Minimal Windows ME install

halkun

Ok, once upon a time on the Internets I saw a wiki article of some sort that show that Windows Millennium could be stripped down to something like 20 files and still function. (well, no start menu. It just had a command prompt window, and even that was optional)

Anyone know how to get instructions on stripping the system down that far? It seems like a fun project.

LittleBoots

halkun wrote: »

Ok, once upon a time on the Internets I saw a wiki article of some sort that show that Windows Millennium could be stripped down to something like 20 files and still function. (well, no start menu. It just had a command prompt window, and even that was optional)

Anyone know how to get instructions on stripping the system down that far? It seems like a fun project.

Windows ME and fun are mutually exclusive.

halkun

Ohh, never mind, I found it

I can use the DOS patch to run win.com directly as opposed to IO.SYS jumping directly to VMM32.VXD...

I'll have an active win32 kernel too, this could be fun. As opposed to running a dos command prompt, I wonder if I can get cygwin to execute...

A Unix environment running a windows kernel.... My god, the horrors

Ego

Hmmm, a 5mb OS compatible with DOS apps and fat 32, that's kind of neat.

typhoon

.

GrimReaper

Ego wrote: »

Hmmm, a 5mb OS compatible with DOS apps and fat 32, that's kind of neat.

Or use FreeDOS? Or if you want DOSBox on your OS of choice.

Stormwatcher

Can't you do that with, say, Win98SE?

Dehumanized

Stormwatcher wrote: »

Can't you do that with, say, Win98SE?

yes, but like it says on the linked wikibook:

Windows Me after installing as 98micro with Windows 95 Explorer by using 98lite Enterprise can be manually further reduced to only 5MB with GUI, that exceeds even 98EOS maximal reduction.

emphasis added mine. that's why you'd play around with using win ME instead of 98SE.

Frem

This is really neat. Foobar2000 and Fluxbox, side by side! My only question is how stable the whole shebang would be. The 9x line had some pretty horrible tendency to crash when multitasking got out of hand, iirc.

Cyvros

Now I want to do this just to do this. I have a Win Me OEM disc from somewhere that I've never used and never intended to use - until now.

Stormwatcher

And what is it for?

Dehumanized

Stormwatcher wrote: »

And what is it for?

novelty

halkun

This is why I'm glad I work at a computer repair place. BEHOLD!!!


One legitimate copy of Windows ME OEM + COA

I'm installing it now in a VM...



Wish me luck!!!!

exoplasm

Wow, sounds interesting. I can't say I'd find it wholly practical unless it's for an old 486 or Pentium box that's just used for playing old games. Or just weird setups like the cygwin thing. Maybe coLinux or andLinux?

Sort of unrelated, but when my brother worked for Microsoft he gave me a retail copy of Windows ME one time. I still have it, shrink-wrapped and all, somewhere around here. I had already been using one of the RCs of Windows 2000 by the time he gave me that so I never opened it. I'm glad, too... horrible mess. :P

halkun

Wow, I just did some research and the ME kernel has support for win2k's TCP/IP stack, and with NDIS and WDM driver support(!). I mean, yea, it has some soul-crushing memory bugs, but might be fun to see how far I can stretch this without breaking it.

Stormwatcher

Man, you look nothing like your avatar.

And that happy winged turd is taking my will to live.

Cyvros

Stormwatcher wrote: »

Man, you look nothing like your avatar.

Ah, the magic of make-up.