[kokiri]

The Official Mindows Thread

--Mindows Mission Statement--

Windows 9x is at core quite satisfying as an operating system, but many of us use only a small fraction of the total functionality, yet pay the price in terms of disk space, memory resources, and "integration" of a browser or other bundled programs. The intent of Winimization is to offer a tiny Windows installation that can be run with or without a registry, and is therefore portable across a wide variety of ibm compatible machines.

It is expected that the installations developed in these pages will be of particular interest to those wishing to install Win9x on legacy machines or dedicated machines/embedded systems. It is hoped that feedback to this project will result in even more satisfying results than I have achieved to date.

www.winimize.com

This post has been edited by kokiri: 04 November 2005 - 11:22 AM

[SiMoNsAyS]

tested and aproved.

used win98 and win95 (spanish). size of drive c: 23,9 mb. free system resources 99% ().

this is without drivers but i'll give this a shot on a real system, thx for sharing

[lleoliveira]

Hi,
I really think Mindows a great project, but i`m having some problems
1- I can`t start Desktop Properties even with the 4 files placed in System directory
desk.cpl
setupapi.dll
olesvr.dll
olecli.dll
2- I installed my graphic driver, but nothing happened. Maybe because Desktop Properties
3- I can`t use the www.windowsupdate.62nds.com service With Mindows

If someone knows how to solve this problem please reply the message
Thanks

[LLXX]

I remember someone made it down to ~4MB... but anything less than 100 is good enough for me.

A dependency analyser is very helpful in deciding which files are needed or not, so it can be found which DLLs are needed by programs or other DLLs.

This post has been edited by LLXX: 07 December 2005 - 07:34 PM

[lleoliveira]

Quote

Hi,
I really think Mindows a great project, but i`m having some problems
1- I can`t start Desktop Properties even with the 4 files placed in System directory
desk.cpl
setupapi.dll
olesvr.dll
olecli.dll
2- I installed my graphic driver, but nothing happened. Maybe because Desktop Properties
3- I can`t use the www.windowsupdate.62nds.com service With Mindows

If someone knows how to solve this problem please reply the message
Thanks

To Mindows Creator:
After install Mindows i saw some problems that i`ll try to give some ideas to solve it
I did a list with missing Mindows files that are necessary to make new programs run without problems:
Wow32.dll
Oleacc.dll
Msoss.dll
Crypt32.dll
Oledlg.dll
Msvcrt20.dll
Olepro32.dll
Riched20.dll
Mfc42.dll
Msvcp60.dll
Msacm32.dll
You could add that last version of these files. Not being necessary to register.
The problem with www.windowsupdate.62nds.com service was happening because a missing file called wow32.dll
You could add updated version of the following files too:
Wininet.dll
Shlwapi.dll
Urlmon.dll
Url.dll
I didn`t find a solution to this problem:
1- After install graphic driver, and sound driver nothing happens, doens`t work

Quote

11/16/2005 - Have heard from several users wanting to add Desktop Properties to the Mindows installation. The following files should be added to the \system directory for this purpose :
desk.cpl
setupapi.dll
olesvr.dll
olecli.dll

Still doesn`t work

[smashly]

Nice work on Mindows , works pretty sweet for an 18.5MB installed OS.

Winrar 3.20 failed on finalizing it's install:
Result: Able to use winrar's shell to view archives .. but it use ms cab tools to extract.

Via Chipset Drivers all failed from installer , unpacked and manually installed they succeeded with a bit of fidgeting around.

Netwok driver failed to install from an installer.
Workaround: Unpacked the installer agent on another pc and gathered the .inf and needed files and manually installed the driverand edited the registry , worked great after that.
But there's a bit of a bug when you want to add drivers, the browse button doesn't work when you need to point to a .inf file. Workaround: was to type the path manually. (there goes the 98 interface we know).

Same result in my audio driver as the network driver , same work around

Same result Mass Storage USB failed, same workaround as network and audio driver.

Nvidia Older version unpacked graphic driver worked , due to lack of desktop properties it threw a warning but initiated anyway.

Desktop properties still wouldn't work even with the recomended added files.

Basically any installer agent will fail to install due to missing/unreg'd needed files.
Spose that keeps the system clean ...lol

As lleoliveira said about those required files , I found their about the same files I had replaced myself.
regeit was another file I added back as well , due to I needed to edit the registry on regular basis to make my drivers work and make mindows the way I like.

