a CDROM, ZIP drive, Ramdrive, compressed drive, Network drive or a hard drive. It is small, totaling less that 8mb in disk space. Compressed with PKZIP, it can be less that 4.0mb total. It can be installed (at boot) from 3 floppy disks.
So, what's it good for?
If your Windows won't boot, you don't have access to your long filename files. If you could back them up, you could be free to format the drive and reinstall Windows. But you can't do that at DOS.
I also use it to backup my hard drive with PKZIP. I can boot from the Emergency Windows and use PKZIP to backup all the files in Windows. This usually cannot be done from the Windows which is running because of FILE SHARING lockouts. Once ZIPPED, I copy them to a CD-RW and close it. You can setup for Direct CD. But that's another issue. A closed CD allows me to recover the files from the CD with REAL MODE (DOS) drivers. The Emergency Windows allows me to copy them in Long Filename Format.
With Network access you can transfer long filenames from one computer to the other without having Windows installed.
I installed Windows with a directory name for RAMWIN. I originally created this as a Windows run from a CDROM disk. I use a name completely different from the normal Windows so that it doesn't alter windows file on the hard drive accidentally.
Flexability
A boot disk can be set to create a Ramdisk then install the files to that drive from zipped files on floppy disks, a Zip disk, a CDROM disk, Network drive or a hard drive. After un-compressing the files, the program starts.
You can run directly from a ZIP disk and in some cases a CDROM disk. After I created the collection of files, I successfully ran the same files on a:
Celeron 400, 64mb ram (on a Ramdisk or CDROM)
Epox mb with an AMD 400, 64mb ram (on a Ramdisk or CDROM)
Tyan Tomcat 3 with a Pentium mmx200, 80mb ram (on a Ramdisk or CDROM)
Tandy 486, 25mhz, 8mb ram (Doublespace drive)
Packard Bell 386 20mhz, 16mb ram (Doublespace drive, Network or CDROM)
The Doublespace was used as I got "insufficient memory" when using a Ramdisk of sufficient size for the files. I was, however able to define a 9mb Ramdisk on the 386 and still run the Windows on the Doublespace drive. Not having more memory available for those computers, I don't know if I could run from the Ramdisk if I had more memory.
I also was able to run through a network drive on a CDROM in another computer. The 386 has a Creative 6x CDROM which would not read the Kodak CDR I had the program on. So I accessed the drive on my Pentium computer through the LAN, and was supprised that windows was able to run directly from the CDROM. The TANDY 486 has a Creative 2x CDROM and was able to run the CDROM Windows.
Running from 3 floppy disks!
For this to work the way I have designed it you will need to have the following:
Windows 95
PKWARE's PKZIP Utilities PK250dos.exe (no longer available free on their site). I have renamed the file as pk250dos.zip as my site will not allow EXE files. Rename the file to make it executable.
Franck Uberto's Ramdisk Utilities fu_rd19i.zip, which is widely available on the WEB.
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Where to start!
NOTE: Since installing Windows will replace the BOOT files, you must back them up. The MSDOS.SYS will point to the R:\ Windows. Until reset, you will not be able to boot your C Drive Windows.
First you must decide where you will run it from. Since you can't change the drive letter after you install the Windows, you need to decide on one first. You can exclude the lower drive letters. After all Almost without exception, "C" will not be available. I prefer to assign assignable drives from the end of the alphabet. My ZIP drive I assign Y (as that was the highest DOS letter I could use). I reserve Z for the CDROM. Network drives are also at the end of the alphabet. So my choice for this Emergency Windows is R (for cd-Rom or Ramdrive).
If you will be running it from a ZIP disk then you want that drive to be the letter you install to. If you will run from a CDROM, likewise. An extra advantage of these two is that in some computers, they can be the boot disk. If you opt for a Ramdisk operation, it can be loaded from any of these. All you need is enough memory.
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Installing the Windows
The best way I have found is creating a Compressed drive with Drivespace. I set mine as 150mb and gave it drive letter R. Once that was complete, I installed Windows to that drive. In my case I have a separate drive, so I was free to proceed. This procedure replaces files on your C drive. So you must proceed with caution or you will disable you C drive Windows. Install only the minimum options and devices that you want.
