How to Install Windows 95 on VMware Workstation 17 on Windows 11 PC

This guide uses VMware Workstation 17 Pro on Windows 11. Our goal is to install and run Windows 95 on a new virtual machine. Now, let’s walk through this process step by step.

Install Windows 95 with VMware Workstation 17 Pro (Intel 12th Gen CPU)

Microsoft released Windows 95 on August 24, 1995. It was the first 32-bit OS with a better interface than Windows 3.1.

Windows 95’s main new feature was a user interface instead of DOS. It also supported 32-bit apps. Additionally, it included network protocols like TCP/IP.

This system added Plug and Play for easy device setup. The Start menu and taskbar first appeared in this release. Today, they are still common in Windows 10.

In the 1990s, as the Internet grew, Win95 was the first OS to use large networks. Also, Internet Explorer was at its most popular then.

Microsoft also introduced DirectX and Direct3D for MS-DOS programs and demanding games.

Windows 95 is an old system. Still, some users want to install and try it. Also, older hardware devices may need firmware updates with old OSes.

If you have an old PC, installing this system on the physical machine makes sense. If not, you can install it on your current PC with a virtual machine.

Create a New Virtual Machine for Windows 95

To run Windows or Linux on a VM, you use tools like VMware Workstation Pro. Thanks to VMware’s software, you can run old Windows systems on your host PC.

To install Windows 95 with VMware, first create a proper virtual PC. Then, prepare that virtual PC.

First, install VMware Pro on your Windows 11 system. Then follow the steps below in order and with care.

Step 1

After you install VMware 17 Pro, run the program. On the home screen, click Create a New Virtual Machine. In the VM wizard, pick Custom (Advanced) and continue.

Step 2

The hardware compatibility window shows Workstation 17.x by default. This option refers to the latest version of the virtualization tool on your system.

For better virtual hardware settings for Win95, pick compatibility type 5.x.

Step 3

First, prepare the Windows 95. Then pick the option “I will install the operating system later.”

Step 4

At the guest OS step, first pick the platform as Microsoft Windows. Then pick the version you plan to install.

Step 5

You can change the VM name in the Name field. Also, store the VM on an external HDD for better speed. Click Browse to change the install path.

If your physical disk is SSD or NVMe, VMs run faster. In that case, you can keep the default install path.

Step 6

Assign one processor to the Win95 virtual machine.

Disk and Device Setup

Step 1

Set RAM to 512 MB at most. If you give more RAM, the virtual PC will not boot. It will also restart over and over.

Step 2

To connect your VM to the network, keep the NAT network type.

Step 3

Pick BusLogic as the I/O disk controller.

Step 4

At this step, pick IDE for the virtual disk type. SATA disk layout causes issues during driver setup. You will see the difference between disk types more clearly during that setup.

Step 5

For a clean OS install, use a new disk. Pick Create a New Virtual Disk and continue.

Step 6

Use the disk size that VMware Pro suggests. Also, pick Store virtual disk as a single file to keep the disk as one file on your host.

Step 7

In the Specify Disk File window, you can change the disk name or path. If you leave the default path, the disk is stored where you install the VM.

Step 8

On the summary window, click Customize Hardware. This lets you add the Windows 95 ISO file. It also lets you increase graphics memory.

Step 9

First, download the ISO file to your PC. Then go to the CD/DVD device. There, select Use ISO Image File and click Browse.

Pick the guest ISO file you downloaded. Right after that, click Open.

Step 10

Also, add a USB controller to use USB devices on the virtual PC. In the Hardware screen, click Add to open the wizard.

Step 11

In the Hardware Type window, select USB Controller.

Step 12

After you prepare the Win95 machine, close the hardware window.

Step 13

When the VM is ready, it opens on the program’s home screen. Run the VM and move on to the install steps.

Install Windows 95

After you prepare and run the virtual PC, a boot screen opens. First, you must set up the virtual disk with the fdisk command.

Before you install Win95, format the disk and create an active partition. If you have the original install media, you need a floppy drive.

At this point, add a Floppy device to the VM. Then open the IMG file. First prepare the disk, then copy the system files.

Step 1

After you boot the system, the first screen looks like the one below. The ISO file you added to the VM includes fdisk. Therefore, you do not need a floppy device.

To set up the virtual disk, run the “fdisk” command at the A:\> prompt.

fdisk

Step 2

If your system has a disk larger than 512 MB, enable large disk support. To do this, press Y first, then Enter.

Step 3

You are on the Microsoft Win95 FDISK options screen. Here, pick Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive and press Enter.

Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive

Step 4

To create a primary partition on the disk, pick Create Primary DOS Partition.

Create Primary DOS Partition

Step 5

Approve the maximum disk size for the primary partition you made. Then press Y first, then Enter.