Also patched my 95 explorer.exe so the Mindows 98 shows up the side of the Start Menu instead of Windows 95 ..lol

I tested Mindows on a Celeron 1.3 ,512MB PC100 Ram, GF2 Vid card , GA-6VTXE-A Mobo
Also tested it on a softmodded stock Xbox emulated in Qemu and it worked great as a 18.5MB OS can.
Looking forward to future versions
Keep up the good work.


Thankyou and Cheers

[lleoliveira]

Quote

Desktop properties still wouldn't work even with the recomended added files.

Now i know all necessary files to run Desktop properties
Make sure that these files are in system directory
CFGMGR32.DLL
DESK.CPL
DESKCP16.CPL
LZ32.DLL
OLECLI.DLL
OLESVR.DLL
SETUPAPI.DLL
SYSTHUNK.DLL
SYSCLASS.DLL

Quote

But there's a bit of a bug when you want to add drivers, the browse button doesn't work when you need to point to a .inf file. Workaround: was to type the path manually. (there goes the 98 interface we know).

I have the same problem

Quote

due to I needed to edit the registry on regular basis to make my drivers work and make mindows the way I like.

What registry entried did you change to make your drivers work?
I still have problems with graphic and sound driver
If you can help me...

Quote

As lleoliveira said about those required files , I found their about the same files I had replaced myself.

There are other files that are essencial to OS:
Riched32.dll
If you don`t want to install directx, you can place these files and have Directx advantages without install it
Ddhelp.exe
Dxapi.sys
Ddraw.vxd
Dsound.dll
Ddraw.dll

[Molecule]

IMHO this mindows idea is an interesting and important project ...

My most recent crash to wit, I now regret not "sticking it out" to build a small bootdisk (zip, usb, cd, etc.) with a meaningful set of LFN-vfat utilities, to save files on a good hdd lying behing a frozen gui

In the hope that it may help someone, who will already be way ahead of me in finding out exactly which files are needed ... I'm posting a rather long dirprint, listing the files on an old "rescue disk" (quote unquote) which was created by Norton System Works 2001. (Norton's SW 2003 downgraded the option to build a zip disk...)

Since I can't upload a 23k zip here for those who want it, so I'll try a cut and paste into a '"code" box, but the text length is roughly 130k. For those who don't need it, sorry for the long scroll.

[code]
====
>this is a directory listing of an old bootable w98se Iomega Zip100
> it was first created as a "Rescue Disk" when I installed Norton Utilities from System Works 2001
----
>in this example the zip100 is a std scsizip device on an adaptec 2940
>it is assigned to the letter "X:"
>a zip100 is bootable (recognized as HDD-0) if mobo bios is set to boot from scsi device
>in scsi bios setup, tag zip drive as bootdrive and set "treat removable media as fixed"
----
>I'm sure there's *alot* of fat in build which could be trimmed out, like the ancient antivirus etc.
>if this might help "find that one file" they need, then great ... if not, please ignore ...
>eventually, I hope to build a w98se zip100 disk installed with a basic set of management utils:
> disk & memory editor, hex editor, partitionmagic, defragger, file manager w/ viewers + pdf, text editor
>every system should have one!
----
autoexec.bat, msdos.sys etc, below. config.sys = nul
====
Directory of: X:\*.*
12/11/2005 12:18am Sorted by Long Name
Levels: All Date: Modified

