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Windows 95 in 4.47MB
Silvorgold writes "BOFH of MSBetas.net has been able to compress Windows 95 into 4.47 megabytes, making it the world's first sub-5mb bootable, registry editable, command-promptable, usable version of Windows 95.
He has written a small description about what he did, and also included screenshots (with his digital camera), and don't worry, these aren't fake screenshots."
Because we can... why else?
:)
I think this is pretty cool. Next challenge for them, WinXP under 1 gig
If I point out that you are incorrect, making me a foe does not make you any more correct.
Here's a mirror:
0x0D 0x0A
ou can discuss this at our official community, over at NeoNerds.net.
:)
;)
:) Oh, and don't hot-link to them, my host will kill me. Thanks!
Update: Chat with me in real-time at irc://irc.xbetas.com/Micro95
A FULL set of configuration files; Win.ini, system.ini, Registry, is available in our IRC channel. If you're thinking of building your own version of Micro95, be sure to head over there to find out more information about the project.
Okay, over the past couple of days you will have heard plenty of news about the latest Windows 95 in 10mb, created by Richard L. James from over at Wimborne.org. And then, there was redruM69, who managed to get 95 down to 5.35mb.
However, what you are about to hear is a world first.
Tonight, I created the world's first sub-5mb bootable, registry editable, command- promptable, usable version of Windows 95. And what's more, you can build the system yourself, if you know how.
But if I simply made this claim, you might laugh, you might mock. You might even go "hahaha you lamer". So I'm not just going to make this claim. I'm going to prove it. Here's the screenshots (taken with the camera):
Lemme guess. They're fakes, right? No they're not, but you don't believe me anyway, so here's the directory listing.
Windows 95 4.47mb Directory Listing
Well, I'm afraid that's all I can give you. I'm currently working on loading this into RAM, and also an installer for those of you with a legit copy of Windows 95. Aaaand I think that's all I can do
The system uses UPX compression on the main EXEs and DLLs, btw, in case you were wondering how I got it down past redruM69's 5.35mb. I also removed some extra files, and restored functionality which the other micro 95 builds don't have. I'll try UPXing the entire system and windows folders later, see if I can get it down past 4 or 3mb
My 16mb Office project will continue, as well as myself and Richard's collaboration on the micro 95 with TCP/IP Stack project, for those of you who wish to use this as a small browsing OS, etc. I'll also see if I can restore sound support to this, as I'm aware quite a few of you are interested in using this project as a basis for car MP3 players.
I'd also like to make it quite clear that none of this would have been possible without the help of Richard L James and his Shrinking Windows project. Also worthy of a big mention is redruM69, who sucessfully brought Windows 95 down to 5.35mb.
You can discuss this at our official community, over at NeoNerds.net.
Update: Chat with me in real-time at irc://irc.xbetas.com/Micro95
A FULL set of configuration files; Win.ini, system.ini, Registry, is available in our IRC channel. If you're thinking of building your own version of Micro95, be sure to head over there to find out more information about the project.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the screenshots
BOFH
Does anyone have a mirror of the site? I can't even get to google's cache of.
I don't think any company would trust Windows 95 as an embeded solution. WindowsCE already covers that area and works much more efficiently. This is more of a just a fun trick to do with Windows 95 than anything.
Also, considering how many files they removed from the system, I would be suprised if anything could run with all those missing DLL files.
Reminds me of that tiny copy of Windows 3.1 that came on the Windows 95 disc. Used only during installation, a certain cab file contained all the necessary files to run 3.1 apps. All one needed to do was decompress the file, copy the Program Manager or any other shell program to the same directory, and add it into the win.ini (or was it the system.ini?) file. The entire thing was so small, it fit comfortably onto a 1.44 meg floppy.
I think the file was user.cab, although I'm not sure. Guess I gotta dig up that old 95 install disc.
"Come on, let's go drink till we can't feel feelings anymore."
Now if it can run on my old PC I can finally start playing some of those old DOS games that I like. Toonstruck for example
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
From the site you linked to.
10M/sec on a P133.
Assmuing it was used on everything, then the _entire_ OS can be decompressed in less than half a _second_ on a lowly P133.
I don't think speed is anything to worry about here.
What I find telling as well is that the Mac OSX calculator.app is SIX times the size of the total RAM in the first Mac, and over twice the size of a complete OS install.
That's the "cruft" of a new software framework... it's a fact of computer life. The original Mac had 128 KB of RAM and a single internal 400 KB 3.5" floppy drive. A few people had an external floppy or hard drive for further storage. These days Apple doesn't even sell a machine with less than 128 MB of RAM and 30 GB of HDD space.
The original Mac OS and bundled software was written between 1981 - 1983 in assembly as well as heavily optimized compiled higher level languages. Every byte counted. The team's goal was to outgun the Lisa with 1/8 as much ram and no hard drive. (And way less than what the Xerox Star had). They pulled it off, though. With a single floppy a person could have the full OS and a couple apps. By the time postscript support and networking was added in early 1985, two floppy drives were required for enough space for OS, drivers, apps, and storage.
used to be very popular on the Amiga, as were ramdisks. I remember back before I had a hark disk having a single compressed boot floppy that would copyitself into the RAD:, which was a recoverable and bootable ramdisk. the system startup scripts would check to see if the boot volume was RAD: or a floppy and take the appropriate action. After the initial load system reboots were very fast. This also made life with only a single or if you were lucky dual floppy drives very much easier.
smalllinux and TinyX. google should find them.
A big chunk of the space are used in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
Volume in drive C has no label
Volume Serial Number is 0E1F-1EE3
Directory of C:\WINDOWS
. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
.. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
DESKTOP <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p DESKTOP
FONTS <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p FONTS
IOS LOG <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p IOS.LOG
PIF <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p PIF
RECENT <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p RECENT
SYSTEM <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p SYSTEM
TEMP <DIR> 08-06-03 10:36p TEMP
WIN386 SWP 0 08-07-03 4:15a WIN386.SWP
STARTM~1 <DIR> 08-06-03 11:08p Start Menu
SHELLI~1 <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p ShellIconCache
WIN INI 204 08-07-03 1:53a WIN.INI
SYSTEM INI 209 08-07-03 4:15a SYSTEM.INI
COMMAND PIF 967 08-07-03 4:14a COMMAND.PIF
EXITTO~1 PIF 967 08-07-03 2:15a Exit To Dos.PIF
DOSPRMPT PIF 995 08-06-03 4:53p DOSPRMPT.PIF
IFSHLP SYS 3,708 08-24-96 11:11a IFSHLP.SYS
WIN COM 24,503 08-24-96 11:11a Win.com
HIMEM SYS 33,191 08-24-96 11:11a HIMEM.SYS
REGEDIT EXE 68,608 08-24-96 11:11a Regedit.exe
EXPLORER EXE 91,648 08-24-96 11:11a EXPLORER.EXE
COMMAND COM 93,812 08-24-96 11:11a COMMAND.COM
12 file(s) 318,812 bytes
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP
. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
.. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
0 file(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\FONTS
. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
.. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
VGAOEM FON 5,168 08-24-96 11:11a VGAOEM.FON
VGAFIX FON 5,360 08-24-96 11:11a VGAFIX.FON
VGASYS FON 7,296 08-24-96 11:11a VGASYS.FON
MARLETT TTF 17,412 08-24-96 11:11a MARLETT.TTF
SERIFE FON 57,936 07-11-95 9:50a SERIFE.FON
SSERIFE FON 64,544 07-11-95 9:50a SSERIFE.FON
6 file(s) 157,716 bytes
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\IOS.LOG
. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
.. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
0 file(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\PIF
. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
.. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
0 file(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\RECENT
. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
.. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
0 file(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\ShellIconCache
. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
.. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
0 file(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu
. <DIR> 08-06-03 11:08p
.. <DIR> 08-06-03 11:08p
PROGRAMS <DIR> 08-06-03 11:08p Programs
0 file(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs
. <DIR> 08-06-03 11:08p
.. <DIR> 08-06-03 11:08p
STARTUP <DIR> 08-06-03 11:08p StartUp
0 file(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp
. <DIR> 08-06-03 11:08p
.. <DIR> 08-06-03 11:08p
0 file(s) 0 bytes
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
.. <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p
COLOR <DIR> 08-06-03 10:34p COLOR
IOSUBSYS <DIR> 08-06-03 10:35p IOSUBSYS
VMM32 <DIR> 08-06-03 10:36p VMM32
SYSTEM DRV 2,288 08-24-96 11:11a SYSTEM.DRV
MMSOUND DRV 3,104 08-24-96 11:11a MMSOUND.DRV
NT
you'll find gigs of crap in the *cache folders. disable automatic system recovery and file auditing (I forget what the actual services are called) and clear out those directories. look at a file listing of your hd from biggest to smallest and you'll notice plenty of redundant .cab and .dll files that are just plain FAT. search the net for a slimmed down registry, or use a recursive reg cleaner on your own reg (recommended if its not a fresh install) and viola a relatively small XP install
bite my glorious golden ass.
Look up WinPE, or Windows Preinstall Environment. Boots from CD-ROM. Contrary to the name, it's a full NT kernel (WinXP), shell, with GUI and networking. Basically WinXP without explorer and all the other shiny things.
