How to install on Vbox.
Create a virtual machine(OS: DOS, RAM:64MB, Space:500MB)
In V.machine settings on the tab System turn off the upper tick.
In tab COM-ports tick "Enable Serial Port".
Installing MS-DOS 7.1, reboot and enable Win-PreNT ISO.
Navigate to D drive, and type the commands:
cd setup
After make an empty diskette file with WinImage. Format. Then type:
makedisk boot A:
Then turn off. Add SCSI controller(remove IDE controller), add ISO to Port 0.
In Attributes of SCSI controller switch from LsiLogic to BusLogic.
Boot.
The "Portative loader" menu will open, where you need to choose SCSI controller, in which is our ISO. And then, if you will be lucky, the Graphical Install Mode will launch, which is the easiest.
(Info may be not correct, as it was badly translated from old-dos.ru website. And sorry for my mistakes in English.)
Hope that will work(not sure in which ISO-s...)
Where did this NT 3.1 1991-10 ISO come from? It's different from the one on BetaArchive (different/modern format, different layout, different files), but unlike that one it doesn't want to boot in emulators.
@DeFacto said:
Where did this NT 3.1 1991-10 ISO come from? It's different from the one on BetaArchive (different/modern format, different layout, different files), but unlike that one it doesn't want to boot in emulators.
Good to know I'm not the only one having problems with this ISO. Trying to open the graphical installer with the October '91 ISO here gives me a BSOD error on both VirtualBox 5.2 and 86Box, I ended up having to use the text-based installer to install the OS. I did get the graphical installer running with the December '91 ISO on 86Box, though.
@jonirob said:
The October 1991 and December 1991 (239) betas are named Windows NT Version 3.2 in WINVER.
I've installed the October 1991 build using the included batch script in i386/setup/install. After a successful installation, it shows a windows 95 start screen then dumps me to a c:\ prompt. Is there way to start the Windows GUI?
Is the Oct 1991 ISO on this website actually the December build or am I missing something? Many of the files in the ISO are dated November and December 1991.
On second thought, it seems like a was-installed October build put back into ISO form, as the dates for the system files are still October, but there's a WIN.INI file dated 05-08-2011.
It's not, it's just in the High Sierra format, which preceded the ISO9660 format we normally use, so a lot of programs can't handle it. It should work in emulators and hypervisors, and IsoBuster, ImgBurn and Daemon Tools can also handle it.
I think the build 328 listed here is just build 340, as it has the same date as the build 340 downloads and it's a common mislabel due to a kernel file that happened to be version 3.10.328 (not sure if it was exactly that but you get my point, it can be misleading).
You are correct. 319 and 328 are common mislabels of build 340 due to the file versions of NTOSKRNL and NTKRNLMP. The actual build number is stored inside the kernel IIRC and can be retrieved with an API call, which is what Winver does. They fixed this so the kernel's file version matched the actual version in NT4.
I am not sure where you all are getting your versions from but I have an original March 1993 beta of NT 3.1 and it's version is 528 according to winver.
@chromedome45 528 is the updated RTM build from September 1993 and later. The March beta is definitely build 404, so I think it's much more likely that you're mixing things up.
This is quite interesting. Although it seems that Microsoft had only recently moved to "Windows NT" - there are quite a few OS/2 references in there. (And it resembles Windows 3.0 far more than 3.1)
In my first IT job, I wound up going the MS route because they were an early adopter of Windows NT. We were running a lot of Lan Manager for Lotus Notes, and the rest of the file shares were on Novell, with MSMail and of course All-in-1 on the VAX as well as a SNADS gateway to the mainframe. Lots of weird stuff, but I do remember distinctly our PDC was a build of Windows NT 3.1 "Gold". I think it was an RTM build, or maybe just before but was sent to us for free by MS to eval. We only ran 3.1 for a little while as the print spooler would blue-screen the machines. We only had a very few servers on 3.1, but we ran 3.5 for a long time early as well, before 3.51 came out. The good old days... :-)
Windows NT 3.x NT 3.1 Pre-Release
Comments
How to install on Vbox.
Create a virtual machine(OS: DOS, RAM:64MB, Space:500MB)
In V.machine settings on the tab System turn off the upper tick.
In tab COM-ports tick "Enable Serial Port".
Installing MS-DOS 7.1, reboot and enable Win-PreNT ISO.
Navigate to D drive, and type the commands:
cd setup
After make an empty diskette file with WinImage. Format. Then type:
makedisk boot A:
Then turn off. Add SCSI controller(remove IDE controller), add ISO to Port 0.
In Attributes of SCSI controller switch from LsiLogic to BusLogic.
Boot.
The "Portative loader" menu will open, where you need to choose SCSI controller, in which is our ISO. And then, if you will be lucky, the Graphical Install Mode will launch, which is the easiest.
(Info may be not correct, as it was badly translated from old-dos.ru website. And sorry for my mistakes in English.)
Hope that will work(not sure in which ISO-s...)
You can now install this on 86Box and PCem using a 486 machine, although your keyboard doesn't work.
Where did this NT 3.1 1991-10 ISO come from? It's different from the one on BetaArchive (different/modern format, different layout, different files), but unlike that one it doesn't want to boot in emulators.
Good to know I'm not the only one having problems with this ISO. Trying to open the graphical installer with the October '91 ISO here gives me a BSOD error on both VirtualBox 5.2 and 86Box, I ended up having to use the text-based installer to install the OS. I did get the graphical installer running with the December '91 ISO on 86Box, though.
Me and someone else had the same issue in 86Box, but the BA ISO worked fine.
The October 1991 and December 1991 (239) betas are named Windows NT Version 3.2 in WINVER.
I've installed the October 1991 build using the included batch script in i386/setup/install. After a successful installation, it shows a windows 95 start screen then dumps me to a c:\ prompt. Is there way to start the Windows GUI?
For the graphical setup there is a copy of Windows 3.1 10-1991 on old-dos.ru. Worked in 86box
Is the Oct 1991 ISO on this website actually the December build or am I missing something? Many of the files in the ISO are dated November and December 1991.
On second thought, it seems like a was-installed October build put back into ISO form, as the dates for the system files are still October, but there's a WIN.INI file dated 05-08-2011.
It's October mixed with December's setup, that's why it doesn't boot.
Ok, updated the October 91 download.
https://archive.org/details/windows-nt-3.1-pdk-1.196-sept.-1991
It is indeed. I believe it was ReflectiaX who released it.
https://betawiki.net/wiki/Windows_NT_3.1_build_196.1
Indeed. I was given perhaps the same 3.1 silver. It proved to be an excellent server for Point of Sale systems we were building, based on Btrieve.
No more Novell after that.