Hello, I am trying to install windows 95 on a pc, I placed the bootup floppy and formatted the c: drive, after this is done it goes to a:, now the c: drive is empty. Then I try to place the windows 95 cd rom in drive and it won't read it, I went into BIOS and it's acting as if there is no CD-Rom drive, when I first turn on pc, the cdrom drive does light up. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Are CD-ROM drivers installed on your MS-DOS boot disk?


On Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 11:02 am, Mark wrote:
>Hello, I am trying to install windows 95 on a pc, I placed the bootup floppy and
>formatted the c: drive, after this is done it goes to a:, now the c: drive is empty.
> Then I try to place the windows 95 cd rom in drive and it won't read it, I went
>into BIOS and it's acting as if there is no CD-Rom drive, when I first turn on pc,
>the cdrom drive does light up. Any help would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I think so, it states it's a CD-ROM Setup Boot Disk?


On Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 11:49 am, Chris wrote:
>Are CD-ROM drivers installed on your MS-DOS boot disk?
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I want to let you know also the screen I am currently looking at says Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu with five selections:1. load NEC IDE CDROM driver, 2. Load Toshiba IDE CDROM driver 3. Load Hitachi DVD CDROM driver 4. Load SCSI CDROM driver (Adaptec) 5. No CDROM support....


On Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 12:00 pm, Mark wrote:
>I think so, it states it's a CD-ROM Setup Boot Disk?
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Pick the closest match to your CDROM drive and hope for the best. You should then see a screen where your CDROM drive is given a drive letter (example E below). Later on in the boot process when you get to the A:\ prompt, type in:

dir E:\win95

and the CD drive should spin up and show you a list of mostly .cab files. If not, reboot and pick another Drive type. If that don't get it done, find out your exact CDROM type and get the exact DOS mode driver for it and place it on the bootdisk manually as per instructions at http://www.bootdisk.com site.

Best installations happen when you install from the hard drive instead of the CDROM. To do this, at the A:\ prompt type:

md c:\w95
copy e:\win95\*.* c:\w95

when that is done do:

c:
cd w95
setup



On Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 12:04 pm, Mark wrote:
>I want to let you know also the screen I am currently looking at says Microsoft Windows
>95 Startup Menu with five selections:1. load NEC IDE CDROM driver, 2. Load Toshiba
>IDE CDROM driver 3. Load Hitachi DVD CDROM driver 4. Load SCSI CDROM driver (Adaptec)
>5. No CDROM support....
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Lee, I was finally able to get a boot disk for windows 98, I placed in floppy drive and it looks as if it finally reconized the D: drive, but it still is not reconized in the BIOS settings? And I place the cd of windows 98 in cdrom drive and nothing happens, I tried the command you suggested and there is no files in the directory... Thanks, Heather


On Thursday, April 27, 2006 at 3:19 am, Lee wrote:
>Pick the closest match to your CDROM drive and hope for the best. You should then
>see a screen where your CDROM drive is given a drive letter (example E below). Later
>on in the boot process when you get to the A:\ prompt, type in:

>
>dir E:\win95

>
>and the CD drive should spin up and show you a list of mostly .cab files. If not,
>reboot and pick another Drive type. If that don't get it done, find out your exact
>CDROM type and get the exact DOS mode driver for it and place it on the bootdisk
>manually as per instructions at http://www.bootdisk.com site.

>Best installations happen when you install from the hard drive instead of the CDROM.
> To do this, at the A:\ prompt type:

>md c:\w95
>copy e:\win95\*.* c:\w95

>when that is done do:

>c:
>cd w95
>setup
>
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Lee, Thanks for your help, hoping you can help me out some more. I followed your instructions and was able to find the match for the cdrom, it is reading from the drive, I copied all the files you specified. This is where I am stuck, screen is as follows: a:\>c: c:\>cd w95 c:\w95>setup message comes up bad command or file name ????? do you know what the problem could be? Thanks, Mark


On Thursday, April 27, 2006 at 3:19 am, Lee wrote:
>Pick the closest match to your CDROM drive and hope for the best. You should then
>see a screen where your CDROM drive is given a drive letter (example E below). Later
>on in the boot process when you get to the A:\ prompt, type in:

>
>dir E:\win95

>
>and the CD drive should spin up and show you a list of mostly .cab files. If not,
>reboot and pick another Drive type. If that don't get it done, find out your exact
>CDROM type and get the exact DOS mode driver for it and place it on the bootdisk
>manually as per instructions at http://www.bootdisk.com site.