X:\
{D0A57~1 {D0A57965-B71A-4A35-8D1E-E2EB75B7E7A2} 0 12/10/2005 10:38pm HA
AUTOEXEC.BAT AUTOEXEC.BAT 5,850 12/10/2005 10:28pm A
AUTOEXEC.SAV AUTOEXEC.SAV 0 12/07/2005 10:37pm A
BOOTINFO.DAT BOOTINFO.DAT 223,232 12/10/2005 10:28pm A
CATALOG.DAT catalog.dat 966 07/13/2000 1:00am
CHOICE.COM CHOICE.COM 12,193 08/28/2000 7:15pm A
CONFIG.SAV CONFIG.SAV 0 12/07/2005 10:37pm A
DIRPRINT.TXT DirPrint.txt 0 12/11/2005 12:18am A
EXCLUDE.LST EXCLUDE.LST 215 12/10/2005 10:28pm A
IO.SYS IO.SYS 222,670 12/01/2001 9:37am RHS
LOGO.SYS LOGO.SYS 129,078 08/28/2000 7:14pm A
MSDOS.SAV MSDOS.SAV 1,676 12/07/2005 9:07pm RHSA
MSDOS.SYS MSDOS.SYS 1,111 12/10/2005 10:37pm A
N32DLIST.DLL N32DList.dll 126,976 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Drive List - 14.00.0.28
N32USERL.DLL N32USERL.DLL 40,960 12/10/2005 9:33pm A
Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28
NAVDEF32.DLL NAVDEF32.DLL 78,336 08/28/2000 7:15pm A
Symantec Corporation - Norton AntiVirus SDK Technology - 3.1.0.8
NAVENG32.DLL NAVENG32.DLL 142,336 07/13/2000 1:00am
NAVEX32A.DLL NAVEX32A.DLL 560,128 07/13/2000 1:00am
NAVSDK.VXD NAVSDK.VXD 6,894 08/28/2000 7:15pm A
NAVSDR32.DLL NAVSDR32.DLL 288,256 08/28/2000 7:15pm A
Symantec Corporation - Norton AntiVirus SDK Technology - 3.1.0.8
NCSACERT.TXT ncsacert.txt 6,479 07/13/2000 1:00am
NDD32.HLP NDD32.hlp 66,227 08/27/2000 5:00am A
NDDENG.DLL NDDEng.dll 487,424 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Norton Disk Doctor - 14.00.0.28
NU.CNT NU.CNT 56,899 12/10/2005 9:34pm A
NUABOUT.DLL NUAbout.dll 110,592 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28
NUGLOSS.HLP NUGLOSS.HLP 153,612 08/27/2000 5:00am A
NUINTRO.DLL NUIntro.dll 798,720 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28
NUMISC.DLL NUMisc.dll 45,056 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28
NURESC.DLL NUResc.DLL 122,880 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Rescue Disk Plugin - 14.10.0.84
NUSPLASH.DLL NUSplash.dll 135,168 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28
NZRNDD32.EXE NZRNDD32.EXE 389,120 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28
NZRUE32.EXE NZRUE32.EXE 507,904 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Norton Unerase Wizard - 14.00.0.28
PARTINFO.DAT PARTINFO.DAT 10,240 12/10/2005 10:28pm A
RESCUE.DLL Rescue.DLL 663,552 08/28/2000 7:42pm A
Symantec Corporation - Rescue Disk Core Engine - 14.20.0.88
RESCUE32.GID RESCUE32.GID 16,826 12/10/2005 10:53pm HA
RESCUE32.HLP Rescue32.hlp 58,647 08/28/2000 7:15pm A
RNAVOEM.DLL RNavOem.DLL 102,490 08/28/2000 7:41pm A
Symantec Corporation - Rescue Disk Virus Scanning Library - 14.20.0.88
S32DMAPL.DLL S32DMapL.dll 40,960 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Symantec Drive Map Library - 14.00.0.28
S32FATL.DLL S32FatL.dll 99,840 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Symantec Utility API Library - 20.0.0.181
S32GUIL.DLL S32GUIL.dll 397,312 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Symantec Custom Control Library - 20.0.0.181
S32KRNLL.DLL S32KrnlL.dll 207,360 08/28/2000 7:14pm A
Symantec Corporation - Symantec Kernel API Library - 20.0.0.181
S32MAILL.DLL S32MailL.dll 11,264 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Symantec Mail API Module - 20.0.0.181
S32NPTL.DLL S32NPTL.dll 43,520 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Symantec Print Library - 20.0.0.181
S32UTILL.DLL S32UtilL.dll 107,520 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Symantec Utility API Library - 20.0.0.181
SYMKRNLL.DLL SymKrnlL.dll 146,448 08/28/2000 7:14pm A
Symantec Corporation - Symantec Kernel API Library - 20.0.0.181
SYMKRNLL.VXD SymKrnlL.VxD 14,738 08/28/2000 7:14pm A
SYSINI.SAV SYSINI.SAV 1,878 12/10/2005 9:37pm A
TECHNOTE.TXT technote.txt 5,232 07/13/2000 1:00am
TKKE16L.DLL TKKE16L.dll 5,664 08/28/2000 7:14pm A
Symantec Corporation - Symantec Kernel Thunk Library - 20.0.0.181
TKKE32L.DLL TKKE32L.dll 26,112 08/28/2000 7:14pm A
Symantec Corporation - Symantec Kernel Thunk Library - 20.0.0.181
TROUBLE.TXT TROUBLE.TXT 18,779 08/28/2000 7:15pm A
UE32.HLP UE32.hlp 51,429 08/27/2000 5:00am A
UEBMP32.DLL UEBMP32.DLL 200,704 08/27/2000 5:00am A
Symantec Corporation - Norton UnErase Wizard Bitmaps - 14.00.0.28
VIEW.COM VIEW.COM 174 08/28/2000 7:15pm A
VIRSCAN.INF virscan.inf 354,612 07/13/2000 1:00am
VIRSCAN1.DAT virscan1.dat 515,130 07/13/2000 1:00am
VIRSCAN2.DAT virscan2.dat 163,996 07/13/2000 1:00am
VIRSCAN3.DAT virscan3.dat 117,500 07/13/2000 1:00am
VIRSCAN4.DAT virscan4.dat 284,785 07/13/2000 1:00am
VIRSCAN5.DAT virscan5.dat 70,122 07/13/2000 1:00am
VIRSCAN6.DAT virscan6.dat 239,395 07/13/2000 1:00am
VIRSCAN7.DAT virscan7.dat 142,407 07/13/2000 1:00am
VIRSCAN8.DAT virscan8.dat 332,480 07/13/2000 1:00am
VIRSCAN9.DAT virscan9.dat 148,343 07/13/2000 1:00am
VXDPATHS.LST VXDPATHS.LST 92 12/10/2005 10:28pm A
ZDONE.DAT zdone.dat 224 07/13/2000 1:00am
ZIPRECVR.EXE ZIPRECVR.EXE 532,480 08/28/2000 7:44pm A
Symantec Corporation - Rescue Disk Recovery Wizard - 14.20.0.88

