Retro Install: Windows
Hello everyone, today we're going to take a trip back in time to the early days of personal computing. We'll be installing Windows 1.x, the first version of the Windows operating system that was released in the mid-1980s. This is an opportunity to reminisce about the simpler times when computers were just starting to become mainstream, and we can look back on how far technology has come since then. Join us as we explore the past and take a walk down memory lane with this installation of Windows 1.x.
To begin the installation process for Windows 1.x, you will need to obtain the distribution files, which are contained on 7 floppy disks. You can download the distribution from the link provided below and extract the files to a designated location on your computer.

Windows 1.x

Now press on "Create empty bundle" link.

This will create empty file system for your Windows installation.
To configure your DOSBox-X settings for Windows installation, look for the DOSBox-X configuration panel on the left side of your screen. Within this panel, you'll find a selection of built-in templates that you can use to set up your Windows installation. Simply click on one of the buttons to select the template that best suits your needs.



These templates are designed to make the installation process as straightforward as possible, so be sure to choose the one that matches your Windows installation requirements.
To start the actual installation process press the play button. If you cannot locate the button, it may be necessary to close the configuration panel by clicking on the button with this icon:
Now you have clean dos installation with empty hard drive C:. Let's mount Windows 1.x installation files to DOSBox-X. To do this press on file system icon to open file system explorer. On left side the file explorer will appear. Please use add directory icon to add directory with extracted Windows 1.x files.
DOSBox-X has a file system cache, which means that we need to remount our C: drive. Execute the following command to remount the hard drive: 
MOUNT -U C
MOUNT C .
C:
DIR
You should now see a file listing of your C: drive. It should contain the Windows installation files. If it does, you can continue with installation.
Windows 1.x versions were distributed on diskettes, which ranged from 3 to 7 in number, depending on the media type and Windows version. Though it is feasible to install Windows 1.x by using floppy images in DOSBox-X, it can be quite cumbersome to swap disks for a significant number of disks. To avoid this, it is advisable to create a directory named "INSTALL" and copy the contents of ALL the diskettes into this directory. By doing so, you can bypass the need to switch disks during the installation process.
In this example, DOSBox-X itself is used to mount a disk image, copy its contents into a folder, unmount the disk image and do the next. 
MD INSTALL
IMGMOUNT A DISK01.IMG -U
XCOPY A:\. C:\INSTALL /S /Y
IMGMOUNT A DISK02.IMG -U
XCOPY A:\. C:\INSTALL /S /Y
IMGMOUNT A DISK03.IMG -U
XCOPY A:\. C:\INSTALL /S /Y
IMGMOUNT A DISK04.IMG -U
XCOPY A:\. C:\INSTALL /S /Y
IMGMOUNT A DISK05.IMG -U
XCOPY A:\. C:\INSTALL /S /Y
IMGMOUNT A DISK06.IMG -U
XCOPY A:\. C:\INSTALL /S /Y
IMGMOUNT A DISK07.IMG -U
XCOPY A:\. C:\INSTALL /S /Y
IMGMOUNT A -U
Your new INSTALL directory now holds the contents of all 7 floppy disks.
You now need to mount your "INSTALL" directory as the A: drive in DOSBox-X, and start the installation. 
MOUNT A INSTALL
A:
SETUP.EXE
The setup program will ask several question relating to mouse, display, printer and the keyboard layout.

Installation Directory

Simply press Enter to continue as prompted.

Mouse selection

Select option 2 "Microsoft Mouse (Bus/Serial)" and press Enter to continue as prompted.

Graphics Adapter selection

Select option 6 "EGA (more than 64K) with Enhanced Color Display" as shown below, and press Enter to continue as prompted.

When the setup program is finished, and you are ready to start Windows 1.x, but first, let's modify this bundle to automatically start the Windows on boot. We need to change the DOSBox-X config file. To do this, open the file system explorer and press the restart button to rebuild the bundle. Scroll down to [autoexec] section, and enter following script: 
@ECHO OFF
MOUNT C .
C:
SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\WINDOWS;
C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM
Let's get started with the emulation and enjoy Windows! If you feel like the mouse is moving too fast or the sound is too loud, don't worry - simply click on the gears icon and adjust the settings to your liking.
If you are satisfied with your Windows installation, then you can build and download the js-dos bundle to load it directly into js-dos. To do this, open the file system explorer and click on the icon.
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