Step 6

Restart the PC for the changes to take effect. To do this, click the down arrow next to the Suspend button. Then continue with the Restart Guest option.

Step 7

After you restart Windows 95, you may get an “operating system not found” error. That is because you did not boot from the CD-ROM.

Format the Disk and Copy Install Files

Step 1

To open the Boot Menu on VMware, press ESC while the system restarts. On the Boot Menu screen, pick CD-ROM Drive.

Step 2

You must format the disk where you created the primary partition. Run the format C: command at the prompt.

Then press Y to confirm that all files on drive C will be erased. Press Enter to keep the default volume label character count.

format C:

Step 3

After you format drive C, create a new folder for the system files.

First, switch to drive C with the C: command to create a folder named WIN95 there. Then run the mkdir WIN95 command.

A:\> C:
C:\> mkdir WIN95

Step 4

Switch to the CD-ROM drive with the R: command to view its contents. Then run dir to view and check the drive contents.

Copy the install files to the WIN95 folder on drive C. To do this, run the command below at the prompt.

copy R:\WIN95\*.* C:\WIN95

Step 5

After you copy the system files, start the Win95 setup. To do this, run the setup command in the C:\WIN95 folder.

C:\WIN95> setup

Step 6

Wait while the Microsoft ScanDisk tool opens. The system checks file integrity, disk size, and folder structure.

Step 7

When the setup screen opens, the wizard tells you the installation will take 30 to 60 minutes. Click Continue on the welcome window to start.

Step 8

Press Page Down to read the license agreement. Then click Yes to accept it.

Step 9

Let the setup wizard collect data about your PC. Click Next to copy system files.

Step 10

In the Choose Directory window, keep the default C:\WINDOWS path.

Step 11

In the Setup Options window, pick Typical as the setup type. If you want to change options, you can go with Custom.

Configure the Setup Wizard and Copy System Files

Step 1

In the Certificate of Authenticity window, type your Win95 product key.

Step 2

In the User Information window, type your user account name and company details.

Step 3

Let the setup wizard scan your hardware components.

Step 4

Wait while the virtual PC hardware is scanned.

Step 5

In the Windows Components window, install the most common services. To do this, pick Install the most common components.

Step 6

If you want to create a Startup Disk, pick Yes. Since a VM does not need one, select No instead.

Step 7

Start copying the Windows system files.

Step 8

Wait while Win95 system files are copied and the setup runs.

Finish the Setup and First Boot

Step 1

The setup wizard finds a floppy disk drive on your system. In this case, disconnect the drive.

Step 2

At this stage, you get a Windows Protection Error when installing on a newer PC.

You must patch the Win95 guest machine to run it without issues. Now, shut down the virtual machine. Then move to the next step.

Step 3

Add a Floppy device to patch Windows 95. To do this, click Edit Virtual Machine Settings.

After you open the VM settings, click Add. Then pick Floppy Drive as the hardware type.

Step 4

Click the button below to download the patch ISO file for Win95. Then add the image file to the Floppy drive. To do this, select Use Floppy Image File. Click Browse and pick the Patcher.ima file.

You can get the Patcher9x-0.7.45-boot.ima file from the Vogons.org article. You can also get it from the GitHub page.

Install the Patcher Tool and Boot the OS

Step 1

When you boot Windows 95 from the Floppy drive, run the “patch9x” command on the DOS screen. Then press Enter to confirm the WINDOWS/SYSTEM path.

To patch Win95 for the newest CPUs, pick the default option, which is 2. Press Y and Enter to apply the changes.

Step 2

Wait while Win95 sets up Plug and Play devices. Also, I suggest you enter a PC name and workgroup name when Windows asks for them.

When the Network window opens, type a PC name for Windows 95. Also, type Workgroup for the workgroup and continue.

Step 3

Set the date and time based on your country. When the Add Printer Wizard opens, skip it for now. If you have no printer, click Cancel to close the wizard.

Step 4

After the setup wizard finishes the Win95 installation, restart Windows 95.

Step 5

Wait while the Microsoft Win95 operating system starts up.

Step 6

Type the user account name you created. In the Set Windows Password window, set a new password to protect the system.

If you do not want a password, leave the New Password fields blank. Finally, click OK.

Step 7

After Windows 95 restarts, right-click My Computer. Pick Properties from the options that open. Then check your system version.

Install VMware Tools

After you install Win95, you must also install VMware Tools. This software installs the graphics card driver. You can use the virtual PC in full-screen mode. Also, you can use host USB, webcam, and mouse devices on the virtual PC.

Step 1

To install VMware Tools on the VM, click VM / Install VMware Tools from the Workstation Pro tools menu.

Step 2

Wait while VMware Tools gets ready for installation on the VM.

Step 3

When the setup wizard opens, start installing the virtual machine tools.

Step 4

If you will use the VM with other VMware Pro products, pick Complete as the setup type.