67 files; 9,853,213 bytes

X:\WINDOWS
$1948B7C.WPX $1948b7c.wpx 7,668 12/10/2005 5:01pm A
ASPI2HLP.SYS ASPI2HLP.SYS 1,105 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
BOOTGOOD.TXT BOOTGOOD.TXT 1 12/10/2005 10:47pm A
CLEANMGR.EXE cleanmgr.exe 131,072 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
Microsoft Corporation - Disk Space Cleanup Manager for Windows - 4.10.1693
CMD640X.SYS CMD640X.SYS 24,626 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
CMD640X2.SYS CMD640X2.SYS 20,901 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
COMMAND.COM COMMAND.COM 93,890 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
CONTROL.INI CONTROL.INI 892 12/10/2005 9:33pm A
CPUID.EXE CPUID.EXE 11,483 08/28/2000 7:15pm A
DBLBUFF.SYS DBLBUFF.SYS 2,614 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
EXPLORER.EXE EXPLORER.EXE 171,280 08/20/1999 12:58am A
Microsoft Corporation - Windows Explorer - 4.72.3612.1700
EXTRAC32.EXE EXTRAC32.EXE 45,568 04/18/2005 5:41pm A
Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft® CAB File Extract Utility - 5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
HH.EXE HH.EXE 10,752 04/13/2005 5:06pm A
Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft® HTML Help Executable - 5.2.3790.309 (srv03_gdr.050413-1540)
HIMEM.SYS HIMEM.SYS 33,191 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
HTMLHELP.INI HTMLHELP.INI 3,598 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
IFSHLP.SYS IFSHLP.SYS 3,708 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
IOS.INI IOS.INI 12,633 12/10/2005 10:28pm A
IPCONFIG.EXE ipconfig.exe 53,248 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
Microsoft Corporation - TCP/IP Configuration Utility - 4.10.1998
ISUNINST.EXE isuninst.exe 306,688 10/29/1998 4:45pm A
InstallShield Software Corporation - InstallShield® unInstaller - 5, 51, 138, 0
JVIEW.EXE JVIEW.EXE 180,224 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft® VM Command Line Interpreter - 5.00.3167
LOGOS.SYS LOGOS.SYS 129,078 08/28/2000 7:14pm A
LOGOW.SYS LOGOW.SYS 129,076 08/28/2000 7:14pm A
MORICONS.DLL MORICONS.DLL 84,416 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
Microsoft Corporation - Icons for application shortcuts - 4.10.1998
NDDEAPI.DLL NDDEAPI.DLL 14,032 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
Microsoft Corporation - Windows for Workgroups DDE Share Interface - 4.10.1998
NDDENB.DLL NDDENB.DLL 10,976 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft Windows Network DDE Netbios interface - 4.10.1998
NDISHLP.SYS ndishlp.sys 6,140 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
NDISLOG.TXT NDISLOG.TXT 0 12/10/2005 10:45pm A
NETDDE.EXE NETDDE.EXE 56,880 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft Windows Network DDE - 4.10.1998
NETDET.INI NETDET.INI 7,885 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
NETSTAT.EXE netstat.exe 32,768 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
Microsoft Corporation - TCP/IP Netstat Command - 5.00.1515.1
NOTEPAD.EXE NOTEPAD.EXE 95,744 05/12/2002 10:50pm A
NZRBUILD.VXD NZRBUILD.VXD 115,935 08/28/2000 7:44pm A
POWERPNT.INI powerpnt.ini 60 12/10/2005 10:46pm A
PROTOCOL.INI PROTOCOL.INI 264 12/10/2005 12:49am A
QTW.INI QTW.INI 28 12/07/2005 9:06pm A
QVPHOOK.DLL QVPHOOK.DLL 45,056 05/26/2000 6:01am A
Inso Corporation - QVPHOOK.DLL Shell Execute Hook - 6.0.1.1 [May.26.2000]
ROUTE.EXE route.exe 32,768 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
Microsoft Corporation - TCP/IP Route Command - 5.00.1553.1
RSCW16.BMP RscW16.bmp 43,818 08/28/2000 7:15pm A
RSCW256.BMP RscW256.bmp 86,388 08/28/2000 7:15pm A
RSCWALL.BMP RSCWALL.BMP 86,388 08/28/2000 7:15pm A
RUNDLL.EXE RUNDLL.EXE 4,960 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
Microsoft Corporation - Run a DLL as an App - 4.10.1998
RUNDLL32.EXE RUNDLL32.EXE 24,576 04/23/1999 10:22pm A
Microsoft Corporation - Run a DLL as an App - 4.10.1998
SETVER.EXE setver.exe 18,939 12/07/2005 9:06pm A
SHELLI~1 ShellIconCache 500,000 12/10/2005 10:55pm H
SYSTEM.CB SYSTEM.CB 174 12/08/2005 5:12pm A
SYSTEM.DAT System.Dat 3,924,000 12/10/2005 10:55pm RH
SYSTEM.INI SYSTEM.INI  

