Warning

GitHub LFS considered harmful

On 2023-08-13 GitHub has permanently disabled Git LFS for ALL of our repositories because we've "exceeded the data plan". Instead of limiting downloads to the allotted bandwith, they simply let them run wild and then shut it down entirely.

Let this be a warning to everyone (considering) using Git LFS on Github. They cannot be trusted. In the meantime, you can download hda.img here: https://rtts.eu/download/win95/hda.img

Virtual Machine with Windows 95

Here's a fully configured Windows 95 machine with a working internet connection, the latest supported version of Netscape Communicator and Doom 95!

The file hda.img contains the harddrive. You can mount it directly with the ./mount command to copy over files. The ./start command starts the machine using QEMU.

Browsing the internet

Windows 95 has been configured to connect to the gateway 192.168.178.1. Change this configuration via the Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network -> TCP/IP -> Properties -> DNS Configuration and Gateway tabs.

Netscape Communicator 4.8 has been configured to use the HTTP proxy server at address 192.168.178.129 port 81. On this machine I'm running nginx with the following configuration:

server {
  listen 81;

  location / {
    resolver 8.8.8.8;
    proxy_pass https://$host$request_uri;
  }
}

This allows visiting HTTPS websites over HTTP. To change the proxy configuration, go to Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> Manual Proxy Configuration.

Playing Doom 95

Microsoft's official Doom port has been installed and there is an icon on the desktop to launch it. However, the game locks up as soon as you try to walk. If anyone knows how to solve this, please let me know!

Persisting changes

First, shutdown Windows 95. Then, type Ctrl-Alt-2 to switch to the QEMU monitor, then type commit all.