xcopy-ing Windows 95

[ Working with a Drive Overlay | Trouble Shooting / Q&A | xcopy32 Switches | Disclaimer ]

In my profession, I have stumbled across the need to xcopy a Windows 95 drive onto another hard drive, but Windows 95 has too many hidden files to do this. I called Microsoft's Technical Support to find out the trick, and the person I talked to said that there was no way to xcopy a Windows 95 drive, all you could do is re-install it on the new drive. This has been proven to be an untrue statement by the fine folks at Microsoft, so here's how to xcopy a Windows 95 drive:

1. Make sure you have a Windows 95 boot disk with the following files:
   • MSDOS.SYS (hidden file)
   • IO.SYS (hidden file)
   • COMMAND.COM
   • FORMAT.COM
   • FDISK.EXE
   • SYS.COM
2. Install the new hard drive as a single drive first.
3. Boot off the Windows 95 boot disk.
4. Type "fdisk" and set up the new hard drive.
5. Reboot off the same Windows 95 boot disk.
6. Type "format c:" (but do not include the "/s" command).
7. Reboot one more time off the same Windows 95 boot disk.
8. Make sure you can access "C:" and there are no files shown.
9. Set up your new hard drive as a slave to your old hard drive.
10. Boot Windows 95 like you always would.
11. Make sure there is a "D:" present.
12. Go to Control Panel and double-click on System.
13. Go to Performance and click on Virtual Memory.
14. Disable Virtual Memory (with 8MB or less of RAM, you'll have to skip this step)
15. Close Control Panel and reboot the computer.
16. When you see "Starting Windows 95..." hit F8.
17. Choose Safe Mode.
18. Once you are running in Safe Mode, click on Start and go to Run.
19. Type "xcopy32 c:\*.* d:\ /h /e /c /k /y"
20. When the xcopy is finished, click Start and go to Run again.
21. Type "sys d:"
22. Shut down the computer.
23. Make the slave drive a single drive again.
24. Boot off the same old Windows 95 boot disk.
25. Type "sys c:"
26. Remove the disk and attempt to boot off the hard drive.

Assuming everything worked correctly, the hard drive should boot perfectly. If you wish to keep your old hard drive, you may want to set the single drive to a master, and set your old hard drive as the slave.

If you have to use a drive overlay to access the new hard drive (i.e.- your BIOS doesn't support larger than 540MB), then you may have to take a different route.

1. Install the new hard drive as a single drive first.
2. Boot off the Windows 95 boot disk.
3. Run the setup utility on the Drive Overlay program disk.
4. Remove the disk and boot off the hard drive.
5. Install Windows 95, and choose Compact Installation.
6. After Windows 95 is set up and works, shut down the computer.
7. Set the new hard drive as the master drive.
8. Set the old hard drive as the slave drive.
9. Boot the computer and when you see "Starting Windows 95..." hit F8.
10. Choose Safe Mode.
11. Once you are running in Safe Mode, Click on Start & go to Run.
12. Type "xcopy32 d:\*.* c:\ /h /e /c /k /y"
13. When the xcopy is finished, reboot the computer.
14. When you see "Starting Windows 95..." hit F8.
15. Choose "Command Prompt Only"
16. Type these steps religiously.
    1. c:
    2. cd \windows
    3. attrib -h -s -r user.da?
    4. attrib -h -s -r system.da?
    5. del *.da?
    6. d:
    7. cd \windows
    8. attrib -h -s -r user.da?
    9. attrib -h -s -r system.da?
    10. copy *.da? c:\windows
    11. c:
    12. attrib +h +s +r user.da?
    13. attrib +h +s +r system.da?
17. Reboot the computer.

All that did was copy the registry which the xcopy didn't copy since the files where in use at the time of the xcopy. The registry consists of the following files.

• user.dat (hidden, system, and read-only file)
• system.dat (hidden, system, and read-only file)
• user.da0 (backup - hidden, system, and read-only file)
• system.da0 (backup - hidden, system, and read-only file)
• ????????.dat (misc. other registry files are are usually hidden system, or read-only files)

Be sure to check that everything seemed to xcopy fine and then shut down and remove the slave drive and set the master to single and try again. If everything works, great! If not, I'm sorry, it has worked for me.