This post has been edited by Molecule: 11 December 2005 - 04:01 PM

[LLXX]

Your "rescue disk" appears to be running a standard Windows GUI on top of a Symantec(?) base OS... but IO.SYS looks like a standard DOS 7.1 core from its filesize (or is it 8.0? The filesize is slightly different...)

[pcalvert]

I just finished installing the latest version of "Mindows." The installation went okay, for the most part. However, there was an error message that ".INF" couldn't be found during set up. Worst of all, though, the installation is unusable because explorer.exe performs an illegal operation and crashes during the boot process.

Phil

[Shindo_Hikaru]

All this downsizing, just install DOS 6.22 and be done with it.

[oscardog]

pcalvert, on Jul 23 2006, 04:43 PM, said:

I just finished installing the latest version of "Mindows." The installation went okay, for the most part. However, there was an error message that ".INF" couldn't be found during set up. Worst of all, though, the installation is unusable because explorer.exe performs an illegal operation and crashes during the boot process.

Phil

Copy explorer.exe,comdlg32.dll and shell32.dll from your windows95 into your mindows folder, seems like they have not been copied over, or were not in the setup folder. I have been using Mikes software for a long time with no problems.
Has anybody got a trial copy of Tinywin98 from the defunct Embedded Ware Technologies company, seems something also worth playing with.

[pcalvert]

oscardog, on Jul 23 2006, 04:51 PM, said:

pcalvert, on Jul 23 2006, 04:43 PM, said:

I just finished installing the latest version of "Mindows." The installation went okay, for the most part. However, there was an error message that ".INF" couldn't be found during set up. Worst of all, though, the installation is unusable because explorer.exe performs an illegal operation and crashes during the boot process.

Copy explorer.exe,comdlg32.dll and shell32.dll from your windows95 into your mindows folder, seems like they have not been copied over, or were not in the setup folder. I have been using Mikes software for a long time with no problems.
Has anybody got a trial copy of Tinywin98 from the defunct Embedded Ware Technologies company, seems something also worth playing with.