>Best installations happen when you install from the hard drive instead of the CDROM.
> To do this, at the A:\ prompt type:

>md c:\w95
>copy e:\win95\*.* c:\w95

>when that is done do:

>c:
>cd w95
>setup
>
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I'm a bit confused as to who I'm talking to but going by the post times you seem to have got past the CDROM problem. Now I'm thinking you are trying to launch a 95 DOS executable with 98's command.com and that might not work ever. Boot the 95 floppy disk you used earlier and then do:

c:
cd w95
setup

If still no go, then copy and paste this text onto 98 bootdisk (darn handy that one, huh?) as a text file named dome.bat.

:: start of dome.bat, save to other double colon line below.
extract C:\w95\PRECOPY1.CAB /L c:\ winboot.sys
ren c:\winboot.sys io.sys
attrib +r +s +h c:\io.sys
echo.;Win95>C:\msdos.sys
attrib +r +s +h c:\msdos.sys
extract C:\w95\PRECOPY1.CAB /L c:\ command.com
extract C:\w95\win95_02.cab /L c:\ himem.sys
echo.DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS /testmem:off>c:\config.sys
echo.FILES=30>>c:\config.sys
echo.BUFFERS=20>>c:\config.sys
echo.dos=high,umb>>c:\config.sys
echo.stacks=9,256>>c:\config.sys
echo.@echo off>c:\autoexec.bat
:: end of dome.bat

Then boot the 98 bootdisk and at the A:\ prompt type:

dome

When it's done you should now be able to remove all floppies and boot the hard drive to 95 DOS, try it. If you've DOS without a floppy then do:

cd w95
setup

Any Joy? What a mess just a couple of missing files and/or settings can make...


On Friday, April 28, 2006 at 7:21 am, Mark wrote:
>Lee,
>
>Thanks for your help, hoping you can help me out some more. I followed your instructions
>and was able to find the match for the cdrom, it is reading from the drive, I copied
>all the files you specified. This is where I am stuck, screen is as follows:
>
>a:\>c:
>c:\>cd w95
>c:\w95>setup
>message comes up bad command or file name
>?????
>do you know what the problem could be?
>
>Thanks, Mark
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Lee, Thanks for your help, finally got windows 95 setup to run and it's now installed. Thanks alot for your help!! Mark


On Friday, April 28, 2006 at 11:42 am, Lee wrote:
>I'm a bit confused as to who I'm talking to but going by the post times you seem
>to have got past the CDROM problem. Now I'm thinking you are trying to launch a
>95 DOS executable with 98's command.com and that might not work ever. Boot the 95
>floppy disk you used earlier and then do:

>c:
>cd w95
>setup

>
>If still no go, then copy and paste this text onto 98 bootdisk (darn handy that one,
>huh?) as a text file named dome.bat.

>:: start of dome.bat, save to other double colon line below.
>extract C:\w95\PRECOPY1.CAB /L c:\ winboot.sys
>ren c:\winboot.sys io.sys
>attrib +r +s +h c:\io.sys
>echo.;Win95>C:\msdos.sys
>attrib +r +s +h c:\msdos.sys
>extract C:\w95\PRECOPY1.CAB /L c:\ command.com
>extract C:\w95\win95_02.cab /L c:\ himem.sys
>echo.DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS /testmem:off>c:\config.sys
>echo.FILES=30>>c:\config.sys
>echo.BUFFERS=20>>c:\config.sys
>echo.dos=high,umb>>c:\config.sys
>echo.stacks=9,256>>c:\config.sys
>echo.@echo off>c:\autoexec.bat
>:: end of dome.bat

>Then boot the 98 bootdisk and at the A:\ prompt type:

>dome

>When it's done you should now be able to remove all floppies and boot the hard drive
>to 95 DOS, try it. If you've DOS without a floppy then do:

>cd w95
>setup

>Any Joy? What a mess just a couple of missing files and/or settings can make...
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Guys, it hasn't worked for me! I have a Win95 PC and a Win98 PC (I am writing from the 98!!) I had some problems, so I was trying to re-install Win95 to get rid of them, and it was not working. So I decided to re-install it from DOS instead. As an extra measure, I reformatted C DRIVE! Now, no matter what I stick into the PC, I get the old "invalid system disk" message. I tried the Win98 "dome" thing recently posted, but I guess you can't fool the PC if you can't get past your "invalid" disks. Even when there are no disks inserted anywhere, you still have an invalid disk. I guess the hard disk is invalid??? I have many times solved problems with this computer by re-loading Win95 from DOS. But this time, I can't even get to DOS. What can I try next??? Sandy in Dartmouth