From time to time things don't go quite as well as you planned. For this reason, I have decided to keep track of the most common problems that people may encounter. This way, if you encounter the same problem, you'll know how to handle it.

• After I think I have everything set up right, I try to boot off the new hard drive and I get: "Press Any Key To Reboot..."
  • Boot off a Windows 95 boot disk and run "fdisk" to make sure that the partition you created is set Active. Choose "Display Partition Information" (usually option 4) and look at the partition called "C: 1" to make sure there is an "A" under where it says, "Status". If you do not see an "A" hit "Esc" and choose "Set Active Partition" (Usually option 2) to set the partition, "C: 1", active. Reboot and everything should work fine.
• I don't have all the switches available to me that you show. Do I have an old version of xcopy?
  • As long as you are running a version of Windows 95, your xcopy will work. Be sure that you have Windows 95 loaded when you use xcopy32, and all the switches will be available (see below). Using xcopy from DOS (meaning that the GUI is not loaded at all) will only allow you to use the switches that xcopy from DOS v6.22 and earlier had available.
• What's the difference between xcopy and xcopy32?
  • This is quite simple. xcopy is pretty much the same xcopy that has been in DOS since v5.0. xcopy32 is the new xcopy designed for Windows 95. Now, however, the part that confuses most people is that you can run xcopy32 in DOS and xcopy in Windows 95. Both copies check to see if the GUI is loaded, and then run the appropriate version. I think this was an intelligent programming idea, but as I said, it does seem to confuse a lot of people. So even though you can run xcopy32 from DOS, you have to have the GUI loaded to have all the switches available.
• This is not really a question, but more of a tip for one of our readers.
  • If you are looking for a simple way to backup your system files, then be sure to check out this idea from Bill Wolcott.

If you're wanting to know ALL the xcopy32 switches, here they are:

XCOPY source [destination] [/A | /M] [/D[:date]] [/P] [/S [/E]] [/W]
						   [/C] [/I] [/Q] [/F] [/L] [/H] [/R] [/T] [/U]
						   [/K] [/N]

 source       Specifies the file(s) to copy.
 destination  Specifies the location and/or name of new files.
 /A           Copies files with the archive attribute set,
			  doesn't change the attribute.
 /M           Copies files with the archive attribute set,
			  turns off the archive attribute.
 /D:date      Copies files changed on or after the specified date.
			  If no date is given, copies only those files whose
			  source time is newer than the destination time.
 /P           Prompts you before creating each destination file.
 /S           Copies directories and subdirectories except empty ones.
 /E           Copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones.
			  Same as /S /E. May be used to modify /T.
 /W           Prompts you to press a key before copying.
 /C           Continues copying even if errors occur.
 /I           If destination does not exist and copying more than one file,
			  assumes that destination must be a directory.
 /Q           Does not display file names while copying.
 /F           Displays full source and destination file names while copying.
 /L           Displays files that would be copied.
 /H           Copies hidden and system files also.
 /R           Overwrites read-only files.
 /T           Creates directory structure, but does not copy files. Does not
			  include empty directories or subdirectories. /T /E includes
			  empty directories and subdirectories.
 /U           Updates the files that already exist in destination.
 /K           Copies attributes. Normal Xcopy will reset read-only attributes.
 /Y           Overwrites existing files without prompting.
 /-Y          Prompts you before overwriting existing files.
 /N           Copy using the generated short names.

Nothing has arose yet that would cause me to need a disclaimer, but just incase...

I, Andy Couch, can not be held responsible for any human error. The procedures here can cause undesirable circumstances if not followed properly. These procedures have worked flawlessly for myself many times, and I have received many responses from other people across the globe that have also had flawless successes. Therefore, these procedures are proven to be accurate as long as they are followed properly. If any undesirable circumstances occur while following these procedures properly, then most likely, the hardware was faulty to begin with, and I do apologize for the loss.

Microsoft, Windows 95 and the Microsoft Windows 95 Start Button image, all copyright © Microsoft Corporation.