Edit the SYSTEM.INI adding the line:
PagingDrive=R:
under the
[386enh]
This creates a temporary swapfile on the Ramdisk. Other drives are virtually un-touched by this program.
Complications
If I installed to the R drive without a Windows already on the computer, the R drive Windows failed during startup. So I installed with the partition with my previously installed Windows turned on. The installation apparently notes the "Old Windows" in the registry, allowing me to run the Emergency Windows while the C drive Windows was available, or run without a C drive Windows or even a hard drive installed.
One solution I found is renaming the C:\WINDOWS directory. This can be done at DOS. You can easily rename it back when you want to run Windows again. It will cause no permanent harm. However, you may have a heart attack if you try to boot the computer with it renamed as you will get a few errors.
This is an apparent default in the IO.SYS. If you install windows with a different name, this problem doesn't occur. So I virtually never use the default name WINDOWS when I am installing.
After Windows was installed, I deleted all but the following files
| The files in the "WINDOWS" directory are: |
r:\ramwin\command.com
r:\ramwin\control.ini
r:\ramwin\dosprmpt.pif
r:\ramwin\explorer.exe
r:\ramwin\himem.sys
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r:\ramwin\ifshlp.sys
r:\ramwin\ios.log
r:\ramwin\system.dat
r:\ramwin\system.ini
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r:\ramwin\ttfcache
r:\ramwin\user.dat
r:\ramwin\win.com
r:\ramwin\win.ini
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| The files in the "WINDOWS\CURSORS" directory are: |
r:\ramwin\cursors\
r:\ramwin\cursors\appstart.ani
r:\ramwin\cursors\hourglas.ani
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| The files in the "WINDOWS\FONTS" directory are: |
r:\ramwin\fonts\
r:\ramwin\fonts\8514fix.fon
r:\ramwin\fonts\8514oem.fon
r:\ramwin\fonts\8514sys.fon
r:\ramwin\fonts\coure.fon
r:\ramwin\fonts\dosapp.fon
r:\ramwin\fonts\marlett.ttf
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r:\ramwin\fonts\serife.fon
r:\ramwin\fonts\smallf.fon
r:\ramwin\fonts\symbole.fon
r:\ramwin\fonts\symbolf.fon
r:\ramwin\fonts\vgafix.fon
r:\ramwin\fonts\vgaoem.fon
r:\ramwin\fonts\vgasys.fon
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| The files in the "WINDOWS\STARTM" directory (optional) are: |
r:\ramwin\startm\
r:\ramwin\startm\dos-prpt.pif
r:\ramwin\startm\explorer.lnk
r:\ramwin\startm\notepad.lnk
Since Long Filenames cannot be copied at DOS, I changed the "Start Menu" to "Startm". I also changed the "MS DOS Prompt" to "DOS-PRMT". "Program Files" was deleted as it is automatically created. The only options I kept I moved to "r:\RAMWIN\STARTM\". So there is virtually nothing else.
However, if you are running on a Ramdisk, you can use LFNBK.EXE to convert to long filenames as Windows boots. With a ZIP drive or Doublespace, you can leave Long filenames set. With a CDROM, you can use a Joliet format. However, the MS-DOS filenames are changed as the disk is written and can make files inaccessible during bootup, causing a crash.