On Friday, April 28, 2006 at 1:26 pm, Mark wrote:
>Lee,
>
>Thanks for your help, finally got windows 95 setup to run and it's now installed.
> Thanks alot for your help!!
>
>Mark
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Hi, Sandy.
It sounds like you might be stuck in the 'wrong boot order' situation. Back in the days of 3.1 and 95, computers came from the factory with default boot order of A:, C:, and then whatever drive. But since the advent of bootable CDs and OS installation CDs that are made to boot up a PC (OEM 98, ME, Win2k and up), that order is commonly now CDROM, C: and then whatever drive.

The boot order can be changed back to the needed A:, C:, CDROM for Win95 by entering the BIOS setup menu and saving the changes to the CMOS memory. Usually pressing Delete key during the bootup POST text screens will get you into the BIOS, but that info is also usually on the screen (at the bottom) during POST text screens if yours requires a different keypress to enter the BIOS setup screens. When that is done the machine will then boot from the floppy drive if a bootable floppy disk is inserted into the floppy drive.

'invalid disk' error on a freshly formatted hard drive is to be expected and all is still well. You just needed to boot from the A: drive is all that is wrong.

I'm not sure the 'dome' method is what fixed up Mark - he didn't say that explicitly. Dome.bat was written for 'full' 95b CD, if you have a different 95 CD or boot with any other bootdisk than the standard 98 bootdisk it may not work. Most 95b installation cab files here are sized at 1,676 Kb as one method of determination of just what subversion of 95 you might have. Also my layout.inf file was automatically generated on Thu Aug 22 23:58:18 1996 to further pin down which version of 95 that dome.bat was written for.


On Sunday, April 30, 2006 at 3:43 pm, Sandy wrote:
>Guys, it hasn't worked for me! I have a Win95 PC and a Win98 PC (I am writing from
>the 98!!) I had some problems, so I was trying to re-install Win95 to get rid of
>them, and it was not working. So I decided to re-install it from DOS instead. As
>an extra measure, I reformatted C DRIVE!
>
>Now, no matter what I stick into the PC, I get the old "invalid system disk" message.
>I tried the Win98 "dome" thing recently posted, but I guess you can't fool the PC
>if you can't get past your "invalid" disks. Even when there are no disks inserted
>anywhere, you still have an invalid disk. I guess the hard disk is invalid???
>
>I have many times solved problems with this computer by re-loading Win95 from DOS.
>But this time, I can't even get to DOS. What can I try next???
>
>Sandy in Dartmouth
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Yep, that's what it was. Thanks. I only have to do this every few years, so I forgot about that BIOS bit. Now I am having other problems with the installation, problems I have never had before, always freezing before it finishes and ending up in scandisk or Safe mode and having to start over again. Viscious cycle.


On Monday, May 1, 2006 at 7:24 pm, Lee wrote:
>Hi, Sandy.
>It sounds like you might be stuck in the 'wrong boot order' situation. Back in the
>days of 3.1 and 95, computers came from the factory with default boot order of A:,
>C:, and then whatever drive. But since the advent of bootable CDs and OS installation
>CDs that are made to boot up a PC (OEM 98, ME, Win2k and up), that order is commonly
>now CDROM, C: and then whatever drive.

>The boot order can be changed back to the needed A:, C:, CDROM for Win95 by entering
>the BIOS setup menu and saving the changes to the CMOS memory. Usually pressing
>Delete key during the bootup POST text screens will get you into the BIOS, but that
>info is also usually on the screen (at the bottom) during POST text screens if yours
>requires a different keypress to enter the BIOS setup screens. When that is done
>the machine will then boot from the floppy drive if a bootable floppy disk is inserted
>into the floppy drive.

>'invalid disk' error on a freshly formatted hard drive is to be expected and all
>is still well. You just needed to boot from the A: drive is all that is wrong.

>I'm not sure the 'dome' method is what fixed up Mark - he didn't say that explicitly.
> Dome.bat was written for 'full' 95b CD, if you have a different 95 CD or boot with
>any other bootdisk than the standard 98 bootdisk it may not work. Most 95b installation
>cab files here are sized at 1,676 Kb as one method of determination of just what
>subversion of 95 you might have. Also my layout.inf file was automatically generated
>on Thu Aug 22 23:58:18 1996 to further pin down which version of 95 that dome.bat
>was written for.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Your welcome but you might not be thanking me after I tell you that I forgot something very important in the dome.bat file. This entry should be added as the last line:

fdisk /mbr

And that is a most important line as without it the hard drive can not boot. Mark must have just used the dome.bat as a reference to get himem.sys loaded correctly and actually used the Sys command from a 95 bootdisk to get the hard drive where it would boot WITH himem.sys loaded properly so that setup would actually run right.

