Installing and using older Windows OS's in VMware Fusion.

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Jun 21, 2011
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Your Mac's Specs
20-inch iMac (Early 2008), 2.66 GHz Processor, 4 GB RAM, Snow Leopard 10.6.8
I've posted this to the VMware forum, but no one's replied there for weeks! Other people have had similar issues since 2007 and no one seems to be able to figure it out!!! I know floppy disks are obsolete and anything older than Windows XP may seem useless to own, but VMware claims to support everything as far back as DOS and Windows 3.1. I've run out of patients and I just need this stuff to work!


1. I NEED the drivers for the SmartDisk USB Floppy Drive (Titanium Edition) for Windows 3.1 (doubt it exists, but still...), Windows 95, and Windows 98. Every download site I can find just links back to the SmartDisk website, which no longer exists!! I have hundreds of disks I need to sift through and I DO NOT want to have to convert ALL on them to disk images just to get them to load!!!
(I originally needed the floppy drive to install said OS's, but VMware only recognizes it as just another USB device and I can't boot from it... If an OS is listed as "supported", don't you think installing it the logical way would be "supported" too? ...with out the need of extra steps? If VMware would just recognize the floppy drive the same way it does with the internal CD/DVD drive, things would be so much easier!)

2. Windows 95 wont even recognize the virtual floppy drive. I'm able to boot from it in DOS, but once Windows loads up all I get is an "A:/ not accessible. The device is not ready." error. No matter what disk image I use or how many times I reinstall Windows (using floppy disk images) I can not get it to work!

3. The Soundblaster 16 driver for Windows 3.1 keeps giving me that stupid "Wrong base I/O" message during the install! I've added EVERYTHING people say to add to the vmx file, but nothing works!
(Again, if an OS is listed as "supported", why does something as basic as sound require the user to install third party drivers or manually alter VMware's code? Its the same for most pre2k OS's! Why not just include all the necessary drivers and proper "VMware tools" from the start?)
 
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Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
No wonder you are not getting responses ~ the age of the dinosaurs has finished alas.
 
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D
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Your Mac's Specs
20-inch iMac (Early 2008), 2.66 GHz Processor, 4 GB RAM, Snow Leopard 10.6.8
No wonder you are not getting responses ~ the age of the dinosaurs has finished alas.

Yes, I know, it's all obsolete!!! I happen to like experimenting with "vintage" software, it's a little hobby of mine!!! It's fun and it brings back some memories!!! THATS BESIDE THE POINT!!!! VMware claims to "support" it, and I want to use it!!! ...no, I NEED to use it!!! As I said, I have HUNDREDS of old disks I need to go through and I'M GETTING ****** (RATHER ANGRY) that seemingly SIMPLE problems are being out-right IGNORED!!!!
 

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