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, it won't help because they were definitely copied to the set-up directory.

I played around with it some and got things into a semi-working state, though. I edited system.ini and changed this line:

shell=Explorer.exe

Actually, I commented it out and added a new line, like this:

; shell=Explorer.exe
shell=progman.exe

That tells Win98 to use the Program Manager from Win3.1x/WFW instead of Explorer (which is the default). BTW, the file manager from Win3.1x/WFW is available, too. Just launch winfile.exe. I'd bet that most Win98 users are totally oblivious to the fact that those programs are there.

You said that you've been using this without any problems. What do you use it for? To me, this is not good as a desktop system. At least, not in its current form. It's more for special purposes. Most people should just go straight to 98lite and not even bother with this. Having said that, I think that "Mindows" could eventually, with some work, turn into the equivalent of an nLite for Windows 98.

I am definitely going to play with this some more. My idea to use progman.exe as the shell instead of explorer.exe has given me a few additional ideas.

Phil

[oscardog]

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, it won't help because they were definitely copied to the set-up directory.

I played around with it some and got things into a semi-working state, though. I edited system.ini and changed this line:

shell=Explorer.exe

Actually, I commented it out and added a new line, like this:

; shell=Explorer.exe
shell=progman.exe

That tells Win98 to use the Program Manager from Win3.1x/WFW instead of Explorer (which is the default). BTW, the file manager from Win3.1x/WFW is available, too. Just launch winfile.exe. I'd bet that most Win98 users are totally oblivious to the fact that those programs are there.

You said that you've been using this without any problems. What do you use it for? To me, this is not good as a desktop system. At least, not in its current form. It's more for special purposes. Most people should just go straight to 98lite and not even bother with this. Having said that, I think that "Mindows" could eventually, with some work, turn into the equivalent of an nLite for Windows 98.

I am definitely going to play with this some more. My idea to use progman.exe as the shell instead of explorer.exe has given me a few additional ideas.

Phil
[/quote]

I have used mindows on quite a lot of embedded products, I like it as it enables me with a little alteration in the setup here and there to have an install as small as possible ( a lot lot smaller than 98lite), only detecteing hardware and loading drivers that i require etc etc. When my television blew up I replaced it with a tiny mindows install, on a flash drive, with a tv card on a pentium 200 non mmx system silent pc. It worked flawlessly month in month out, operating constantly for weeks at a time in between reboots.
If you change the files I mentioned explorer should work using the 95 shell, or as you have already found out simply point it to another shell, personal favourites of mine are liteshell and go

[nicke85]

It has nice looking but there isn't any funcions into system!

[pcalvert]

nicke85, on Jul 25 2006, 01:39 PM, said:

It has nice looking but there isn't any funcions into system!

Yes, that is true, and it's why I said that most people should not waste their time with "Mindows." I think that its best use is for special purposes. For example, some people want to put a small computer in their automobile and use it to play music. Mindows might be a good choice for that since they will probably use only one program (e.g., MP3 player).

Phil

[LLXX]

It's not supposed to be used as-is, it's just a minimal system on which to build upon.

[oscardog]

LLXX, on Jul 27 2006, 04:13 AM, said:

It's not supposed to be used as-is, it's just a minimal system on which to build upon.

Spot on
If you want to build a rock steady system, adding only programs that you need and begin to learn how the os ticks, mindows is a great starting place. With it the install process has become a lot more transparent (if you look at the setup files), file dependancies etc became clearer. As LLXX says it is a building block to do whatever you want with.
Just add your imagination

[E-66]

Hi everyone, this is my first post to the board. I did a Google search yesterday for "MS Cryptographic Providers" which only turned up four results, but I noticed a reference to 98Micro in one of them. Being a long time user of 98Lite I decided to see what was being discussed and I ended up on this board. That discussion had several posts with links to other similar discussions, and I ended up on the Winimize.com site and ultimately this thread. Pretty interesting reading I must say. It's really 98Lite taken to the extreme - I love it!

I downloaded min98.zip and ran it last night and it worked perfectly. I especially like the inclusion of the "Initializing Start-Up Sequence" logo screen. I've been using that for years ever since I found it on the 98Lite website. I made a Norton Ghost image of the install and it's just over 18MB. I do have a few questions though that I hope you can help me with. I can build a pc, format hard drives, make partitions and all that stuff, but I'm far from a computer expert.