Fdisk /mbr checks to see if the active partition switch is set right, checks that io.sys and msdos.sys are on the hard drive and if all that checks out, it then re-writes the Master Boot Record (mbr) such that it will now link thru the first sector to load in io.sys which then loads in command.com after checking out msdos.sys info. And I FORGOT about that part, sorry! Without rewriting the mbr, the boot fails at the first sector which would bring on scandisk, etc. that you are now reporting. Sys.com re-writes the mbr as well but you can't sys a to be 95 hard drive from a 98 boot disk, or you wind up with the wrong files on the hard drive.

If it's any consolation I'm in the middle of doing this myself and ran right into my own mistake head on - ouch! To see it in a public forum makes it hurt much worse, again my apologizes.


On Tuesday, May 2, 2006 at 6:01 am, Sandy wrote:
>Yep, that's what it was. Thanks. I only have to do this every few years, so I forgot
>about that BIOS bit. Now I am having other problems with the installation, problems
>I have never had before, always freezing before it finishes and ending up in scandisk
>or Safe mode and having to start over again. Viscious cycle.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

hi, i found an IBM laptop in my basement recently that uses windows 95, but it doesn't start. When i turn on the laptop i see, Type the name of the Command Interpreter. i went to bootdisk.com and made myself a windows 95b bootdisk, but when i put the floppy into the laptop, it says that no drives are found. i don't know what to do next and i would like to get the laptop working.


On Wednesday, May 3, 2006 at 12:15 am, Lee wrote:
>Your welcome but you might not be thanking me after I tell you that I forgot something
>very important in the dome.bat file. This entry should be added as the last line:

>fdisk /mbr

>And that is a most important line as without it the hard drive can not boot. Mark
>must have just used the dome.bat as a reference to get himem.sys loaded correctly
>and actually used the Sys command from a 95 bootdisk to get the hard drive where
>it would boot WITH himem.sys loaded properly so that setup would actually run right.

>Fdisk /mbr checks to see if the active partition switch is set right, checks that
>io.sys and msdos.sys are on the hard drive and if all that checks out, it then re-writes
>the Master Boot Record (mbr) such that it will now link thru the first sector to
>load in io.sys which then loads in command.com after checking out msdos.sys info.
> And I FORGOT about that part, sorry! Without rewriting the mbr, the boot fails
>at the first sector which would bring on scandisk, etc. that you are now reporting.
> Sys.com re-writes the mbr as well but you can't sys a to be 95 hard drive from a
>98 boot disk, or you wind up with the wrong files on the hard drive.

>If it's any consolation I'm in the middle of doing this myself and ran right into
>my own mistake head on - ouch! To see it in a public forum makes it hurt much worse,
>again my apologizes.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Hi, Jeannie. I thought this thread was dead but here is my opinion your laptop.

Type the name of the Command Interperter error message means that DOS is not installed correctly, it's doubtful that Windows can be in any better shape, sorry.

No drives found by 98 bootdisk means that the hard drive has to be fdisked first, then formatted. BUT....

Laptops are notorious for having to have a hidden partiton that contains some custom drivers for the laptop such as CDROM driver being the most important to those needing to install Windows. The only correct solution is to use a special boot CD called a Restore CD that comes, in your case, from IBM and is meant only for your particular model of laptop. You boot that CD, it 'sees' the hard drive but not the hidden partiton so it makes the hidden partition automatically and puts the proper drivers in it such that the rest of the CD can be seen so that Windows installation can continue. The proper Restore CD then does just that.

You must then go to IBM.com and find your model of laptop there and hope that there is a way that they can sell you the proper Restore CD(s). And there is usually no way around it.


On Monday, May 8, 2006 at 4:27 pm, Jeannie wrote:
>hi, i found an IBM laptop in my basement recently that uses windows 95, but it doesn't
>start. When i turn on the laptop i see, Type the name of the Command Interpreter.
>i went to bootdisk.com and made myself a windows 95b bootdisk, but when i put the
>floppy into the laptop, it says that no drives are found. i don't know what to do
>next and i would like to get the laptop working.
>
>
>

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