Step 5

When the VMware Tools are ready to install, click Install.

Step 6

During the VMware Tools installation, when you get Warning 25010 (Microsoft HTML Help Engine), click Yes. Also click OK in the HTML Help 1.31 Update window.

Step 7

This time, when you get Warning 25009, skip it. Then, if the SVGA driver fails to install during VMware Tools setup, install it manually later.

Setup failed to install the SVGA driver automatically. This driver will have to be
installed manually. Instructions for how to do this will appear at the end of installation.

Step 8

Close the VMware Tools wizard. In the warning window that asks you to restart, click No and continue.

A text file opens for the manual SVGA driver setup. However, restart your system.

Set Up the Display Driver and Full Screen Mode

Step 1

Right-click the desktop to open the Display Properties window. Then click Advanced Properties.

Step 2

In the advanced display properties window, click Change on the Adapter tab. Then pick Have Disk on Standard PCI Graphics Adapter (SVGA).

When the Install from Disk window opens, paste the path you copied into the From: field. Then use Browse to pick the VMX_SVGA.inf file at that path.

Step 3

In the Select Device window, pick the VMware SVGA II device. Click Apply to confirm the device settings.

Step 4

Set the screen resolution to 1024 x 768. Confirm the resolution. If the VM resolution does not work correctly, wait 15 seconds. Then you can go back to the original settings. If you want to set up the monitor, click Yes. If not, click No.

However, if the virtual machine resolution is working correctly, use the resolution you set.

Step 5

To fit the Win95 resolution to full screen, use View / Fit Guest Now.

Step 6

Also, you can drag and drop files from your host desktop or any other location to the VM. You will see that the file is copied successfully.

Install TCP/IP Protocol for Internet and Network Access

After you fully configure Win95, install the TCP/IP protocol to reach the Internet from your VM.

Step 1

Right-click Network Neighborhood on the desktop. Pick Properties from the options that open.

When the Network window opens, click Add. The Component Type window opens. In this window, select Protocol. Then click the Add button again.

In the Select Network Protocol window, first pick Microsoft. Then pick TCP/IP.

In the Version Conflict window, you see the conflicting files in the File name: field. Click Yes to confirm overwriting them.

Step 2

Open the MS-DOS Prompt. Run the ping 8.8.8.8 command to ping Google. You will see that your Internet connection works without issues.

If you run the ping command before loading the protocol, you will see that the command is not known.

Step 3

When you open the Internet, the Connection Wizard opens. Use this wizard to set up your Internet connection. Click Next right away.

From the Internet connection setup options, configure your current connection. To do this, select Current.

Step 4

Microsoft Internet Explorer opens on its own. When you visit Google, you will see that your connection works without issues.

Install Chipset Drivers

After you install current OSes with VMware, VMware Tools loads all missing drivers on its own.

However, when you install older systems, you must find and research the drivers. Then you must install them manually. Adding the missing drivers to the virtual PC gives you greater ease and better performance.

Step 1

First, open your Win95 system properties. Click the Device Manager tab. Then check the drivers that VMware Tools could not install.

• PCI Bridge
• PCI Multimedia Audio Device
• PCI System Peripheral
• PCI Universal Serial Bus

Step 2

To install drivers for older systems, lower the VM hardware compatibility in VMware Workstation. At the virtual machine setup step, we set hardware compatibility to 5.x.

Therefore, we set the virtual hardware based on the compatibility version. However, after you install VMware Tools for the system drivers, you must change the hardware version again.

If you try to install drivers with hardware compatibility at 17.x, you get many errors. Drivers will not install. Also, the system may give a Windows Protection Error.

Now, shut down the Win95 machine. From the menu, click VM / Manage / Change Hardware Compatibility.

Step 3

When the hardware compatibility wizard opens, pick Workstation 5.x.

NOTE: If you had chosen SATA for Windows 95 disk type, the disk would fail when you lower the hardware version. That is because the Limitations section states that SATA devices are not supported.

Step 4

After you set the hardware version, select Alter this virtual machine. In the Review Changes window, you see the settings that will be removed from the VM.

After you change the hardware version, boot the Win95 PC.

Install Chipset Driver After Lowering Hardware Version

Step 1

At this step, you see new hardware detected automatically while Windows 95 boots. If you get a version conflict warning like the image below, click Yes to approve.

Win95 also found the sound device automatically. However, since its driver did not install, click Cancel in this window.

Step 2

When you open Device Manager again, you see that the PCI Bridge device driver did not install.

Step 3

Download the VM driver software from the list at the end of the article. Then open the Chipset Driver folder. Run the Setup file as shown below.

Step 4

When the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility V2.80.008 wizard opens, click Next. Accept the chipset driver license agreement. Check the list of Intel Chipsets the software supports and finish the installation.

After the Win95 chipset driver installation, restart Windows 95.