What do I need to do to have more options available on the Windows Setup tab under Add/Remove Programs?? Currently there are just the two for DOS files and some legacy support stuff. I imported a registry key I exported from a 'normal' Win98 installation but it didn't do anything (like I said, I'm no expert). The reg key was:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\OptionalComponents]

And then there were the subkeys or whatever they're called underneath it. But like I said, it didn't add any additional components to the selection list. I'd like to use some things like the Resource Meter and Resource Monitor. Would I be better off just extracting them from the CAB files and copying them into the proper directories?

Speaking of CAB files, why is it that the location of files within the CAB files is always different for me than what I see posted on various websites (for whatever the project is)? For instance, on the Winimize.com site there's a reference to the 5 files that are needed in order to access Desktop Properties. They're said to be contained within the "base4.cab" file. My base4.cab file only has 2 files in it - drvspace.bin and ebd.cab. I had to keep looking in other .cab files until I found those 5 files.

deskw95.cpl was in Win98_25.cab
olecli.dll & olesvr.dll were both in Win98_39.cab
setupapi.dll was in Win98_40.cab
systhunk.dll was in Win98_42.cab

What's up with that? My Win98 CD is legit I think. I got it from Newegg.com several years ago when I bought hardware to build a new pc.

Is there any kind of utility that can search through multiple .cab files to find the files you're looking for?

This post has been edited by E-66: 15 August 2006 - 03:26 PM

[oscardog]

E-66, on Aug 15 2006, 09:27 PM, said:

Hi everyone, this is my first post to the board. I did a Google search yesterday for "MS Cryptographic Providers" which only turned up four results, but I noticed a reference to 98Micro in one of them. Being a long time user of 98Lite I decided to see what was being discussed and I ended up on this board. That discussion had several posts with links to other similar discussions, and I ended up on the Winimize.com site and ultimately this thread. Pretty interesting reading I must say. It's really 98Lite taken to the extreme - I love it!

I downloaded min98.zip and ran it last night and it worked perfectly. I especially like the inclusion of the "Initializing Start-Up Sequence" logo screen. I've been using that for years ever since I found it on the 98Lite website. I made a Norton Ghost image of the install and it's just over 18MB. I do have a few questions though that I hope you can help me with. I can build a pc, format hard drives, make partitions and all that stuff, but I'm far from a computer expert.

What do I need to do to have more options available on the Windows Setup tab under Add/Remove Programs?? Currently there are just the two for DOS files and some legacy support stuff. I imported a registry key I exported from a 'normal' Win98 installation but it didn't do anything (like I said, I'm no expert). The reg key was:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\OptionalComponents]

And then there were the subkeys or whatever they're called underneath it. But like I said, it didn't add any additional components to the selection list. I'd like to use some things like the Resource Meter and Resource Monitor. Would I be better off just extracting them from the CAB files and copying them into the proper directories?

Speaking of CAB files, why is it that the location of files within the CAB files is always different for me than what I see posted on various websites (for whatever the project is)? For instance, on the Winimize.com site there's a reference to the 5 files that are needed in order to access Desktop Properties. They're said to be contained within the "base4.cab" file. My base4.cab file only has 2 files in it - drvspace.bin and ebd.cab. I had to keep looking in other .cab files until I found those 5 files.

deskw95.cpl was in Win98_25.cab
olecli.dll & olesvr.dll were both in Win98_39.cab
setupapi.dll was in Win98_40.cab
systhunk.dll was in Win98_42.cab

What's up with that? My Win98 CD is legit I think. I got it from Newegg.com several years ago when I bought hardware to build a new pc.

Is there any kind of utility that can search through multiple .cab files to find the files you're looking for?

Its quite handy to have another windows 98 installed different pc/partition/drive to copy the files of the apps dlls etc needed, to copy from (saves messing about with .cabs). Once your chosen apps installed on your full win98se run its executable through dependency walker www.dependencywalker.com where you can see its required files and also use the profile function to see the relevant calls. Copy the missing files into your mindows system folder and your app should run.
Inctrl5 http://www.devhood.c...spx?tool_id=432 (please do virus checks on any downloads) is also handy to use preinstall to see any reg keys created/altered which you may want to recreate and files copied.
I have often thought about creating an application to automate the process for addons to a basic mindows but time is at a premium these days.

This post has been edited by oscardog: 16 August 2006 - 04:14 AM