Can not install W95

[jonohara]

I have just inherited a PC which is a mess.&nbsp;&nbsp;Its had W98 deleted (by DELTREE method) and I want to install W95.&nbsp;&nbsp;When I boot the PC I get C:\ prompt but little else, I can not run any dos commands for example.<br><br>Also I can not run setup from the WIN95 CD.&nbsp;&nbsp;The error says &quot;Windows requires 'largest executable program size' to be at least 429056 bytes to run&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp;There was no startup disk with this machine (Dell Dimension XPS P133s).&nbsp;&nbsp;What can I do?

 

[Karl Blessing]

did you format the drive before trying to install Win95, if you had Win98 chances are you had a FAT32 partition, win95 doesnt support Fat32 (until version C i think) , so make sure you formated the drive as a FAT partition. <p>Karl<br><a href=mailto:kb244@kb244.8m.com>kb244@kb244.8m.com</a><br><a href=

http://kb244.8m.com>

</a><br>Experienced in , or have messed with : VC++, Borland C++ Builder, VJ++6(starting),VB-Dos, VB1 thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, Borland C++ 3(DOS), Borland C++ 4.5, HTML, ASP(somewhat), QBasic(least i didnt start with COBOL)

 

[AAplus]

boot from floppy, e.g., win95 startup disk, or DOS.&nbsp;&nbsp;Run Fdisk, choose it will prompt you if you want to enable large disk support, fresh y then choose 4 to view the partition of your HD. If no partition exist, hit esc, choose 1 and create your first partition, reboot then format your C drive.&nbsp;&nbsp;With /s will be okay.<br>&nbsp;install your CD rom DOS driver and you are ready to go.&nbsp;&nbsp;Good Luck!<br><br>Ariel

 

[JWALKER]

Ariel is correct.&nbsp;&nbsp;It is very likely that the previous installation of W98 was in FAT 32. So it is advisable to repartition the drive and format with the /s function to reset everything back to FAT 16. I also have inherited many machines that have had odd things done to it and usually the first thing I do is to re-format the harddrives. After you have done that it is also best to have a W98 boot disc with CD ROM support on it for ease of installation. If you dont have one just talk to a good vending technician he'll make one up for you.<br><br>Good luck from the land of the long white cloud. &quot;New Zealand.

 

[Dauphin18]

I agree with everyone in the respects that you should fdisk, reformat the hard drive and do a clean install of 95.&nbsp;&nbsp;Whether you chose to go with fat16 or fat32 depends only on your hard drive.&nbsp;&nbsp;Windows 95 supports fat32 and fat16.&nbsp;&nbsp;If your HD is less than 2 gb then use fat16, but if your it is larger then use fat32 in order to optimize your space.&nbsp;&nbsp;The problem you are having has nothing to do with the fat but with your HD.&nbsp;&nbsp;It is corrupt, either a bad parition, bad sectors or your system files became corrupt or deleted.&nbsp;&nbsp;The only solution is to fdisk and reformat.

 

[Karl Blessing]

Dauphin correction, Only win95C supports FAt32, which is usally hard to come by unless you bought it off the shelf, Win95A and B dont support fat32, or least not A. <p>Karl<br><a href=mailto:kb244@kb244.8m.com>kb244@kb244.8m.com</a><br><a href=

http://kb244.8m.com>

</a><br>Experienced in , or have messed with : VC++, Borland C++ Builder, VJ++6(starting),VB-Dos, VB1 thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, Borland C++ 3(DOS), Borland C++ 4.5, HTML, ASP(somewhat), QBasic(least i didnt start with COBOL)

 

[Spirit62]

Win95B supports Fat32 just fine folks...

 

[Technician]

Your problem seems to be more of not enough RAM not HD space.<br><br>You cannot buy Windows 95 which supported FAT32 off the shelf because it was only available as OEM version.&nbsp;&nbsp;OSR2 was what most people were calling it.&nbsp;&nbsp;The reason why it was never released as an off the shelf purchase was because it didn't have a FAT32 converter program.<br><br>Thus Windows 98 came out with an upgrade version.&nbsp;&nbsp;The only upgrade version for Windows 95 was the original.<br><br>Gordon

 

[Technician]

Sorry,&nbsp;&nbsp;that's not enough 640K base RAM.<br><br>Try booting from either a diskette which only has cdrom drivers loading.<br><br>Gordon

 

[SirNube]

I can't install my Windows95 either, But the message that I received is Boot Sector Write! ...I got that error message when I try to run the SETUP when I encountered that error message, my computer freeze and I need to restar all over.<br><br>Thanks Milan

 

[Technician]

Do you have the CMOS virus checking enabled on your computer???<br><br>Try rewriting a new master boot record.<br><br>fdisk /mbr<br><br><br>Gordon

 

[SirNube]

How can I rewritten the Master Boot Sector...what if I will going to reformat it again, can it be fixed, and what are the other way to resolve it...please help thank you.

 

[edfair]

fdisk /mbr&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;will rewrite it without changing anything else.<br>worst case recovery is fdisk and&nbsp;&nbsp;remove all partitions (which may require deleting drives in extended partition) , then fdisk /mbr in case there is a boot sector virus present, then fdisk and create partitions, then format and add operating system. And if you have a boot sector virus you must use the /mbr, nothing else removes it.<br>And if you really have a boot sector virus , the floppy you are using may be infected also.

 

[SirNube]

Thanks for all the answers that you provide..I will going to do that now...after I run the FDISK/MBR what should I do next...thanks again.