[offer] Windows 1.01 promo [5.25] (SCP, IMZ)

callmejack

This version 1.01 of Windows, badged as "promotional sample" looks the same as the "normal" 1.01 version already on winworldpc (same files and timestamp) but it has something weird which made me choose to post it anyway.

https://mega.nz/file/DewHwSba#Z0exYJyAemahKXDTBVyIGoaOn8yHRovaVoGdEzDlqMs

Each floppy has a bad boot record which makes it unreadable with Winimage (same problem with IMG created from SCP dumps). In order to make workable IMZ dumps I made a copy of the floppies with SCP and ran norton disk doctor on the copy to fix the boot record.



It could be a mastering error or it may have been modified by previous owner, what do you think ?

tarlabnor

Each floppy has a bad boot record

Moreover, boot sectors are infected with Michelangelo virus. Therefore it needs to be cured or overwritten with a normal boot sector in any case.

The original boot sector is saved in track 0, side 1, sector 3 (or cylinder 0, head 1, sector 3, which is the same).

ibmpc5150

Thanks very much.

But all boot sectors are replaced by IBM DOS 4.0.
Here is fixed (recovered) disk image that is same as WinWorld's one.

Now it is verified.

callmejack

wow ! I didn't expect to have virus infected floppies (first time in a long time). I removed the link so that the are not distributed forward.
Thanks for your help.

tarlabnor

No need to worry, it's an old DOS boot-sector virus. It's unable to work on any NT-based Windows and definitely cannot harm modern OS.

SomeGuy

Not too strange, the boot sector virus clobbered the BSP geometry data that WinImage needs to read the disk - but DOS would still have figured out it was 360k and read it.

Microsoft also commonly just slapped a "promotional" sticker on the full version of a program to give away as freebies at events.

Were there any documents that came with these disks that might indicate where they were obtained originally?

callmejack

@tarlabnor is the virus itself present on the floppy disks (and possibly able to replicate on old systems) or were the floppy only damaged by the virus?

callmejack

@SomeGuy unfortunately there are no documents explaining the origin of this copy.

tarlabnor

@callmejack
The virus itself presents in boot sectors on all floppies. So in theory it still could run on old hardware and do some harm if the system date is March, 6th.

Anyways, removing the virus and restoring FAT areas where the original boot sector is stored turns images literally into this release:
winworldpc.com/download/c3856570-2c79-e280-a611-c3a4c2ac5a54