Win4Lin User's Guide

Chapter 2 -- Installing Windows

(User's Guide Table of Contents) (Chapter Table of Contents)
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Overview

For individuals to use Windows on the Linux system, each must have their own private "installation" of Windows to use. This way each user has their own files and preferences. The "C" drive where Windows gets installed is by default the directory "$HOME/win". Thus each user has their installation of Windows located under their home directory.

But before any user can install Windows for their own use, the Windows installation files must first be "loaded" into Win4Lin. This is done only once, and it must be done by the "root" user. This step copies the Windows installation files from your Windows 95 or Windows 98 installation CD into a shared location, so the actual install of Windows for each user does not require the use of the CD again. All users on the system must use the same version of Windows.

NOTE: Loading from Windows installation floppies is not supported. Also note that Windows 3.x is not supported.

This "loading" step also automatically installs MS-DOS from the Windows installation files. So this "loading" of the Windows installation CD is the first thing that must be done after Win4Lin is installed.

The amount of disk space required to load the Windows CD and for each user to install Windows is given in the following table. Note that the loaded CD files are put under /var/win4lin, and for each user, the files are installed under their home directory.

If there is not enough space in the /var filesystem, then you will have to use symbolic links to relocate /var/win4lin to another filesystem that has enough space.

The Per-User files are by default installed where the C: drive is mapped to in the Linux filesystem. The default location for this is $HOME/win. If if you do not have enough room in $HOME for this, you will have to relocate where the C: drive is mapped to. See the section Relocating the C: drive at the end of this page for instructions on how to do this.

Note: The C: drive MUST be mapped to a "local" filesystem. If your $HOME is accessed via NFS then you MUST relocate where drive C: is mapped.

Windows Version     To Load the CD Per-User C: drive
  • Win95 Classic
  • 40 MB 41 MB
  • Win95 OSR2
  • 69 MB 93 MB
  • Win98 First Edition
  • 115 MB 148 MB
  • Win98 Second Edition
  • 132 MB 195 MB
    In addition, each running session of Windows requires 50-100MB of temporary space on the C: drive filesystem.

    Loading Windows CD

    To load the Windows 95 or 98 installation CD into Win4Lin, use the Win4Lin Setup GUI utility. You must be logged in as the "root" user to load from the CD. You must have:

    The command "winsetup &" starts the Win4Lin Setup GUI utility.

    From the first Win4Lin Setup window, follow these steps:

    1. Click on "System-Wide Win4Lin Administration",
    2. Click on the OK button.
    3. Click on the "Load Windows CD" button to bring up the "Load Windows CD" window.

    The help page for the "Load Windows CD" window has the full instructions for loading the Windows CD. Instead of duplicating that here, click here to go to to the "Load Windows CD" help page.

    This page also covers the topic of the Windows boot floppy.

    Installing Windows for a User

    Each user needs to install their own copy of Windows. Note: The root user is not allowed to install or run Windows.

    Once the files from the Windows installation CD have been loaded, then installing Windows for individual use is very easy. All that is required is enough disk space, and the Windows "product key". You will have to enter this "product key" data as part of completing the installation of Windows. (You are responsible to have the proper number or type of Windows licenses for all the installations of Windows on your system.)

    To install Windows you should be working in the Desktop environment (i.e. using X windows). The DISPLAY environment variable must be set as is normally required for X client programs.

    Windows will be automatically installed in your personal C:\windows directory.

    To begin the installation of Windows, start up a Win4Lin Windows session. Win4Lin detects that Windows is not installed, and automatically starts the Windows installation GUI. Follow these steps: