Windows 3.1

[Teunis]

I have been using QuattroPro 5 under Windows 3.11 in the past. With QPro5 I saved a number of data files in the compressed WQ! format, that - unfortunately - can only be opened by the same QPro5. Hence I try to install Win 3.11 using Virtual Box 4.1.8, Oracle's free VM ware.
The problem is that Win 3.11 can only be installed under DOS (6.22 or 7.1), so that has to be the first step. Is there somebody that could give me a complete step-by-step tutorial on how to get Qpro5 installed in this way? There are various Youtube videos on how to install Win3.1, but they relate to a very old version of Virtual Box, so the screens and commands shown are useless to me, apart from the bad video quality. Any ideas are very welcome! Once I have reconverted the WQ! files to the regular WQ1, I delete QPro again.

Regards, Teunis

[stuck]

Have you come across this page in your searching?
http://partnerweb.vmware.com/GOSIG/home.html
The Win 3.1 link there takes you to:
http://partnerweb.vmware.com/GOSIG/MSDO ... _3_1x.html
Anything there that might help you?

Ken

[Teunis]

Ken,

Thanks for the links. Unfortunately they refer to VMware, not to Oracle's freeware VM VirtualBox. So even the step 2 "Power on the virtual machine and begin installing MS-DOS", baffles me completely.
It looks like I have to change from VirtualBox to VMware. But I installed a virtual WinXP-32 perfectly with VirtualBox, on my Win7 HP-64 machine. The problem is that I can't get it right with DOS6.22, and Win 3.1 after that.

Regards, Teunis

[Teunis]

I have come across a new promising link that explains how to install Windows 3.1 in the freeware DOSbox. I use the latter already with success for pure DOS programs, but could not get it to work with Win 3.1. I'll keep the forum posted.
Regards, Teunis

[Claude]

Assuming you still have all the setup disks, try Microsofts free Virtual PC. I run Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS 6.22 on it without problems, except that when you win in the hearts game, the cards come down so fast, you can't see them. Nice running it on 8Gb of RAM

[Teunis]

Thanks Claude,

I saw it, but it doesn't mention Win 3.1 nor DOS 6.22, so I assumed it would not work. I'll give it a try first.

Regards, Teunis

[Claude]

Assuming you've got the setup media, you can install any operating system you like, although, I must admit, I haven't tried CP/M ...

[John Gray]

I though CP/M worked on the Zilog Z80 chip, not on Intel?!

[HansV]

That's probably why Claude didn't try it...

[John Gray]

He's a pretty smart chap!

[Teunis]

Claude,

I got VPC to run with DOS 7.1. But how to install Win 3.1? I can only see drive C: which has command.com and D: which has some other DOS files. How to get to my CD drive? and or my Host (WIN7) D: drive?

On a similar note: I succesfully installed Win XP under VPC, but the same question remains: how to access my CD and Host drives?

Of course in both instances from the guest (DOS, WinXP) system.

Regards, Teunis

[Teunis]

Finally, using Microsoft's Virtual PC....
It took me quite some trial-and-error and time, but I managed to install Win3.1 and later also Quattro Por 5 (for DOS and Win 3.x). The problem was a) terminology, b) where the drives were located and named, c) to be able to mount a virtual drive (vhc) so as to copy the correct files onto, directly from within Win7-64HP, and d) last but not least to find the correct versions. As it turned out the version of QuattroPro5 I had a license for in 1994 did not want to install. Luckily I found on Vetusware, a site with old DOS programs, an installable version. So now I am even able to restore those WQ! files, the Quattro Pro files that were saved using the built-in Queeze utility.

Regards, Teunis

[HansV]

A lot of work! But I'm glad you finally succeeded. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

[HansV]

For others reading this: apart from the dubious legality of the concept of "abandonware", the site where Teunis got Quattro Pro from has a shady reputation - some users report malicious scripts, browser exploits etc. Beware!