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| The files in the "WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP" directory are: |
r:\ramwin\sysbckup\
r:\ramwin\sysbckup\lzexpand.dll
r:\ramwin\sysbckup\ver.dll
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| The files in the "WINDOWS\SYSTEM" directory are: |
r:\ramwin\system\
r:\ramwin\system\advapi32.dll
r:\ramwin\system\comctl32.dll
r:\ramwin\system\comm.drv
r:\ramwin\system\commctrl.dll
r:\ramwin\system\cp_437.nls
r:\ramwin\system\cp_1252.nls
r:\ramwin\system\ddeml.dll
r:\ramwin\system\gdi.exe
r:\ramwin\system\gdi32.dll
r:\ramwin\system\kernel32.dll
r:\ramwin\system\keyboard.drv
r:\ramwin\system\krnl386.exe
r:\ramwin\system\linkinfo.dll
r:\ramwin\system\locale.nls
r:\ramwin\system\mmsound.drv
r:\ramwin\system\mmsystem.dll
r:\ramwin\system\mouse.drv
r:\ramwin\system\mpr.dll
r:\ramwin\system\mprexe.exe
r:\ramwin\system\mprserv.dll
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r:\ramwin\system\msgsrv32.exe
r:\ramwin\system\msmouse.vxd
r:\ramwin\system\mspwl32.dll
r:\ramwin\system\pifmgr.dll
r:\ramwin\system\power.drv
r:\ramwin\system\shell.dll
r:\ramwin\system\shell32.dll
r:\ramwin\system\shlwapi.dll
r:\ramwin\system\system.drv
r:\ramwin\system\systray.exe
r:\ramwin\system\unicode.nls
r:\ramwin\system\url.dll
r:\ramwin\system\user.exe
r:\ramwin\system\user32.dll
r:\ramwin\system\vfd.vxd
r:\ramwin\system\vga.drv
r:\ramwin\system\vgafull.3gr
r:\ramwin\system\vmm32.vxd
r:\ramwin\system\winmm.dll
r:\ramwin\system\winoa386.mod
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| The files in the "WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS" directory are: |
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r:\ramwin\system\iosubsys\
I kept all files in that directory.
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| The files in the "WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32" directory are: |
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r:\ramwin\system\vmm32\
I kept all files in that directory.
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There can be more files removed. Also, the files on your system may differ from the ones on my system. I deleted the r:\RAMWIN\command\ directory as there are duplicates of some in the r:\RAMWIN\ directory. Also those needed for booting are on the boot disk. You can put other you want in one of those 2 places or leave the whole directory.
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The Boot disk
In the MSDOS.SYS file I have the following:
[Paths]
WinDir=r:\RAMWIN
WinBootDir=r:\RAMWIN
HostWinBootDrv=a
[Options]
BootGUI=0
BootMulti=0
Network=0
BootWarn=0
Logo=0
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxb
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxd
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxe
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxf
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxg
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxh
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxi
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxj
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxk
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxl
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxm
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxn
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxo
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxp
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxq
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxr
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxs
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In the CONFIG.SYS file I have the following:
DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=SETXMSTO.EXE 81930
DEVICE=EMM386.EXE NOEMS
BREAK = ON
FILES = 40
BUFFERS = 40
DOS=HIGH,UMB
SHELL=A:\COMMAND.COM /P
DEVICEHIGH=CDDRIVER.SYS /D:IDECD000
DEVICEHIGH=IFSHLP.SYS
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In the AUTOEXEC.BAT file I have the following:
@echo off
cls
lh xmsdsk.exe 40000 R: /y
lh mscdex.exe /D:IDECD000 /V /L:W
if not exist r:\nul goto error
echo loading Windows to R drive
pkunzip -d c:\RAMWIN r:\
set comspec=r:\RAMWIN\command.com
r:
call win
goto end
:error
echo The RamDisk was not found as R drive.
:end
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This creates a 40mb Ramdisk as drive R. Then the files are unpacked on to that drive. CALL WIN allows you to exit and restart Windows without rebooting (I use Norton 7.0 NDOS.COM as my shell). Although the total size of the installed Windows is less that 9mb I made the Ramdisk 40mb so there is room for the swapfile. Depending on what you run, you may be able to get by with a 10mb Ramdisk. Of course you could swap to the hard drive. I have about 80mb of RAM and run a 40mb Ramdisk constantly.
Using the Program
You can use a floppy boot disk to load and start the program. You can use the boot disk to make a bootable CDROM which will create and load the Ramdisk in the same manner. Or you can make the CDROM the drive R and run from it. This creates problems because Windows wants to update files and can't.
Since the Ramdisk can be the only drive, you can run entirely without hard drives. You can have nothing but the boot drive and the Ramdisk. But there's not much you can do with that. If you add a CDROM and/or a ZIP drive, you can run other programs and process files as if there was a hard drive. I was able to load both the CDROM and ZIP drive and still have over 600kb of conventional memory in a DOS window. However, when Doublespace was running, I had less than 500kb with both drives loaded.
PoliTalk Technical Menu
Updated March 8, 2004
