Retro Install: Windows
Hello everyone, today we'll be traveling even further back in time to the early days of personal computing with Windows 3.0. Released in 1990, Windows 3.0 was a major update to Microsoft's operating system and marked a turning point in the history of personal computing. With the release of Windows 3.0, Microsoft finally achieved a level of user-friendliness that made personal computers accessible to a wider audience. This was achieved through the introduction of new features such as the Program Manager, which made it easy for users to launch and manage applications, and the File Manager, which provided an easy-to-use interface for file management. As we install Windows 3.0, we can reflect on how much has changed since the early 90s, when personal computing was just beginning to take off. It's amazing to think about how much progress has been made since then, and how we now take for granted features that were once groundbreaking. Join us as we travel back in time and explore the early days of personal computing with Windows 3.0. We'll experience the nostalgia of using classic software and appreciate the advances in computing technology that have taken place since then. Let's take a trip down memory lane and dive into the world of Windows 3.0!
To begin the installation process for Windows 3.0, you will need to obtain the distribution files, which are contained on 6 floppy disks. You can download the distribution from the link provided below and extract the files to a designated location on your computer.

Windows 3.0

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 3.0 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 3.0 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 3.0 versions were distributed on diskettes. Though it is feasible to install Windows 3.0 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 -U
Your new INSTALL directory now holds the contents of all of 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.

Configuration

Use default settings

When the setup program is finished, and you are ready to start Windows 3.0, 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;
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
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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