Step 5

When you restart the system, you see the Intel(r) 82371AB/EB/MB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller driver. You also see the PCI to ISA Bridge (ISA Mode) device driver.

Check Device Manager again. In the Hard Disk Controllers section, you see that the Primary and Secondary IDE controllers updated successfully.

• Intel 82371AB/EB/MB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
• Primary IDE Controller (dual fifo)
• Secondary IDE Controller (dual fifo)

At this stage, if you get a Standard Floppy Disk Controller error, install or enable its driver. To do this, shut down the virtual PC. Then click Power On to Firmware to enter the VM BIOS.

On the PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility screen, in the Main section, set Legacy Diskette A: to 2.88 MB. Press F10 to save the settings. After you boot the system, open Device Manager again. Check that the yellow exclamation mark on Standard Floppy Disk Controller is gone.

Install the Sound Blaster PCI128 Driver

To install the sound driver on the virtual PC, download the Sound Blaster PCI128 driver from the table at the end of the article and copy it to the VM.

Step 1

After you copy the sound driver to the virtual PC, double-click Sound Blaster PCI128. Click Yes to accept the software license agreement. Click Next to install the Creative Sound Blaster audio driver.

After Creative Sound Blaster PCI128 hardware is found, wait while the drivers install.

Step 2

After you restart the system, open Device Manager. To fix the Creative Gameport Joystick driver issue, pick Properties / Driver / Update Driver / Gameport Joystick (8-24-1996). Then click Finish.

Install the USB (Xusbsupp) Driver

To use USB devices on the guest VM, add a USB Controller from the hardware wizard. Then install and configure it. You can find the USB driver in the table at the end of the article.

Step 1

After you run Windows 95, open Device Manager. Check that the PCI Universal Serial Bus device drivers did not install automatically.

After you download the USB driver and copy it to the VM, double-click Xusbsupp in the driver folder. In the window that opens, click Yes to approve the USB driver installation. Accept the Xusbsupp software license agreement.

After the eXtended USB Supplement installation ends, click OK. Finally, restart the virtual PC.

Step 2

When you check the USB device drivers, you see that PCI Universal Serial Bus has a yellow exclamation mark.

Pick the PCI device and click Remove, then click OK. Then click Refresh so the system loads the USB drivers correctly.

Step 3

After you refresh the list of existing devices, the virtual system finds and loads the USB Universal Host Controller device.

When you check the USB Controller device, you see that the drivers installed successfully this time.

1. Intel 82371AB/EB/MB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
2. USB Root Hub

Use a USB Flash Drive

If you want faster file transfer from your host to the virtual system, use your USB flash drives. You can also use USB external storage devices.

Step 1

Now, plug a flash drive formatted with FAT32 into the host machine. When the New USB Device Detected window opens, select Connect to a virtual machine. Then pick Win95.

Step 2

After you plug the flash drive into the VM, the Driver Wizard opens automatically. Click Next to install the Generic USB Mass Storage Class Device driver. After Windows updates the USB mass storage device, click Finish.

Click Next to load the other needed Generic USB Hub driver. After Windows updates the Generic USB Hub device too, click Finish.

Step 3

When you open My Computer, you can now use your flash drive on the VM without issues. Check your USB drive driver from Device Manager. In the Disk Drives section, you see KINGSTON DataTraveler 3.0.

NOTE: Use the USB 2.0 port on your host device to plug a flash drive into the VM. If you plug the flash drive into your host’s USB 3.0 ports, the virtual PC gives an error.

Step 4

Create a folder inside your USB drive on the virtual system. Then disconnect the USB from the VM and plug it into your host. When the device moves to your host, you see the folder you made inside it.

Delete the Virtual Machine

If you no longer want to use the Microsoft Win95 guest machine, delete it completely. This way, you do not fill your host disk space for no reason.

To delete all files related to the VM, right-click the system. Click Manage / Delete From Disk. In the window that opens, click Yes to confirm.

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Download Win95 Drivers

Install Older Versions

FAQ: Stuck on Win95 Virtual Setup

Conclusion

In short, you can install and run Win95 with VMware Workstation 17 Pro on a modern Windows 11 PC. This is a way to explore OS history. Also, the computing nostalgia is fascinating.

Follow the detailed steps for learning or just to relive the past. Also, pay close attention to the points listed. This way, you can build a working Win95 virtual machine.

We should respect the roots of technology while embracing its growth. This experience is enriching for tech fans. The same goes for historians.

If you want to try a different iconic OS, check out our Windows 98 install with VMware guide. That article walks you through the setup step by step. It also covers advanced hardware settings.

Among old operating systems, Windows 2000 also stands out as a nostalgic option. I also recommend checking out our guide on installing Windows 2000 with VMware. This NT-based system has a different architecture from 95. Making comparisons adds value to your learning process.