Don't forget they had some stuff on ROMS, somewhere about 1MB I think.
Is the idea to have the smallest possible OS capable of doing x or y?
check...
Is the idea to have the smallest possible OS that looks like Windows 95?
check...
Is the idea to have the smallest possible 'distribution' of Windows 95 attainable by just removing unecessary features?
i agree with the parent here.
Do we want smallest in terms of RAM usage, or smallest in terms of disk space? What do we then if we run it on a RAM disk? Which space counts?
no prob, bob.
Honestly, this post seemed like a good idea when I started typing it. Now I'm apprehensive to hit the submit button. Maybe that's a bad sign...
"Come on, let's go drink till we can't feel feelings anymore."
Why don't you just use DOS which fits on a single floppy ?
Apparently there are other folks that do this for Win98 and WinME as well. They provide some good arguments (marketing, that is :) for why this is better than WinCE.
The litepc folks also have utility called 98lite professional that removes all web integration from Win98 - just to show it was doable (at about the time MS said it couldn't be done)
We all know that MSBetas is down at the moment, BOFH (the head admin) will be working on that soon, until then, the main discussion is at: http://www.neonerds.net/viewthread.php?tid=377 (requires registration to post) and there's also an IRC room available: irc.ufnet.org or irc.xbetas.net i think, and the room is #micro95
Open the file C:\WINDOWS\inf\sysoc.inf in Notepad. Each line is a Windows component (not Program) that could appear in the Add/Remove list in the Control Panel. Delete the word "hide" for each component you want to show up. Now go back to Add/Remove Windows Components, and look at all the stuff Windows will uninstall for you.
Of course, if you're really serious about purging as much junk as you can, most of the deleting will still have to be done manually.
Don't forget they had some stuff on ROMS, somewhere about 1MB I think.
1 MB? Not by a long shot. The 128K Mac had 64KB ROM.
JP
The copy of XP I'm working with at work at the moment is 14MB. It boots to a command prompt and works. No hackery required; XP Embedded lets you do this. =)
Torne
I have a Win-95 computer, used for all my engineering work until last year and now only 2-4 times per week. I never loaded games, and was very careful about programs I added. However I used it for circuit analysis, PCBoard layout and other complex programs including photoshop. Except for Netscape and LView open at the same time, it almost never crashes or hangs-up. It is one of the earlier WIN-95 versions, and I never upgraded or added patches. I run Norton's crashguard and Zonealarm and Karenware PTCookie to keep most junk off.
Since I have the same problem free performance on that particular Win-95 with Cyrix P166 as I do on Win-2000(Athlon1.8G)at work, I am convinced that a small version of W-95 might be a very good idea for those people who only use their computer for email and for searching/buying on the internet.
Am I the only one who still used Win-95?
I find it rather interesting that nobody has yet mentioned litePC and their EOS product - they got Windows ME down to less than 32MB _with_ Internet Explorer. They also make 98lite, which lets you easily install stripped down, but fully functional builds of Win98 and ME. I hear ME is actually pretty good after "liteing" it. XPlite is still in progress.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
--Aristotle
Well of course, without the right cable, I would have said screw it and done it the same way as you. I'm a cheapass.
As far as not having windows systems around, well, I don't think you should need it. All you would need to do would be:
1.Put dos with interlnk on the laptop if it isn't there already
2.Boot your linux system with the cdrom drive to a DOS floppy with cdrom drivers and interserv.
3.Transfer your files across a nice parallel cable.
Parallel cable transfer should be 300kb per second I think.
Of course, if you don't have DOS stuff hanging around either, that's another reason to just say "screw it." I am assuming you did though, because what else would be on the laptop to start with?
I didn't crack down and buy one of those laptop HDD converters until two weeks ago when someone wanted me to recover gigs of data off of a toasted laptop that wouldn't boot for more than a few minutes at a time, so backup over network or cable was impossible. I had a quite old laptop, but due to it's age it couldn't understand the very large, very expensive, out-of-1-year-warranty laptop's HDD. The adaptor was my only choice really.
A word to the wise about those, they don't connect like you would normally think!!! The laptop HDD converter I got, the pins that were for power, were FARTHEST from the red-striped pin 1 on the desktop ide cable. The connector was NOT keyed in any way and it was possible to connect the adaptor to the laptop hard drive off by a whole column of pins so that you would be applying power to data pins!!!!!
I didn't want to let the magic smoke out of the disk, so I tested it first with the 600 meg hard drive from my old laptop. Still, I was very very nervous. I've caused people to lose data before, and it's not a good feeling at all. Thankfully, it all went just fine.